Sport | Mountaineering Climbing |
---|---|
Jurisdiction | International |
Abbreviation | UIAA |
Founded | August 1932 |
Headquarters | Bern, Switzerland |
President | Peter Muir |
Official website | |
www |
The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, commonly known by its French name Union internationale des associations d'alpinisme (UIAA; French for 'International Union of Alpine Clubs '), was founded in August 1932 in Chamonix, France when 20 mountaineering associations met for an alpine congress. Count Charles Egmond d'Arcis, from Switzerland, was chosen as the first president and it was decided by the founding members that the UIAA would be an international federation which would be in charge of the "study and solution of all problems regarding mountaineering". [1] The UIAA Safety Label was created in 1960 and was internationally approved in 1965 and currently (2015) has a global presence on five continents with 86 member associations in 62 countries representing over 3 million people. [2]
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UIAA suspended all UIAA officials from Russia, and delegates from the Russian Mountaineering Federation (RMF) and Russian officials and athletes were excluded from all UIAA-sanctioned activities and events. [3]
The UIAA is today the international governing body of climbing and mountaineering and represents climbers and mountaineers around the world on a wide range of issues related to mountain safety, sustainability, and competition sport.
The International Climbers' Meet, the goal of these meets is to foster goodwill and cultural understanding through our shared passion of climbing by hosting a diverse group of climbing abilities from a multitude of countries.
The UIAA Safety Commission develops and maintains safety standards for climbing equipment. These standards are implemented worldwide by the manufacturers who also participate in annual Safety Commission meetings. The commission works with nearly 60 manufacturers worldwide and has 1,861 products certified.
Dynamic Rope UIAA fall count rating The test to determine the fall count uses a 5.1m rope and drops a weight (80 kg single rope / 55 kg double rope) so that it falls 4.8m before experiencing a reaction force from the rope. This means that the weight is falling below the fixed end and there is minimal rope to stretch and absorb the force. The fall count rating is the number of times the rope can undergo this test before breaking. For the dynamic rope to be UIAA certified it requires a fall count rating of 5 or more. [4]
This number does not indicate that the rope needs to be discarded after this many falls while climbing, since a fall would usually not have the climber fall beyond the belayer and there is usually more rope to stretch and absorb the fall. There have been no recorded accidents of a UIAA-certified dynamic rope breaking without there being damage from a sharp edge or chemical.
Mountain Medicine Diploma Together with the International Society of Mountain Medicine (ISMM) and the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR), in 1997 at Interlaken, Switzerland the UIAA Medical Commission established and developed a joint Diploma in Mountain Medicine setting minimum requirements for courses in mountain medicine. Many course organizers adopted these standards and the Diploma in Mountain Medicine (DiMM) has become a widely respected qualification.
The Medical Commission was founded in 1981. Its history dates back to an earlier time when there were only a few doctors representing the largest mountaineering federations. The commission has grown to include 22 delegated doctors from 18 different mountaineering federations, as well as 16 corresponding members from all over the world. The UIAA Medical Commission has worked very closely with the Medical Commission of the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR). The current presidents of the UIAA Medical Commission and the MedCom ICAR are always on the advisory board of the ISMM.
Ice climbing The UIAA is the world governing body for competition ice climbing. The annual UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup circuit and the bi-annual World Championship and Youth World Championship are organized in different continents with athletes from over 30 countries participating.
There are two ice-climbing disciplines, Speed and Lead. In Speed, athletes race up an ice face for the best time. In Lead-competitions, the climbers' ability to master a difficult route in a given time is tested.
Anti-Doping Commission The UIAA has adopted the World Anti-Doping Code (2014); this includes the mandatory articles of the Code and all relevant International Standards. The commission also oversees the anti-doping testing of athletes who participate in UIAA ice-climbing competitions.
