“Whilst there are no rules in climbing a code of ethics has
evolved over time.” – The BMC
After a recent trip to Windgather whilst the weather was
particularly warm, I realised how many families actually come to climb
together. Most of my climbing has been conducted over the winter months when
we’ve been the only people at the crag, and to see how many people actually
climb during warmer weather has completely astounded me.
Over the short period that I’ve been lead climbing I’ve
quickly picked up the prejudices around climbing ethics such as bolting, erosion
caused from groups, and etiquette at the crag. I’ve never really heard much
around the subject of children climbing, I was aware that it happens as I know
there are kids clubs at my local climbing walls. I’m also an instructor at an
outdoor education centre, and we take children of all ages out climbing, but
they’re always well supervised.
I started off the day with a positive attitude towards all
of the families at the crag, thinking that it’s amazing that there are parents
that are getting their children outside and off their computer games. All the
children looked like they were really enjoying themselves, and the parents were
getting a good amount of climbing in too, setting up routes for the children
whilst belaying each other. But then throughout the day different events
happened, which made me question my earlier views, but not about the children,
it was about their parents suitability.
Positive start to the day
The way I see it there is a spectrum of types of families
that rock climb, but the two most important points for consideration should
always be safety and enjoyment. If your children are safe and aren’t causing
safety issues for other climbers, and they are enjoying themselves then that
surely is all that matters?
The first incident was only a minor incident but it really
annoyed me and I felt sorry for the child. It was a boy who was probably about
8 or 9 climbing with his dad, he’s clearly not done a lot of trad climbing as
the first thing that came out of his mouth upon arrival was “where are the
bolts?” Well the dad looked absolutely horrified, he quickly had a look around
to check no one had heard and then shouted at his son “Do not say that word
around here you will get us into trouble”. I have two problems with this
incident, firstly, I know most trad climbers are against the idea of bolts,
however I don’t think any of them would spring to action and beat this man and
his son up because they’ve done some sport climbing. Secondly, if the father
knew the son had never done any trad climbing before why has he not given him a
briefing on the process of how to do it before they came out of the house?
Rather than scolding him for just asking a question that he knew nothing about.
Later that day he was trying to tie his son into the rope, but the son was
running around playing with a stick, he then turned around to me, unaware that
I heard the debriefing he gave him earlier and said “you just can’t get the
seconds these days”. I just laughed this off and normally I would have thought
none the wiser, but I just thought to myself why are you here if you can’t put
up with bringing your son? It’s meant to be enjoyable for you both not just a
stressful exercise.
The second incident was something that really gets under my
skin, pushy parent syndrome. There was a child next to us that clearly had
plenty of climbing experience as she was sat there reading a guide book looking
at the routes, she had all the gear and had been up a few climbs earlier. She
just didn’t want to climb anymore, and had clearly had enough. Yet her parents
were stood there giving her a loud debriefing on the fact the route was a lot
easier than many climbs she’d done before, she just needed to get up there and
she needed to concentrate and stop picking up bad habits. The dad had lead the
climb and the mum was sat at the bottom shouting at her. When she got up to
about head height she was struggling with the crux move on an overhang, and her
foot kept slipping. Yet her mum was shouting to stop being pathetic and she’d
seen where her dad had gone and she needed to shut up and just get on with it. At
this point the girl jumped off the wall shouting for “god sake stop being so
bossy” to her mum and sat there on the climb dangling in her harness in a strop
for about 5 minutes.
The BMC have information available for anyone interested in getting into climbing as a family
The final incident was one that quite frankly horrified me.
Safety at the crag should always be a top consideration, whether it’s your own
or other climbers, but when it’s your own child’s it should be top of the list,
no questions asked. The dad of the family in question clearly had experience as
he was setting up top ropes for his kids, the harnesses were fitted well and
while the children were in his eyesight were always wearing helmets. As soon as
he left to set up a top rope all hell broke loose. The kids were running around
squealing, two out of three of them had taken helmets off. Frankly it’s just
irresponsible parenting, you don’t need to be a climber to have the common
sense of knowing running around under climbers squealing without a helmet could
result in a head injury, whether this is from a trip or something falling onto
their heads. You can guarantee that the moment this happens it won’t be the
kids or parents fault, it will be the person climbing, and they will get an
earful off the irresponsible mum. Also I
then realised the helmets that they were wearing (when they had them on) were
cycling helmets! I know wearing a cycling helmet is better than no helmet if a
rock was to fall and hit you on the head, and that’s an informed risk you have
to take for yourself. I won’t bore you going into the different types of impacts
and how the designs of cycling and climbing helmets are different as you
probably know more than me. In my opinion if you are prepared to take your
children to do an extreme sport then surely you should ensure they have all the
proper safety equipment in place to prevent injury, you can’t put a price on
your child’s safety, but obviously in this case they can.
And all of this came after all three children were climbing
unsupervised on a barbed wire fence, it made my nerves bad just watching, I dread
to think what could have happened if one slipped. Later the little boy
(probably about 4 years old) started running around with his ‘bits’ out chasing
after his sister, with her screeching “mum he’s trying to wee on me”. The mum
then proceeded to ignore the commotion that was going on and tell the other
daughter off for sitting there upset saying “well this is very unprofessional
of you” (she must have been about 7 so I don’t know what is professional at
that age but obviously the mum has a clear image). The little boy then
proceeded to wee right up in the air like a fountain all over himself and his
harness and get it over some of the rocks people sit on for a break. While this
was going on I was mid-way up a climb, it was quite an easy climb so it wasn’t
that much of a distraction but you can imagine how distracting this could have
been for a climber on one of the harder routes.
Wearing the right head protection
In conclusion I am not against families climbing, as there
were plenty of families there that weren’t doing anything unsafe/distracting to
other climbers. I also don't want to put anyone off getting into climbing, it's just a plea for the application of common sense. We all have to start somewhere, and I’d have loved to have
climbed from a young age, I can only imagine the sheer amount of experience and
how good they will be when they’re my age. It’s a brilliant way to get involved
with the great outdoors, challenge yourself and you can see and feel your own
personal development. What I am against is unsafe practices and the lack of
such affecting the other climbers at the crag. I’m a very positive person and
absolutely hate moaning, but if I’ve managed to pick up on this other climbers
must have too.
