Spray forum: "If it's not climbing related this is where you post it. Be warned this forum is not for the thin skinned."
i dunno, maybe i am wrong, but this seemed to be related to climbing...thanks for replying nonetheless!!
I suspect that after all the media attention that this incident recieved nationwide we can fully expect some idiot to come up with a bill to restrict climbing in some way. Thus, this becomes most definitely a climbing related issue. I have seen bb posts and "letters to the editor" and all kinds of misguided crap from non-climbers advocating everything from closing Mt. Hood to climbing during the winter to requiring that climbers pay for rescue because of the "burden" that rescue places on society. One thing that reading the posts by non-climbers on this board over the past several days is that the public has very little understanding of what climbing is about; for instance I saw a letter to the editor in the Albany Herald by some guy who was calling for closing the mountain to climbing during the winter (because we poor misguided thrill-seeking climbers were just too stupid to understand that the mountain is too dangerous to be atempted in the winter). The media, by frequently referring to the three climbers as "hikers", also served to create a bias that the climbers were perhaps irresponsible or misguided in attempting to climb the mountain during the winter. The average "Joe Couch Potato" may not understand that to climbers who have done multiple Ranier ascents and who may preparing for an Everest climb, the idea of a winter climb on Hood or a comparable mountain is not only reasonable but constitutes necessary preparation.
Perhaps it is because this incident is still pretty raw, but it seems to me that the media coverage and some of the posts have assumed that climbers in general are adrenaline junkies who must pursue ever increasing risks to satisfy a need for thrill. That does not seem an accurate portrayal to me. Sometimes situations get very intense and sometimes climbers die... even when they have done everything right. Oftentimes though climbing is mostly really hard work, hours of rest-stepping, being cold, tired and sore and puking from the altitude and exertion and making it to the top anyway... or having the judgement to turn around within sight of the top because conditions are deteriorating too badly.
It is sad that climbers died on Mt. Hood... but it is not a tragedy... they chose to climb, most likely they were there because climbing was an integral part of their lives and they accepted the risks. The tragedy would be if the sensationalism surrounding this incident resulted in restrictions being placed on access to mountains or misguided financial burdens being placed on climbers.
