I think I first heard about the three Levels of Fun on a podcast – perhaps Dirtbag Diaries? Or maybe I read a link from my favourite blogger of late Brendan Leonard? Either way, Fun Levels I through III have become my rating scale for any and all adventures ever since FLD (Fun Level Discovery).

What’s the Fun Scale? I’ll let Kelly Cordes tell it to you straight:

Type I Fun – true fun, enjoyable while it’s happening. Good food, good sex, 5.8 hand cracks, sport climbing, powder skiing. Margaritas.

Type II Fun – fun only in retrospect, hateful while it’s happening. Things like working out ‘till you puke, and usually ice and alpine climbing. (Think a bad hangover that makes you swear you’ll never drink again)

Type III Fun – not fun at all, not even in retrospect. As in, “What the hell was I thinking? If I ever even consider doing that again, somebody slap some sense into me.”

Why am I telling you about this? Because frankly it’s entertaining to have a scale on which to measure weekend warrior trips. Also, because everyone’s life experience  makes their take on the Fun Level Scale different.

Perspective

For me, the majority of what I do is Fun Type I. However, many long slogs on skis up mountains turn into a Type I-ish fun…somewhere between I & II. This hill for example, NEVER ENDED:

Those people at the top? Yeah, a good hour ahead of me.

You’ll be reading more about the fun scale when I finish the Baker post sometime next week. Sorry for the delay – traveling for business!