We’ve entered one of the most dangerous stages of our pandemic. It’s about a month into our lockdown, and there is some evidence that social-distancing protocols are working. The curve is flattening. Of course, it could always be flatter … Still, we should welcome this news as good and evidence that we ought to continue listening to epidemiologists.
Yet all of the usual broken-brain loudmouths on the political right are paradoxically using the lower fatality numbers as evidence that thIS WUz aLl a LiBURal HoAx all along, and now they’re even coming out to gather publicly in protest by exposing themselves to potential contact with the virus. What they’re actually protesting is somewhat unclear to me. Are they trying to preserve their right to get as sick as they want and put others’ lives at risk as well? Only in America is the right to be as dumb and ignorant as you please seen as the highest value by at least half of the voting population.
These people are mad (we all are) but they don’t really seem to understand why. After all, these are the same people who protest Earth Day by letting diesel trucks idle and who burn sneakers they’ve already paid for because they don’t like it when their sports stars remind them that societal injustice exists. You get the sense they might stick their heads in ovens if it sufficiently annoyed liberals. The only consistent thread to their animus is a need to be deeply angry about something, and that something is whatever executives at Fox News have determined it should be.
The climbing world, fortunately, is a far happier place, though we are not immune to our own varieties of bad thinking. As if a microcosm of some of these larger societal divisions, the climbing world has broken into two groups: Those who have stopped climbing, and those who have pretended to stop climbing.
It seems as if many climbers are doing their part to help us get past this virus with as few fatalities as possible and without overwhelming our hospitals. Many climbers seem to be following the general wisdom that staying home is the best things we can all be doing right now, and the quickest way we can get past this.
But, at least for the Pretenders, it’s not immediately obvious that we shouldn’t be climbing at all. And because many of the reasons for why we shouldn’t be climbing right now are somewhat flimsy (as I will discuss below), I fear that much of the progress made over the past month is in danger of being lost as people, from Trump’s cult army of protesters to climbing’s pandemic Pretenders, decide that they’ve all had enough and want to keep living their normal lives and fuck everyone else.
First, a tangent on the Pretenders. To be clear, their charade is entirely an outgrowth of self-defeating patterns and habits relating to social media. For where else would one even feel the need to pretend but within a context in which you have trained yourself to adopt this pathological habit of making every detail about your life public, but are then afraid of the backlash that would ensue from admitting that you’ve continued to climb as much as you want all along. In other words, you can’t stop posting, but you don’t know what to post—so you pretend you’re not climbing by sharing archival photos or subject us all to IG Live training videos, which are more boring than actually hangboarding.
The people who are accustomed to sharing photos of their trips, whips, and sends daily and receive a smack of endorphins from the likes and comments piling in, now face a catch-22: They want to keep sharing their climbing lives on social media, only they can’t talk about it out of the fear they will be shamed by The Scolds, the climbers who have fallen into a role of policing the climbing internet and being extremely vocal about why everyone should be staying the fuck home. (And as much as I love the word fuck, for some reason the addition of it in this context has been one of the most grating developments of this pandemic.)
So now it’s the Pretenders vs. The Scolds. Hard to say who is winning, but one thing is for sure. It’s hilarious to see this internecine dynamic play out on the internet.
The Scolds are insufferable for obvious reasons. No one likes the hall monitor, especially the hall monitor who loves his job. But it’s not as though the Pretenders are immune from contempt either. They seem to embody the attitude of “rules apply to you, not me.” The Pretenders who are finding themselves standing at barren crags and empty boulderfields and correctly surmising that this can’t possibly be doing any harm are only correct because it is only they who have chosen to break the rules and not everyone else. There is a certain ugliness to people who don’t feel bad about this.
But … they have a point, too. After all, we can still go outside. People here in Colorado are hiking and skiing in the backcountry in limited, safe-ish capacities. Why not also climb?
