by Monkey » Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:04 pm
Unfortunately I think there's a lot of snobbery in our sport (that is, mountaineeering / hillwalking / climbing). The elite professionals at the cutting edge, the kind that pioneer new routes on virgin faces etc, and half of whom seem to die in pursuit of their ambitions, look down upon the next level down who use too much protection, or who climb established routes with fixed ropes (unethical etc), who in turn look down upon the weekend mountaineers, who in turn look down upon those on non-technical routes, who in turn look down upon hillwakers, and so on. There's a ridiculous pecking order. This seems to be unique to this sport. After all no one sneers at amateur tennis players simply because they're not at the level of Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, ditto football, and indeed most other sports. Though I have some sympathy for what Mr X says, his post also exemplifies this unpleasant snobbery. What's wrong with Trail magazine? I think nothing. Trail magazine provides a good introduction for beginner hillwalkers, with some articles pitched at the more experienced (eg Liathach winter traverse in one recent issue), and I don't think they're irresponsible at all. Now I dare say this couple that Tortoise saw were unaware of the potential dangers, but let's not indulge in the very kind of snobbery that others, higher in the mountaineering pecking order than ourselves, would direct towards mere hillwalkers like us.