I had the same comment from my son about the HST trip we took last year. Always a balance, not a bright line, between giving away the specific secrets of a particular route and general wisdom that applies to any trip. He was just as glad that I knew what to do about mild heat exhaustion as he was that I didn't make him read the whole trail guide.
The mistakes of the AMS saga of last week are not a tough call: all could have been prevented without sacrifice to Maxwells adventure and discovery. Not just AMS: knowing the basics of mt lion encounters would probably have enhanced that piece of it. You don't have to know exactly where the cat is, but you should have an idea of where one may be.
And you don't have to read every trip report and trail condition posting: you can preserve the specific adventure of a new place for yourself without being ignorant of the things that will apply wherever you go.
