If you fall on Federation Peak, more likely than not you will keep falling the whole 600 metres to Lake Geeves below. 

It turns out, it was a group who through a small mistake and a whopping great lump of bad luck ended up in a disastrous situation. 

When Ed Bastick fell off Federation Peak, he was so lucky to survive. It is not a mountain to be sneezed at. It sticks up like a great thumb in the sky, looking menacing and grim. You wouldn’t call the route you take to the summit a track; it’s a climb. 

Ed and his fellow walkers/climbers had been preparing and planning for their trip for months. They were all experienced bushwalkers and between them had extensive wilderness and first aid experience. 

They carried everything with them they would need to survive, including several days contingency food should they become hemmed in by the weather. 

“Tents, sleeping bags stoves everything, all the food, basically everything to last seven or eight days out in the bush with all four of us,” one of the walkers Rob Bastick said. 

They had rope, harnesses and belays to safely traverse and climb the gnarliest parts of Federation. 

In short, they did everything possible to prepare for what they knew is one of the hardest mountains in Tasmania. 

And yet it still all went wrong and ended up with one man almost losing his life and plummeting 600 metres on the fast-track route to the bottom of the mountain. 

As it is he fell about 10 metres, broke his leg at right angles and gave himself one hell of a fright. 

“It was bloody scary. I thought it was all over there for a second,” Ed Bastick said. 

What of those people who head out into these wilderness areas with little preparation and even less thought?

The ones without warm gear, with negligible or no wet weather gear. The gung-ho who scoff at the Tasmanian weather. The know-alls who believe they are untouchable.

It is stupid in the extreme and distastefully disrespectful of all the lives put at risk when they need help. 

Individuals, organisations in the industry and the community as a whole have a responsibility to ensure those heading into wild places are able to respond should everything go wrong. 

There is a reason the wilderness has been the domain of so few for so long. It is a place of heightened risk, which is only mitigated by experience, commonsense, planning and knowledge. 

People spend years, decades even, building up gradually more and more difficult endeavours to develop the experience they need to survive in what can quickly turn into incredibly hostile environments. 

If people want to walk, fair play to them, but start at your level and take it seriously. Don’t scrimp on equipment that could save your life, and spend time planning, preparing and finding out about what you’re doing. 

If the team on Federation a few weeks ago weren’t prepared, if they didn’t have high spec-ed gear and weren’t experienced, we could be telling a very different tale. They knew how to keep themselves safe when it all went wrong. 

Take it as a timely reminder not to underestimate the wild places, remember sometimes they should remain inaccessible – as much for your safety as theirs – and if you are foolhardy enough to go out without the preparation, gear or experience you need? Then consider it natural selection.