Mountaineering Ethos - MCofS Guidance
The MCofS as the Representative Body operates on the fundamental basis of the freedom that Bill Murray so eloquently stated: a freedom to purposefully and intentionally undertake a hazardous activity without restrictions or recriminations. The MCofS supports its members and member clubs to continue to enjoy these freedoms and as such the MCofS itself, as well as its activities, are organised and operated by member volunteers, indeed the MCofS is dependent on volunteer support.
Mountaineering Ideals:
- Freedom from regulations for participation and sharing our knowledge
- Freedom of access to climb and walk as a right
- To act in an environmentally responsible manner
In order to maintain the freedoms in mountaineering the MCofS supports the view that:
- you do not need a certificate of proficiency (or any other certificate assessing your abilities) to participate either outdoors or on indoor facilities
- you should understand the ‘Participation Statement’ and what it means regarding your participation
- you must endeavour to be self reliant at all times, but be prepared to help those in distress
- all participants must be prepared to engage in hazardous situations in order to gain experience and judgement to learn how to manage risk
- those wishing to enter the sport are best advised to serve an ‘apprenticeship’ – a progression from less hazardous (e.g. indoor sport climbing) to more hazardous (e.g. Scottish winter) activities
- the best way to learn the skills needed in the Scottish mountains is to learn from those more experienced [Mentoring – sharing knowledge]
- you do not need a certificate of leadership or a certificate assessing your competency to pass on your knowledge to others informally, either individually or in a club
- if you do get into difficulty in the hills you understand that it may (or may not) be possible to be rescued by other mountaineers either informally, or through the voluntary rescue teams
- you can employ the services of a person qualified to National Certificate standards to help you gain hard skills if you wish
- introducing children to the sport in informal situations should be undertaken with due regard to the enhanced responsibilities (see the MCofS Child Protection Guidelines) as well as their physical and psychological abilities
- involving parents in the activity at every level and informing them of all the hazards of the activity is important
- you should strive to conserve the climbing and hill walking environment and to leave as little trace of your passing as possible
What are Climbing Ethics?
From where do they originate and what do they mean to climbers out there on the mountains? Are they fixed in stone (pun intended!) or can they change?
The world’s climbers are often referred to as one single community; the obsession with climbing being an international bond that means they will have the same views about climbing. After all, climbing is climbing isn’t it? Well, in some basic respects perhaps, but upon the divergence of the sport into different disciplines, not always!
Perhaps the one element of climbing that does seem universally accepted is a desire to limit any ‘rules’ in our sport (at least out doors); for climbers to operate unregulated and free from interference, particularly from ‘outside’ influences.
Climbing is often regarded as a way of life, quite often as a way of escaping uninteresting ‘normality’ – or rebelling against it! Across the world in the recent past there are numerous examples of ‘drop-out’ groups of climbers scraping a living on the edge of society with a single goal – to have the freedom to climb when and wherever they wish without authorities telling them otherwise (good examples would be ‘Camp 4’ in Yosemite, Arapiles in Australia, the ‘dole generation’ in the Peak district’s Sheffield and Glen Nevis in Scotland).
However, every country in the world has developed climbing in its own particular historical manner. Different social influences have played a huge part in the way we have moulded and designed what becomes the ‘accepted’ method of the way we climb. Add to this the advances made in regard to the technology we use (ropes, harnesses, ‘protection’) and this history has led to different countries marching to different beats.
The Scottish Traditions in Climbing and the On-going Debate
The MCofS has actively encouraged debate on this issue for many years and published statements of best practice as a result to help inform climbers of a possible compromise
- See the 1990 Bolts Policy.
- See the more recent debate to update the policy in the ‘Pitch-in’ section.
The UIAA Declaration embraces the use of bolts, at the same time placing great store on adventure and maintaining the future scope for adventure. It also asks climbers to respect traditional local ethics. In relation to our own deliberations, many of the comments relate to these values.
For example, in relation to the leave no trace message, to some, bolts are regarded as an 'industrial' and tangible indication that we have been there, but like the declaration, there seems to be an acceptance of bolts 'in the right place' by all sides, although defining where becomes the difficulty.
In relation to updating the 1990 Bolts Policy, recent debate has brought the following points to the fore:
- Low lying crags appear acceptable sport venues by most.
- Mountains generally are the venue where most conflict arises, particularly in winter.
- Sea cliffs are also regarded as mainly adventurous and seen as an area that should be bolt free.
- The difficulty comes when there are 'exceptions' and so far these are Creag a Bhancair and Arbroath Sea Cliffs.
- There is also an argument that climbers cannot be hypocritical accepting bolts at these venues and not at a 'similarly exceptional' venue for winter.
- The idea that 'anything goes' in quarries has also been criticised, since there are important and hard lines in some central belt quarries yet to be climbed.
- Retro bolting (bolting an already established climb) is universally decried.
- One message that seems to have hit a cord is that of Scotland (UK) being regarded as unique in the world with its adventure style and ethic (particularly in winter). Some regard our standards as lagging behind those in other countries in terms of technical achievements, others see our style as being at the cutting edge and admired by other countries.
- A compromise would appear to embrace the idea that our rock is such that adventure without bolts is possible at many grades and this is what should be the focus of the future but where applicable, sport routes should be established.
In December 2007 a group of leading climbing activists and climbers new to the scene were brought together to see if the old policy could be updated.
The resulting Sport Climbing Statement can be found HERE.