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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Abseilers. What are your opinions about them? 1-Aug-2017 At 1:20:39 PM One Day Hero

Message

On 1/08/2017 ldshield wrote:
>I agree, but there's currently no system to identify to abseilers that
>line X is problematic but lines Y and Z are not climbable and they should
>abseil there instead of on X.

Just deal with it when it comes up, have a civil conversation about it and hope the abseilers aren't tools.

>It's a value judgement, but activities which have more participants have
>a higher profile, and thus receive more assistance from government with
>less external regulation. The prime (but not only) example is AFL;

This is so ridiculous, I can't believe you've just written it. When numbers go up in AFL, you build more playing fields, more stadiums. How do you plan to build more cliffs? Comparing an urban team sport to an outdoor/wilderness activity is retarded.

>By contrast, fishing has a lower public profile and thus receives little
>external funding compared to AFL, but is still regulated through fishing
>licences.

Fishing is actually a very good example to compare with climbing. You have a 'sport' where the participants are competing for limited natural resources, while impacting areas which are enjoyed by a variety of user groups. I challenge you to find anyone who thinks that the increase in popularity of fishing has been a good thing. In fact, the obvious lesson from fishing is that when increasing numbers of participants are pumped into 'wild' areas, strict regulation is required to prevent things going to shit.

>
>You can't measure character easily, but there are numerous studies (I
>couldn't post links, but you can Google it) confirming that participation
>in outdoor ed programs improves self-esteem, life outcomes, etc.

I don't buy into the idea that outdoor ed is better for kids than footy or playing music or whatever other activity they might be into. Kids should be given the opportunity to try things and decide for themselves. The notion that it's good to force kids into the outdoors (when they'd rather not) is self-serving shite brought to you by Outward Bound and other vested interests.

>Yes, absolutely. If trailbikes were being ridden on fire roads that would
>be fine, but they're not.

Often they are though. Blaming all participants for the misbehaviour of a minority isn't fair.

>At Lal Lal Historic Area trailbike riders have spread phytophthera
>fungus throughout the park

I've heard that bushwalkers might very well have spread phytophthera to the Wollemi Pines. Does this make all bushwalkers bad?

>While failing to bury faecal waste is obviously unacceptable, at least
>the impacts are relatively localised and time-limited, rather than being
>spread out over ten kilometres or more.

I'm not suggesting that the total impacts of climbing are as great as the total imacts of trailbiking, nor that the average climber is as destructive as the average trailbiker. Just that you have an obvious bias against the activity, and would probably be happy to have it banned because it wouldn't affect you personally.