The adventure of adventure education comes in the testing of oneself, in putting self against the environment and in striving to overcome the environment through personal skill. Unfortunately, instead of perceiving the risks in terms of physical and psychological challenges, many schools and other organizations perceive them in terms of liability suits. The aspect of legal liability involved in most of the court cases involving the adventure field is that based on negligence, usually defined in five broad areas: (1) personal liability, which results from the actions of an individual with a direct relationship (program leader, volunteer, service person) to the participant; (2) standard of care, in which the appropriate standard of care for a safe environment is not provided; (3) conduct of the activity, in which considerations are made as to the adequacy of instruction, the relationship of maturity and condition to safe participation, and safety rules and regulations; (4) environmental conditions, in which the landowner is held responsible for hazards on his property; and (5) contributory negligence, in which the participant himself must assume responsibility for his own actions. The final portion of this document describes how to handle the sequence of events following an injury and lists four methods of financial risk management (avoiding the activity, insurance, retention of the risk, and reduction of injuries). (DS)