Expedition Planning · 2026-07-15 · 3 min read
Why We Say READY (and What We Refuse to Say)
A green badge is a liability the moment it lies. The rules behind the readiness engine — including the three things it will never tell you.
When your chart clears an expedition's floor, the Index stamps it READY in confident green. That word cost us more debate than any feature on this site, because a readiness claim is a safety claim, and safety claims have consequences.
So here are the rules the engine runs on. READY means your earned stages meet the published floor — certs and logged experience, the auditable stuff. It does not mean conditions are safe this week, it does not mean your fitness survived the winter, and it does not grade the operator you booked. Those three judgments belong to you, your guide, and the forecast, in that order, and no algorithm gets a vote.
This is also why the floors are floors. We'd rather you arrive over-prepared and find the trip easy than arrive at the published minimum and find it honest. The gap between 'technically qualified' and 'comfortable enough to enjoy it' is where most bad trip reports are written.
And it's why one phrase appears on every corner of this platform like a load-bearing wall: coordinates never override conditions, qualifications, or local guidance. The engine can tell you that you're allowed to want it. The mountain still decides the rest.