It’s about time that someone said that most if not all of the arguments for a complete ban on climbing feel flimsy. Consider the argument for taking no needless risk (i.e., going climbing) because you may get hurt and have to go to the hospital thereby extracting resources that should otherwise go to covid-19 patients. At best this argument contains logic for exercising more prudence, but I don’t necessarily see it as the good argument for a total cessation of all climbing activities. Perhaps Evilution isn’t the smartest project currently…but you’re saying no one can chuck a lap on the Ironman Traverse, too?
Traveling to climb is clearly a bad idea because traveling is how the virus spreads. We shouldn’t be taking trips and making long-distance drives just to go climbing—no question.
But why can’t nearby cliffs remain open to locals who don’t have to travel long distances to reach them? Besides, if social distancing protocols can be adhered to in grocery stores, then certainly they can be adhered to at crags…
That said, successfully adhering to social distancing protocols at cliffs will require new norms of behavior and crag etiquette. Will climbers be willing to turn around and go home, or go to a different wall, if they arrive at a crag and X number of people are already there? And what is “X?” There’s a lot we still don’t know about the disease, which is a good argument for adhering to an abundance of prudence.
Everyone has been asking the question of “When will this be over?” but as The Atlantic recently stated, the better question is “How do we continue?” because this isn’t going to be over anytime soon.
For climbers, what would social distancing look like in practice? Are typically crowded crags to be avoided? Are the days of sessioning boulders with a dope-ass crew over? Should we just wear masks and sticky-rubber condoms on our fingers?
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?
If climbers persevere in the face of bad weather, projecting setbacks, and weekly dose of long highway miles, then they will certainly be able to do a little mental yoga to convince themselves that going climbing is OK. If you can spend hours obsessing over the moves on your project, then you can certainly dedicate a little quality time to dream up a logical framework in which the rules don’t apply to you. The inflight of climbers to places like St George indicates that people have gotten pretty good at this process.
The reality is that climbing is not hiking where you might see an occasional person on the trail and can step away. Climbers linger in the same area, touching the same surfaces and often having social interactions. If you have an obscure crag in the woods where you are guaranteed to be alone, I think climbing is fine. But thats not where the majority of people are currently climbing.
In the end I think climbers are capable of doing some amazing social good when it comes to land conservation, advocacy, and social good. Unless of course we have to stop climbing to accomplish those goals. Because in that case, fuck everyone, I need to go crimp a crimp.
I just lost all respect I ever had for your writing with this one article. The fact is that transmission through surfaces is extremely rare and extremely unlikely. This becomes even more unlikely when the surface ie a climbing hold is outdoors.
Why is it that climbers who are responsible enough to risk their life pursuing their passion are In your opinion not responsible enough to stay a few feet away from each other without coughing all over and licking holds ?
The government should never, ever have the right to take away the outdoors from its people. This violates the constitution and it violates human rights. It also goes against the sanctity of the mountains, a concept it seems you have never and will never truly understand.
It’s easy to take your position and tell people to stay home. Tell me, why is it that canadian tire, the liquor stores, the gardening stores & the vast majority of big box stores are happily open while we as humans get told we cant go climbing outside? How pathetic. You’re saying that you can’t be an adult and find a crag with no one there, or stand a route apart? Well in that case, yeah stay home if you’re that dumb.
This is a good example of some nice mental flexibility. If you stretch a few public safety statements and gracefully look the other way on a few common sense ideas, going climbing during this virus is harmless. In fact, it’s our constitutional duty to show up in Rifle next Saturday and Jens Larsen will be donating a n95 mask to a hospital for every point you log on 8a.nu throughout the duration of the stay-at-home order.
> The government should never, ever have the right to take away the outdoors from its people.
Lol… wow. Really? Is this really where people land on issues like this? As a non-american, you people kinda freak me out. No wonder you have a situation where people are “protesting” the virus (wtf?) while 1/700 NYC residents have now died. Stay classy eh?
