The Future of Mountaineering
Preserving Adventure
The 'Talking Point' feature in issue 18 of The Scottish Mountaineer discussed the conference held by the UIAA (the world federation of mountaineering) in Innsbruck in 2002 entitled “The Future of Mountaineering”. This resulted in The Tyrol Declaration of Best Practice in Mountain Sports. This declaration covers many aspects of mountaineering from dying and death, conservation, responsibilities of leaders and guides, team spirit and public relations, but 'Article 1' is that of Individual Responsibility and the one recurring theme in all the agreed Articles is that of preserving adventure. 
The Tyrol Declaration can be read in this article from the UIAA Journal 'World Mountaineering and Climbing', or you can download a copy in MS Word format here.
Scottish Mountaineer also reproduced two articles based on past conferences that concentrate on adventure and why we must maintain it in our sport in the future.
Should we accept the trend of modern society to 'make things safer' or do we accept that risk is an integral, perhaps even necessary feature of our sport? Please take the time to read these articles and use the form below to let us know what you think.
YOUR COMMENTS
Bish McAra writes:
Comrades! This is bull-shit! £14 million of public money (YOUR MONEY) on Ratho and they canny even spend a few grand to fix the up-lift at Glen Coe and retain a few jobs for the locals in Glen Coe. God help us, what is wrong with the Country! "Glen Coe is Scotland's oldest ski centre, in the heart of historic Glencoe, and with links to the family of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. But it has fallen victim to the wrong kind of winter weather" For the FULL STORY read...
www.theherald.co.uk/news/5429.html
MW replies:
What is wrong with the country is partly people like Mr McAra not checking their facts. £1.2M of Lottery funds ("public money" I suppose in the sense that it's raised from the "idiot tax") were provided towards the building of Ratho. The rest was private funds. If Ratho ceases to be the National Rock Climbing Centre for Scotland then the money has to be repaid. Glencoe ski area is reported to be losing £500K a year. So that £1.2M might possibly have kept Glencoe as a going concern for a couple of years...and then what?
Iain writes:
I visited the megalithic Ratho Adventure Centre soon after its opening. The car park was muddy, unwelcoming, and the entrance poorly signed. The interior was of Tolkienesk proportions. Walking around was a little like walking through the rooms in the spaceship 'Solaris' -Tiso's was empty and the beautifully appointed restaurant silent to all but the laughter of the few staff huddled around the great Swiss fire for warmth. In the oversized auditorium two poor and honest climbers were glumly clambering, quietly and reverently, in the Cathedral like hush of this vast empty monument to unchecked vanity and poor business sense. I shook my head, pretended to show an interest in the tediously complex literature on membership options. Thanked the friendly but bewildered staff and left for the local wall in town where bad music, overcrowded walls, chat, fun and laughter followed us all to the pub next door...Next time, lets keep our feet on the floor and our eyes firmly on the key issues...outdoors.
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