The BMC held a Lakes winter ethics debate on Wed 30th Nov 2011 at Hawkeshead Brewery.

There was a great turn out of over 100 people and Nick Colton (BMC Deputy CEO) chaired, with the first half of the evening being an opportunity for 4 speakers to put their points across, after which an open debate took place with people from the floor having an opportunity to ask the speakers questions and make their own comments.

Although there were no clear answers that came from the evening with regard to whether climbing of rock routes under winter conditions was acceptable or not (with a roughly 50:50 split of opinion in the audience), the debate gave the community a chance to discuss this issue and for different viewpoints to be presented.

What was clear from the evening is that the BMC needs to find new ways to present guidance on winter climbing conditions, as well as the difficulty in defining when a crag or route is in appropriate winter condition, due to different perceptions of the same conditions. We'll be working on developing some new guidance for the future, but in the meantime Simon's presentation gives an excellent insight into the value of turf on winter routes and why as climbers we should do everything we can to protect it and ensure we're only climbing it when fully frozen.

Reeltime Adventures have been kind enough to edit together the following 4 clips covering the whole evening for anyone who couldn't make it on the night to get an idea of the issues discussed and views expressed. Many thanks to Simon for his efforts with filming and editing these great clips together, as well as Steve Scott for organising the debate.

Reel 1 - Introduction & Max Biden - An Historical Perspective from ReelTime Adventure on Vimeo.

Reel 2 - Simon Webb (Natural England) - An Environmental Perspective from ReelTime Adventure on Vimeo.

Reel 3 - Dave Birkett - An Active Climber's Perspective from ReelTime Adventure on Vimeo.

Reel 4 - Stephen Ashworth - An Active Climber's Perspective from ReelTime Adventure on Vimeo.

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