As a global citizen, I find your identifying as a different nationality to be highly xenophobic. I have contacted the authorities in your area and they have assured me that you will be brought in for questioning.
New York looks really bad, I live on a small town with zero cases of covid, the climbing area near me has been empty 4 out of 5 times I’ve gone out to climb ( before covid it was still uncommon to see another person in this particular area it’s not popular by any means). It makes sense to me for people in situations similar to mine to continue to climb. If I lived near a destination area, I might drive out to a small local spot, if there’s people there I would turn around and go home or find a different zone. I guess my point being the US is a big place and it seems silly to try to paint the entire country with the same brush.
@ Pete very good points!
What does any of that even mean?
For those of you that are pro isolation and pro park closures. Consider this: the collective effort to isolate and alter daily life for Covid is the most significant change in habit since WW2. There are many known issues facing humans involving diet, sickness, poverty but perhaps most importantly climate change. Imagine if we had all put this much effort into solving climate change and reducing our emissions. Imagine the incredible impact it would have already had, and the gift we’d be giving the next 10000 generations.
So next time you are preaching to others about their irresponsible choices to spend time outside climbing, instead take a moment to reflect on how you as a person can significantly change your buying and commuting habits to benefit the planet. We would all be much better off.
I just lost all respect I ever had for your writing with this one article. The fact is that transmission through surfaces is extremely rare and extremely unlikely. This becomes even more unlikely when the surface ie a climbing hold is outdoors.
Why is it that climbers who are responsible enough to risk their life pursuing their passion are In your opinion not responsible enough to stay a few feet away from each other without coughing all over and licking holds ?
The government should never, ever have the right to take away the outdoors from its people. This violates the constitution and it violates human rights. It also goes against the sanctity of the mountains, a concept it seems you have never and will never truly understand.
It’s easy to take your position and tell people to stay home. Tell me, why is it that canadian tire, the liquor stores, the gardening stores & the vast majority of big box stores are happily open while we as humans get told we cant go climbing outside? How pathetic. You’re saying that you can’t be an adult and find a crag with no one there, or stand a route apart? Well in that case, yeah stay home if you’re that dumb.
So you think the government should have the right to take away the outdoors from its citizens? The earth is billions of years old and no one should have the power to say who and who cannot be outside in the mountains. You as a person have no right to tell me what to do or where I should be able to go, and this is reciprocal.
It’s not mental flexibility to say that transmission through surfaces is nearly impossible – you can go ahead and look that up on the very CDC website you seem to be gaining comprehension from. The fantasy of tying up medical resources is a joke, climbing accidents represent the smallest fraction of S&R missions.
While you’re busy justifying your sheep mindset, I’ll be out rock climbing wherever I like – responsibly. On that note, I will not be climbing on private lands where it may jeopardize future access, nor partaking in overtly risky ascents. The problem with people like you guys is that you cant fathom people simply being responsible. I was at the crag yesterday with over 20 cars in the parking lot at a closed provincial park. Every single group was well spaced out with dozens to thousands of feet between them and everyone let each other pass with space on the trail. That’s called being an adult and being responsible, why is it that all of us should pay for people like you who apparently can’t be responsible outdoors and feel the need to hide in their homes for fear of spreading a flu?
All you are doing with this propaganda is creating even more congestion in the cities, impacting different financial groups unfairly, and shaming people into your cult.
@Gabe,
I just took a Constitutional Law Final, so I figured I would shed some light on an oft-cited, rarely read text. Among Congress’ powers is the, “power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States.” (Article IV §III). The authoritative public lands case adds, “the power over the public lands thus entrusted to congress is without limitations.” Kleppe v NM (1976). In fact, due to animal/resource transit on and off public lands, Congress may even have the power to regulate private lands under the Commerce Clause (Article I §8). So, while it may be disconcerting to learn that being birthed onto a patch of land doesn’t give you dominion over it (read: Property Law Final is next Monday…stay tuned), that feeling does not substantiate-in a legal sense-any rights to it.
