Some good crack in the bothy, bit o snow ice and wind, two Munro's. Awesome start to the winter!
Thursday, 15 November 2007
First taste of winter
Canny be arsed writing much but here's a few pics;
Some good crack in the bothy, bit o snow ice and wind, two Munro's. Awesome start to the winter!
Some good crack in the bothy, bit o snow ice and wind, two Munro's. Awesome start to the winter!
Thursday, 8 November 2007
An Ethical Matrix
(Ethics is a system of public, general rules for guiding human conduct - Gert, 1988)
The punters have been quiet of late...... limited climbing has given plenty of time for musings on the way the world revolves (does this mean we sometimes climb upside down?), what would happen if aliens stole the moon and the question of ethics. my work kindly invited me to an Ethical Workshop to discuss the relevance of the 'Ethics Matrix' in our field and with every suggestion i was thinking of the paralell in the climbing world.
an Austrian colleague of mine who is visiting from portugal is, interms of research, far more ethically minded than i and was equally interested in the transfer of this 'matrix' to the complex web that is climbing ethics. He came over here a sports climber (honestly, a man studying ethics, a sports climber!!! i know it aint right but let me continue....) but was keen to try the trad and learn why a certain faction of the uk climbing fraternity sneer at the idea of bolting routes..... but his actions were open minded and are an example of a main principle of ethics - freedom! freedom to do as you wish. so you could say that you are free to bolt a particular route, but the obvious counter to this is that the next person to visit said route has limited freedom - the route has now been bolted so they can not enjoy it in its original state and will be more likely to use those bolts than place gear. however, if this climber (or any subsequent) decides to chop the bolt then they are not respecting the freedom of the original climber. and if that original climber is the first ascentionist then is the route classed as 'theirs'? this raises the question of ownership...... if that person 'owns' the route then then they surely get to name and grade the route. the grade of a climb identifies how it is to be climbed, on a 6c one would expect to find equiptment in place and an on E2 another would hope to find enough natural features into which they could place gear. so this surely gives the climber liberty to chose what they wish to do within their personal safety margin
one must also consider the environmental impact of our actions. Bolting has an obvious impact, but then so does chopping bolts. similarly, winter climbing leaves an obvious mark in crampon scratches and a great number of in situ pegs (also seen on many trad rock lines)..... on the issue of leaving rock as you found it one could suggest that giving a route 3*s is an infringement of environmental ethics (unethical!) as it encourages more traffic than certain other routes and thus induces more damage to the rock. this could be extended by saying that the * system also infringes a climbers freedom to choose by sub-consciously entrapping them to do a route that others have decided is better than any other individual route..........
What i have suggessted are but a few of the many issues that are intertwined into the world of ethics and this is where the matrix comes in: if we take the affected parties (say; climbers, non-climbers, the environment, manufacturers) and put them into a grid against all the personal considerations (freedom, honourability, safety etc..) we can weigh up the 'greater good'. but as our workshop showed this never gives an answer as everyone has somethin different to say. this just leads to circular arguements that never stop (see SC bolt wars!!!) where parties are unable to see where the otherside is coming from. so basically think what you like but do things within reason and public acceptability.
personally, i think that sports climbers (in scotland) should shove their bolts up their arses and if they want to clip then stay indoors or go abroad! and those who bolt mountains should be shot!!!!!! but lowland dry tooling is perfectly acceptable as it is year round practice for the King of all sports! then there are further issues of whether showering on road trips and pulling on gear (you know who you are!) should be punishable by seriuous injury, and the victimisation of those who wear socks whilst climbing is akin to racism. another pet hate is those who crap in their snowhole to stop snow tramps from makin use of someone elses hard work! and then there's top roping.........
The punters have been quiet of late...... limited climbing has given plenty of time for musings on the way the world revolves (does this mean we sometimes climb upside down?), what would happen if aliens stole the moon and the question of ethics. my work kindly invited me to an Ethical Workshop to discuss the relevance of the 'Ethics Matrix' in our field and with every suggestion i was thinking of the paralell in the climbing world.
an Austrian colleague of mine who is visiting from portugal is, interms of research, far more ethically minded than i and was equally interested in the transfer of this 'matrix' to the complex web that is climbing ethics. He came over here a sports climber (honestly, a man studying ethics, a sports climber!!! i know it aint right but let me continue....) but was keen to try the trad and learn why a certain faction of the uk climbing fraternity sneer at the idea of bolting routes..... but his actions were open minded and are an example of a main principle of ethics - freedom! freedom to do as you wish. so you could say that you are free to bolt a particular route, but the obvious counter to this is that the next person to visit said route has limited freedom - the route has now been bolted so they can not enjoy it in its original state and will be more likely to use those bolts than place gear. however, if this climber (or any subsequent) decides to chop the bolt then they are not respecting the freedom of the original climber. and if that original climber is the first ascentionist then is the route classed as 'theirs'? this raises the question of ownership...... if that person 'owns' the route then then they surely get to name and grade the route. the grade of a climb identifies how it is to be climbed, on a 6c one would expect to find equiptment in place and an on E2 another would hope to find enough natural features into which they could place gear. so this surely gives the climber liberty to chose what they wish to do within their personal safety margin
one must also consider the environmental impact of our actions. Bolting has an obvious impact, but then so does chopping bolts. similarly, winter climbing leaves an obvious mark in crampon scratches and a great number of in situ pegs (also seen on many trad rock lines)..... on the issue of leaving rock as you found it one could suggest that giving a route 3*s is an infringement of environmental ethics (unethical!) as it encourages more traffic than certain other routes and thus induces more damage to the rock. this could be extended by saying that the * system also infringes a climbers freedom to choose by sub-consciously entrapping them to do a route that others have decided is better than any other individual route..........
What i have suggessted are but a few of the many issues that are intertwined into the world of ethics and this is where the matrix comes in: if we take the affected parties (say; climbers, non-climbers, the environment, manufacturers) and put them into a grid against all the personal considerations (freedom, honourability, safety etc..) we can weigh up the 'greater good'. but as our workshop showed this never gives an answer as everyone has somethin different to say. this just leads to circular arguements that never stop (see SC bolt wars!!!) where parties are unable to see where the otherside is coming from. so basically think what you like but do things within reason and public acceptability.
personally, i think that sports climbers (in scotland) should shove their bolts up their arses and if they want to clip then stay indoors or go abroad! and those who bolt mountains should be shot!!!!!! but lowland dry tooling is perfectly acceptable as it is year round practice for the King of all sports! then there are further issues of whether showering on road trips and pulling on gear (you know who you are!) should be punishable by seriuous injury, and the victimisation of those who wear socks whilst climbing is akin to racism. another pet hate is those who crap in their snowhole to stop snow tramps from makin use of someone elses hard work! and then there's top roping.........
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