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One Writer Asks: Are Climbers Pretending Not to Climb?

During the coronavirus, climbers are asked to not travel long distances and respect all park and crag closures

Andrew Bisharat is a veteran writer who runs Evening Sends and is part of The Runout podcast. This week, he published a story titled Pretending Not to Climb and asks some very important questions.

Right off the bat, Bisharat states: “There are two types of climbers right now: those who have stopped climbing, and those who are pretending they have stopped climbing.” We’re entering the sixth week since WHO declared coronavirus a global pandemic and many climbers are following government orders to stay close to home.

But, what if staying close to home means that you can walk down the street to a crag? Like in many of Canada’s climbing towns. “But why can’t nearby cliffs remain open to locals who don’t have to travel long distances to reach them?” said Bisharat. “Besides, if social distancing protocols can be adhered to in grocery stores, then certainly they can be adhered to at crags…”

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Hey guys, time for some serious talk. We're in the middle of a global pandemic, which is putting our community at risk. The provincial and federal governments have asked everyone to stay home, avoid non-essential travel, and practice social distancing. Provincial parks are closed to ALL visitors. The COVID-19 regulations mean that activities such as climbing outdoors are *not* permitted, anywhere. We are very fortunate to have many climbing crags throughout Ontario which welcome our sport — but our continued access is a privilege, not a right. Our relationships with landowners are built upon trust and respect. If we fail to respect the current pleas to stay home, our access may be taken away, and certain crags may ban climbing altogether. Please stay local to get your exercise — go for a walk or a run around the block. Help ensure that once sanctions are lifted, climbing outdoors is something that we're able to return to. Keep climbing open, and encourage your friends to do the same. #ontario #climbing #stayhome #staysafe #access

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As Bisharat points out, then we’re all touching the same rock, anchors and bolts. Not to mention that climbers will most certainly travel long distances to crags if crags are open.

However, there’s no doubt that people are rock climbing these days, but are pretending not to. Maybe they’re heading to remote crags or risking being shamed at popular ones. It seems that nobody is posting current climbing adventures on social media since the pandemic started. Well, at least not everyone.

Bisharat concludes his article with: “Or will the new norms be a continuation of the present: shaming enough people into never climbing such that it’s safe enough for the shameless pretenders to get their pitches in without doing much harm?”

As of March 20 in Canada, every province and territory still has stay-at-home orders in place, provincial and national parks remained closed and social distancing will be around for a long time. Climbing gyms are shuttered, gear shops are selling gear online and most of us are still stuck at home. Access groups across the country have told climbers not to go rock climbing right now.

We have daily training routines posted on our Indoor Climbing page here and hopefully everyone is staying fit, getting outside and building a home wall. Have you seen some of the home walls going up?!

 

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