High Sierra Topix

Here's an outdoor column from my local paper. What do you think?- Is this an article suggesting jamming is a useful skill to help you climb out of a bad situation without protection? or just really bad advice?

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/07/17 ... -only.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It is totally irresponsible for the author to promote an advance rock climbing
technique to hikers/hunters as a way to get out of difficult situations
which with some sense they would have to gotten into to start with.
Even just learning such a technique on the fly will only give the hiker/hunter
a false sense of security and embolden the individual to possibly take on even
more dangerous routes which will could lead to there injury or death.
Falls are the numbers one cause of death, and this would just add to those
statistics.
Jams are not easy, take a lot of practice and time to build up to the point
where one can endure the pain in the fingers, hands, elbows, and feet. Also being
able to choose the right cracks, and routes are all part of the equation.

There is a saying in my line of work...."knowledgeable enough to be dangerous"

It sounds really harsh and cruel, but if someone lacks the common sense and starts free soloing cliffs because of reading this article....so be it.

sparky wrote: It sounds really harsh and cruel, but if someone lacks the common sense and starts free soloing cliffs because of reading this article....so be it.

I agree, but what about the people who have to clean up the body parts?
That really is completely insane. The paper needs to fire that guy.

Sparky wrote:
It sounds really harsh and cruel, but if someone lacks the common sense and starts
free soloing cliffs because of reading this article....so be it

I understand what your saying Sparky, but the columnist/paper should have to bare
some responsibility for what he/they, wrote/write.
Will refer this question to our HST resident lawyer Q, could the columnist/paper be
sued if someone got injured or killed because of reading, and then implementing what
they read.

Luckily for the paper, they have that little thing called the First Amendment working in their favor. They would argue that Mr. North is expressing an opinion -- that morons in the backcountry with no experience should try free climbing big walls because it's exciting or something. But, in the mean time, all of our health insurance premiums go up to pay for the people adopting Mr. North's view. So in that way, we really all are victims.