To be clear, Congress has not acted pursuant to this power. Instead, they ARE trusting citizens to be adults through issuing guidelines and allowing a lively, if improvident, debate. The fact that you may go to a park as you please is evidence. AB and Greg seem to be discussing the merits of whether you should CHOOSE to do, rather than suggesting an authoritarian scheme. I’m not sure where I fall to be honest…I love climbing and can think of places where I might not see others. I also know that there’s a snowball effect to seeing more cars in the parking lot and dynamics of acceptance/FOMO at play. I’ll leave you to make your choices.
Two other comments:
1) Your statement that people should not be told where to go by others is without support in logic or law. Without much labor, I’m sure we can both come up with a myriad of places where entry is proscribed on the basis of health, welfare, and safety, I’m sure you’d agree that people shouldn’t walk into cockpit of a plane or enter your home without permission. Those same interests permit extension to the outdoors, which are not categorically different. You can see why we’re equally reluctant to allow others to drive onto tarmacs or jump the fence into your yard. Clearly, some regulation of access to space is a good thing. Whether you think it’s justified in this case is a different question.
2) Your comparison to the flu is inaccurate for two complementary reasons, First, we have clinical data as to the efficacy of a flu vaccine, which is mostly available to vulnerable populations (at least here in the US), This diminishes the total number of flu cases each year, the severity of infection in many, and the risk borne by those vulnerable. Second, we have clinical data as to effective supportive care protocols for those who are affected. In COVID, due to novelty, we have neither. Thus, the reason for different guidelines is simply that the risk equation is different .
I’m sorry but I domr care what your constitution says. This is earth, welcome to it . Its billions of years old. I dont care what your 200 year old paper says about the specific legalities of a mountain. The fact is the mountain is mine, it’s yours, its everyone’s. Save the legal rhetoric for your next exam please.
^ And right here is the problem.
Even when you present these people with science, or facts or whatever they just ignore you.
People disobeying the rules is good for the U.S. – You don’t want these people alive in your country anyway, they have been ruining it for decades.
Was just thinking the same thing!
“Every single group was well spaced out…”
How many people were in each of these groups? Sounds like there would at least be infection sharing within the groups.
I ask because right now my wife and I take the baby out to the woods to climb shitty new boulders. I figured any kind of roped climbing was out of the question since we would have to bring along at least one partner that we don’t live with (cause of baby). I mean, I can’t remain socially distant from my belayer, right Gabe?
Why cant you and your belated stay a distance apart? There were 2 – 4 people in each group that day.
Look, if your friend has a cold does that mean he can’t come climbing? No. It means you’d probably be cognizant of his breathing area and not inhaling violently whilst he is sneezing. Same with kissing, avoid kissing him, and you’ll probably be fine. Think about it.
You’re as likely to get covid from another climber outside as it is for said belhaj to send action direct. Mic drop.
Thanks Gabe. I *have* spent a lot of time thinking about it; more than you have it would appear. I’m quite confident I will not protect myself adequately from an asymptomatic shedder of virus by simply avoiding kissing or breathing heavily when they sneeze while also sharing the same immediate space, rope, draws, etc.
What’s your method of birth control by the way? I’ve heard that if you hold your breath while ejaculating you’ll be ok.
Got it, social distancing is not inhaling violently in someone’s face as they sneeze and not kissing. Otherwise you’re good to go. Don’t know why people think this is so hard.
Stay tuned for the Gabe method of birth control; just hold your breath when you ejaculate. The non-oxygenated spermatozoa don’t work.
I think you finally understand! Now if you could just stop licking those handholds that would be great
FYI SARS-CoV2 has been demonstrated to survive on stainless steel and plastic for up to three days and on cardboard surfaces up to 24 hours. It’s quite transmissible by fomites (AKA surfaces).
