This paper examines the gulf between the perceptions of risk and risk management of twelve New Zealand outdoor instructors and the definitions and managerial practices surrounding risk and risk management. This gulf is supported by the discursive practices of risk and risk management which privileges objective and rational models of thinking, denying the subjective experience of both the instructor and the student. Broadening the definitions of risk to recognize the opportunities as well as the loss inherent within risk, better reflects the complexity of this phenomenon. This may open the way for discussion about risk as a social process, rather than just a process of rational decision-making. Refocusing the risk debate on the opportunities it provides may allow the discussion to move away from risk being dominated by its management, to focusing on the learning goals and objectives of adventure education.
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