WHICH BRINGS US BACK to that old question: How do you protect yourself from lightning? Few of us are willing or able to do what some safety experts recommend: If you hear thunder or see a storm within six miles of your location, immediately get inside a building or car (a tent is useless). A more practical way to be prepared is to heed weather forecasts. "You need to assess your weather threat the day before your adventure," says Richard Kithil, founder and CEO of the National Lightning Safety Institute, in Louisville, Colorado. "If you're out in the woods for a week, then you're out of luck."

According to Ron Holle, you should lower the risk by getting your ride, hike, or climb over before thunderclouds appear, which typically means finishing before noon. Beyond that, Holle's 25 years of analyzing data have brought him to a pessimistic conclusion: If you head outside, there's nothing you can do to eliminate the danger. "Whether you stand under trees or out in the open; under a cliff or away; whatever you're wearing or carrying, whether you squat or lie flat—you can still be hit by lightning," he warns. "You have to treat lightning like any other natural hazard. It's something you can't control."

Kithil is equally pessimistic. "Lightning safety in the outdoors is almost an oxymoron," he says.

John Gookin, who develops programs for the Lander, Wyoming–based National Outdoor Leadership School, has a little more faith in preventive measures. He, too, advocates timing your activities to avoid afternoon thunderstorms; he also advises staying away from trees and exposed areas like summits and ridgelines, and employing "the lightning position," a tight tuck that theoretically improves your chances. "No one's ever died in that position," he says. "I'd rather try it than nothing."

Rod Liberal, for one, doesn't plan to stay inside the rest of his life. In August, for the second anniversary of the Teton tragedy, Liberal was planning to join fellow climber Jacob Bancroft (who was also struck on Friction Pitch, suffering a severe concussion) and some of the rangers who saved their lives for a return to the Grand. "I want to see where everything happened," Liberal says. "I want to be able to say I made it up the same route."