I spoke to the head of the CDC in canada regarding this issue, as it pertains to a business I have. There are no known cases of surface transmission in North America. There are assumed cases of surface transmission In China, and I do believe it is possible obviously. However it is extremely unlikely, which makes it double extremely unlikely which means you’re more likely to die of a unicorn horn piercing your chest than getting covid from a fomite.
Oh sure, the head of the CDC in Canada. Who doesn’t converse with them on a regular basis? Just to be clear, I tend to hang out with the good folks at the BCCDC or the Public Health Agency of Canada as opposed to the fictitious CDC in Canada. Those folks don’t know what they’re doing, always riding their unicorns into people’s chests and whatnot.
You’d be amazed who you can reach if you pick up the phone and do something good for your country! #americansdontknowwtfaphac is
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973
“Our results indicate that aerosol and fomite transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is plausible, since the virus can remain viable and infectious in aerosols for hours and on surfaces up to days (depending on the inoculum shed).”
Yes, there are scientific arguments that the titers of viable viral particles are not enough to be infectious. However, given the knowledge we do have and the uncertainty that remains I don’t see how anyone could possibly say that it’s a totally flimsy argument to not engage in a sport that relies on multiple people touching the exact same objects repeatedly.
Also, the point of not climbing outside isn’t to prevent climbers who are generally healthy and young from getting hurt or sick. It’s to prevent the spread of the virus which is far more severe than a flu, has a prolonged asymptomatic phase, and has an extremely high infectivity rate from passing on to more the broader population.
Like most issues today we are approaching this as a two sided highly divisive issue, but there are some subtleties to it. Responsible climbing can occur ( not over countertops like most mouth breathers are showing) in some places . What that looks like is local, low risk and isolated climbing. No one should be taking trips to these places, and high risk cities like bishop or Fayetteville are a complete no go. Common sense like choosing TR instead of lead and not topping out boulders should be practiced and you should be willing to go home if safe distances can’t be kept. This kind of climbing is on par with outdoor activities that haven’t had the vitriol climbing has had during this crisis.
For my part, I’m going to wait for cues from my local access society before I start climbing again. I would hate it if my climbing during the current epidemic somehow had a negative impact on climbing in my area. The people that liaise with local government and support my rights as a climber have asked me not to climb at the moment, so the least I can do is listen to them while the situation develops.
This isn’t going to last forever.
What this piece is missing is in climbing, unlike other sports:
1) We have climbing PARTNERS. You can NOT physcial distance. So unless your partner lives in your house, you risk spreading infection.
2) We touch the same gear. Mtn bikers don’t pass each others bikes, helmets, gloves, and packs back and forth. Climbers share rope and clean gear. We spread the infection this way. We also put this gear in our mouth. Regularly.
3) The rock does in fact hold the infection. Imagine climbing a popular finger crack right after an infected person. I doubt you’d do it.
What I would like to hear people talk about is this…
With restrictions in a lot of places being lifted often in phases of small increments, what will safe climbing look like?
In Canada (where I am from) most governing bodies realize that until a vaccine is achieved, there will be no returning to “normal”. Mask wearing (when sick at the very least), physical distancing at places like grocery stores, post offices, etc, and possible return(s) to lock down restrictions if or rather when the virus breaks out again. These will all be possible elements of the new normal.
So what will that mean for climbing? When will you go to the cliff with someone outside of the parameter bubble you’ve accepted? When will you think it’s ok to go to your popular climbing area and do “the warm up” or the hot route of the season?
What will you wait for to decide that it’s ok to go climbing again?
I’m really curious…
I do boulder alone in uncrowded spots. What pisses me of is the discussion if this is ok or not as practically nobody gives a shit. You see hordes of seniors hiking, hordes of people biking, I was invited to multiple secret partys, parents even break into playgrounds with their children. People stand close at you in the Supermarket coughing at your back. I was at a gasoline station where nobody even had a mask.
So bouldering alone in the woods is probably the safest thing to do.
For surfaces… Chalk is not a thing viruses do like. Still in doubt… use liquid chalk.