Jailhouse Rock

Mountain enthusiasts are having a hard time this winter in the northern hemisphere. First off, in America legislators called for a law forcing all mountaineers and skiers to carry around locators after 3 climbers got lost in a storm on Mount Baker.

Now Italy wants to jail (or at least fine mega euros) climbers and mountain adventurers for venturing out when the conditions are poor. They skeem too many people are pushing the boat against the elements and making poor decisions that affect others safety, especially the rescue parties that are called out and spend days in adverse conditions saving lives or looking for bodies.

Can you imagine jail sentences for climbers and hikers in sunny South Africa? Six weeks in Polsmoor for forgetting your locater on Table Mountain. Seems unlikely, particularly since so many culprits would be from overseas.

Super hardcore and outspoken European climber Reinhold Messner slammed the proposal as ‘The end of Mountaineering’, and called for a debate on setting standards for determining mountaineers from others (skiers, snowboarders etc)

My assumption is that he reckons only ‘others’ should get punished, although it was not clear how one would make such a distinction, or why mountaineers should enjoy such privileges.

But SA is also getting more stringent on mountain lover’s behavior in the hills. For instance a new no smoking law in Table Mountain National Park after a cigarette butt started a fire on the mountain resulted in fatalities is being enforced, and signs warning day trippers on dangerous routes are being installed.

Is starting a fire the same as triggering an avalanche? Should alpine venturers know better? Personally, I cannot really get my head around going to jail for wanting to go out in poor weather.

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