Report: Annual UIAA Medical Commission Meeting

The UIAA Medical Commission held its annual meeting on the 3,000m ski resort of Telluride, Colorado (USA) on Thursday 4 August. The meeting was one of many international committee meetings that were incorporated into the 7th World Congress of Mountain & Wilderness Medicine, a biennial congress which was held from 30 July – 4 August. The following report is courtesy of UIAA Medical Commission President Dr David Hillebrandt. "Our heads were spinning with the science of mountain medicine...

A Microwave on a Mountain

Samoëns is a popular resort during both the summer and winter months – skiing, hiking, mountain biking and paragliding are among its most popular activities. 83 volunteers took part in the event, hosted under a beating Alpine sun. The clean-up activity lasted from 10:30 until 12:30 in different zones near the village. Of the five groups, two cleaned the area on the top of the gondola station Grand Massif Express. Most of the volunteers were tourists from France and...

Climbers carry Olympic torch

Two avid Brazilian climbers had the honour of carrying the Olympic torch ahead of Rio 2016. Idalicio Manoel de Oliveira Filho (bottom picture), a long time member of the Centro Excursionista Brasileiro (CEB), the oldest climbing and mountain hiking club in Brazil and its President Horácio Ragucci (top picture) are both rock and mountain climbers and had the honour of carrying the Olympic torch ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. CEB is part of the Rio...

Celebrating Mountain Day in Japan

On 11 August, the people of Japan were able to take a new public holiday – national Mountain Day, a celebration of the country’s rich geography and splendid mountain regions. Climbing and mountaineering are among the most popular outdoor pursuits in a country which boasts a number of 3,000m peaks, most notably the world famous Mount Fuji. The Japan Mountaineering Association, a UIAA member since 1967, is the largest in Asia and counts some 43,000 members. This...

Indoor Climbing Walls

[vc_row row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="grid" text_align="left" padding_top="40" padding_bottom="120" css_animation="" box_shadow_on_row="no" el_class=".safety"][vc_column][no_elements_holder number_of_columns="one_column"][no_elements_holder_item item_padding="0px 0px 0px 10px" aligment="left" advanced_animations="no"][vc_column_text] Indoor Climbing Walls [vc_separator type="transparent" position="left" color="" border_style="solid" width="" thickness="" up="20" down=""] Paper examines liabilities for indoor climbing wall operators The growing interest in climbing indoors has prompted the UIAA Legal Experts Working Group (LEWG) to publish a paper highlighting liability issues faced by operators of indoor walls in North America and the Europe. A number of lawsuits and their outcomes which have...