ABSTRACT
Many individuals freely opt to take part in outdoor adventure activities. A high proportion of these first encountered such activities as a consequence of a school or youth group initially offering them an introductory 'taster'. This chapter concentrates on facilitated interventions that offer outdoor adventure experiences explicitly for developmental purposes. Capitalism appears to be struggling, increasing urbanisation is creating new challenges, and the knowledge industries, consumerism, the virtual world and individualism are proceeding apace. The balance of responsibility for navigating the journey from youth to adulthood and employment has since the 1980s increasingly shifted from wider society to the individual young person. Outdoor adventure education (OAE) places a high value on providing access to and encounters with unfamiliar landscapes or wilderness. In doing so it is an heir to the Romantic tradition of seeking sublime and transformative experiences in rugged and wild places.
