APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB • November 7, 2022
As surely as phones have infiltrated the mountains, won’t more invasive technology? It’s not hard to imagine hikers one day wearing Oculus headsets or another kind of virtual reality augmentation to enhance their experience. Think of the boon to safety. SAR officials could, in emergency situations, don their own VR headsets at home, and the officer could be virtually alongside the hiker, encouraging them down the mountain. “Virtual stewards” could station everywhere. Reality will increasingly blur with irreality, just as it’s happening every day with GPS replacing maps, Zoom replacing offices, social media replacing friendships. I go into the woods to escape that contrived world of fake plastic trees, which means leaving cell phones behind and embracing the rewards of going off-line.