Adventure and the sublime: a quest for transformation or transcendence?

Outdoor adventures have emerged as recreational and educational experiences alongside the development of modern western cultures. Adventures both reflect and challenge societal norms. Can they lead to opportunities for new attachments to nature that leads to greater appreciation, concern and care in these times of environmental crisis? In this chapter we suggest that the narratives of adventure experiences fall into two main sets, those that are understood to be transformational and those that are understood as transcendental. Both versions are, we claim, rooted in the western Romantic idea of the sublime that arose as a counter narrative to the industrial revolution and the consequent objectification of nature. However, we think transformational adventures instrumentalise nature and largely focus on the benefits to humans in ways that are exclusive to many people. We discuss in what way transcendental adventures are different and whether this offers any possibilities for better human nature relations.