Serl

Hey guys, Thanks for the answers so far! A few people on another forum voiced concerns about the "vagueness" of the survey so I just wanted to clarify that the survey is just supplementary to my research. This is going a long way towards helping me out; I really appreciate it. Mountaineering, but since the focus is on core equipment and the risk vs. reward factor I'm not too picky. Sorry I didn't make that clearer. I'm 21 years old and what is this?

Hi everyone, I'm a college student currently residing up in northern Vermont. I'm not much of a climber myself; I've done a few small tourist-y hikes, (Blue Mountain, Monadnock, etc.) but tend to stick a little closer to sea level than I'm sure most people here do. I hope to eventually tackle some more interesting locales, but my job doesn't bring in a whole lot of money and most of that is spent on tuition. So, for the most part, I'm focusing on research and general conditioning when I can, which brings me to the reason I'm here: My university is currently running a class specifically on mountain climbing, of which I am enrolled in. I'm in the midst of writing a short research paper on safety equipment and regulations for climbers, and I was hoping to get some more personal accounts than what I can get out of an old textbook or manufacturer's website. If any of you have the time, I would very much appreciate it if you could take a minute to just answer a few questions. I'm afraid I don't have much incentive to offer other than being cited in freshman's attempt at a thesis, (i.e. no incentive whatsoever) but it would help me out a lot. I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the newbie section, since I am one. Hopefully the results of this are as informative to you as they are to me. Questions are below; everything is optional. Please only fill out what you are comfortable with sharing. Thanks! Basic Information Name (if you wish to be cited in a way other than your username): Age: Weight: Physical Height: Name or Elevation of Childhood Town:* *Side interest, used to determine if childhood environment impacts ability to adapt to certain levels of height while climbing- see Adaptions to Altitude: A Current Assessment by Cynthia M. Beall. Climbing Information Typical Carrying Capacity (if known): Years of Experience: Highest Recorded Personal Height: Longest Climb (Guesstimate): Average Number of Climbing Partners: Usual/Favorite locale: Preferred Manufacturer(s): Personal Accounts - How often do you go climbing? With partners? Alone? Do you stick to areas you are familiar with or are you often in search for new conquests? - What do you consider the bare minimum in safety equipment for your typical heights? - On average, what does your climbing loadout consist of? - Do you find the weight of your gear to be a noticeable encumbrance? Has it ever endangered your safety? - Have you ever sacrificed a piece of necessary (or unnecessary) equipment for speed's sake? What was it? Why? - What are some of the more notable injuries (if any) you have received while climbing? Where were you? In hindsight, is there anything that could have been done to avoid it? - Do you insist on your climbing partners having matching gear or do you spread out necessities amongst the group? How much “personalization” is involved? - Has a climbing partner ever endangered themselves or the well-being of others? How? Was it an acceptable risk? - What constitutes an “acceptable risk” for yourself? - Has your safety equipment ever failed during a climb? What was it? What did you do? - Why do you climb? - Other comments: