It would certainly solve some problems but this issue is not actually part of the quarry problem. This is something potentially far bigger. At the centre of it is liability, fears of litigation and the need for adventure operators to get insurance and of course that’s what the quarry problem is about. The State Government is also afraid that if too many tourists die having fun in Western Australia, they will stop coming and we will lose out on all that money, never mind the fact that the sort of tourist who books a half day abseiling course because it looks exciting is not the same tourist who takes 3 months off to come to Australia, brings or buys their own gear, and maybe their own climbing partner and just goes for it. This sort of tourist probably won’t come if they find out that climbing in Western Australia is so tied up in red tape and restrictions it has become damn near impossible. That’s what I’m afraid off.

But, someone thought it was a good idea, and they’re spending a lot of tax payers money to make it happen. Now I’m not saying that people who are in the business of providing adventure activities, whether commercially or otherwise shouldn’t actually have a set of guidelines and I’m certainly not saying recreational climbers whether in CAWA or not, on a CAWA trip or not, shouldn’t behave in a reasonable manner, but if CAWA and all of the other organisations who are involved in all of the other outdoor pursuits cannot provide for their members a safe as possible way for less experienced members to gain access to the knowledge, that more experienced members possess, then a very important baby has been thrown out with the bath water.

The VCC has simply stated that the AAS don’t apply to them and run their trips by their own guidelines. We have got involved and tried to make things workable. We may have to do exactly as the VCC has done but the problem is that DEC are likely to accept the AAS and make them regulations on DEC land. There are people in government who think this is a good idea, the same as there are people in DEC who think climbers should book for the quarries. So if we do go down that path we have to very organised, very clear and make sure the various authorities in question understand what we’ve done and why we’ve done it.

I have noticed and appreciate that climbers are not the most organisationally minded people about the place, it’s one of the reasons we climb but we need a good result not just for climbing, but for everyone who loves going outdoors.

It’s not just DEC, DSR or OutdoorsWA who need to be convinced of this, but the politicians behind them.

This is a field that i used to be involved in but have thankfully moved away from. The bureaucracy is rife and the bickering and politics is ponderous.

The AAS was developed by the Outdoor Recreation Centre (in Vic) who have a different mandate from the Victorian Outdoor Education Council, in that they champion Outdoor Recreation as opposed to Outdoor Education. (think weekend, guided abseilers as opposed to year 10s at the local school abseiling for a higher goal like learning ropecraft or teambuilding).

See the AAS in their original form here http://www.orc.org.au/aas/index.htm# – as you will read,

“AAS are NOT statutory standards by law. Legal liability for injuries or property damage is primarily governed by the law of Contract and Negligence which are described within each AAS introduction.

The Adventure Activity Standards (AAS) have been established as minimum standards for organisations conducting outdoor recreation activities for dependant groups (where participants have a level of dependence upon the leader(s)”

Thus, DEC should not bring in the AAS as law or a mandate to restrict recreators (ie personal climbers).

Its purpose is for “guidelines” to draw together the standards by which recreational providers (such as commercial operators, guides and tour operators) conduct their outings. For the latter, these have been a long time coming if you reflect on how many people have died on tours (think karajini).

So I think it warrants keeping an eye on what Outdoors WA and DEC are saying, but i doubt it will reflect poorly for us weekend warriors.

BTW many climbers are also in Outdoors WA and would probably object to anything that would restrict pure recreation.

Toc – if you like i can pass on details of people in the know who would be a good window into Outdoors WA and the outdoor field at large. Cheers e