Dire Warning to Stay Home from Top Rock Climber
Go for hikes and walks, just stay close to home, avoid high-risk activities and practice social distancing
Italian climber Stefano Ghisolfi, one of the only crushers to have ever sent 5.15c with his tick Perfecto Mundo, has issued a dire warning to his followers to stay home during the novel coronavirus covid-19 outbreak. Ghisolfi is in the middle of one of the worst hit areas and his message is simple: stay home. Italians can no longer use their climbing or hiking areas, by law.
Here in Canada, the weight of the situation isn’t being appreciated as thousands of people went to the trails and climbing areas on Saturday. That forced access groups to start closing trails because hikers were not practicing social distancing, something that is now penalized by a $1,000 fine in Ontario.
While it’s important to get outside during this time, health experts are asking Canadians to stay close to home when they go for a walk or hike and to avoid popular trails. Also to avoid high-risk activities like climbing and skiing. Mountain towns, such as Squamish and Canmore, need to do more to dissuade visitors before stricter actions are imposed that limit our social movements.
“Italy has one of the best health system in the world, but the beds in intensive care units are almost full in the north, they are moving people to hospital with less cases. There are no more place in cemeteries for coffins, the army is using their trucks to move the deceased to other regions. Medics and nurses are working harder than ever, they are putting their lifes at risk and getting sick and dying too. They are real life super heroes, and they are asking us to help them. They are not asking to go to war, or to go to hospitals and help them on the field, they just asked us to stay home to reduce and delay the contagion. Please, it is a simple rule, even if you are in a country with no restrictions at all, try to stay home and help everyone to defeat this virus.”
