Jumping through hoops
I went climbing yesterday, woohoo! It was indoor, booo!
That's not entirely the point of this post though. When I went to climb, I had to sign a waiver; nothing very unusual about that. Except this one was four pages long and required three signatures, two initials, and a witnesses signature too! I'm not exactly sure what I've signed up for as I didn't read it fully so if you don't hear from me for a while I'll be working in a mine somewhere.
Even that wasn't the best bit, I had to take a test to make sure that I could belay properly. (Non-climbers: hold the rope to catch someone if they fall off.) That test cost an extra five bucks and took twenty minutes. And I was more qualified than the guy testing me! I did ask, but apparently being an instructor, "doesn't count for anything". Grrr...
The worst bit was that the wall wasn't even that great - small, old and with a campus board that you bash your body into.
I know that this sort of thing is becoming more widespread in the UK but I really hope it stops before it reaches this point. So much of the climbing subculture is about doing your own thing, in your own way, that it defeats the object almost entirely. In my opinion, you shouldn't be climbing if you don't recognise that there's a risk involved. It's an extreme sport, so shit happens. We were lucky at university in that we one came close to a major accident once, butI have no idea what would happen if someone was hurt - who's responsible? Is it the people running the trip, the university, the student's union, or the students themselves?
Maybe that's a little over the top, but I don't like the idea of being told what to do if I accept the risks I'm taking.
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