10 May 2020
Risk for closed crags in France
Pierre Dรฉlas, running Fanatic Climbing, reports in french that based on a rockfall accident in France 2010, the isurance compnay of the French federation has been ordered to pay 1.5 million to a climber. Because of this, the federation now disclaims its responsibility in climbing accidents.
"Now the opinion of the federation is to forward the responsibility to local authorities like cities, departments or regions. The problem here is that the French federation has since the 80's written conventions with owners and local authorities saying they were assuming the risks.
Note with this decision of the french federation the development and preservation of french crags seem unclear and worrying for the future. The rockclimbing community is anxious. In my article, I have given some possible perspectives.
1: The will of french federation forward responsibility to local authorities.
2: Change the law for having responsibility for the climber.
3: Having a deal between all federations for finding a solution.
4: Create a new organism for delivering climbing permits and insurance.
5: Witnessing situations in other countries and taking some influences.
6: As rock climber be less consumer and more actor. Be more responsible and act for rock preservation and development
Pierre and the whole french climbing community see a risk that some private landowners now will close their crags as they do not want to take the responsibility for accidents due to rock falls or rusty bolts.
It should be mentioned that in many parts of the world, like in Sweden, it is assumed that you climb on your own risk. The landowner has no responsibility for activities on their land just like when somebody is skiing or hiking on their land. However, when there are organized activities, it is the commercial company or the club that has the responsibility.
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