Global Youth Summit The Global Youth Summit is a series of UIAA youth events where young mountaineers from around the world come together to climb, promote peace and cooperation between countries, and work on the protection of the environment. First implemented ten years ago, it consists of a series of expeditions and camps offered by UIAA member federations to other UIAA member federations and their members.
All UIAA Global Youth Summit events are organized and undertaken in strict accordance with the relevant Federation's regulations and UIAA Youth Commission Handbook & UIAA Youth Commission criteria and recommendations governing such events. Once approved the National Federation or event organiser and their designated leaders have responsibility for the event. The UIAA Youth Commission and UIAA Office may on occasion appoint other responsible persons such as trainers, event organizers, and partners.
Source: [5]
Source: [10]
Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or other parts of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains to small boulders. Climbing is done for locomotion, sporting recreation, for competition, and is also done in trades that rely on ascension, such as rescue and military operations. Climbing is done indoors and outdoors, on natural surfaces, and on artificial surfaces
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports in their own right. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering are also considered variants of mountaineering by some, but are part of a wide group of mountain sports.
Many climbing routes have a grade that reflects the technical difficulty—and in some cases the risks and commitment level—of the route. The first ascensionist can suggest a grade, but it will be amended to reflect the consensus view of subsequent ascents. While many countries with a strong tradition of climbing developed grading systems, a small number of grading systems have become internationally dominant for each type of climbing, which has contributed to the standardization of grades worldwide. Over the years, grades have consistently risen in all forms of climbing, helped by improvements in climbing technique and equipment.
An ice axe is a multi-purpose hiking and climbing tool used by mountaineers in both the ascent and descent of routes that involve snow, ice, or frozen conditions. Its use depends on the terrain: in its simplest role it is used like a walking stick, with the mountaineer holding the head in the center of their uphill hand.
Glossary of climbing terms relates to rock climbing, mountaineering, and to ice climbing.
Ice climbing is a climbing discipline that involves ascending routes consisting of frozen water. To ascend, the ice climber uses specialist equipment, particularly double ice axes and rigid crampons. To protect the route, the ice climber uses steel ice screws that require skill to employ safely and rely on the ice holding firm in any fall. Ice climbing routes can vary significantly by type, and include seasonally frozen waterfalls, high permanently frozen alpine couloirs, and large hanging icicles.
Rock-climbing equipment varies with the type of climbing undertaken. Bouldering needs the least equipment outside of shoes and chalk and optional crash pads. Sport climbing adds ropes, harnesses, belay devices, and quickdraws to clip into pre-drilled bolts. Traditional climbing adds the need for carrying a "rack" of temporary passive and active protection devices. Multi-pitch climbing adds devices to assist in ascending and descending fixed ropes. Finally, aid climbing uses unique equipment.
Ski mountaineering is a skiing discipline that involves climbing mountains either on skis or carrying them, depending on the steepness of the ascent, and then descending on skis. There are two major categories of equipment used, free-heel Telemark skis and skis based on Alpine skis, where the heel is free for ascents, but is fixed during descent. The discipline may be practiced recreationally or as a competitive sport.
Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations or indoor climbing walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and mentally demanding sport, one that often tests a climber's strength, endurance, agility and balance along with mental control. Knowledge of proper climbing techniques and the use of specialized climbing equipment is crucial for the safe completion of routes.
In climbing and mountaineering, a fixed-rope is the practice of installing networks of in-situ anchored static climbing ropes on climbing routes to assist any following climbers to ascend more rapidly—and with less effort—by using mechanical aid devices called ascenders. Fixed ropes also allow climbers to descend rapidly using mechanical devices called descenders. Fixed ropes also help to identify the line of the climbing route in periods of low visibility. The act of ascending a fixed rope is also called jumaring, which is the name of a type of ascender device, or also called jugging in the US.
Competition climbing is a form of regulated rock climbing competition held indoors on purpose-built artificial climbing walls. The three competition climbing disciplines are lead climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing. The result of multiple disciplines can be used in a "combined" format to determine an all-round winner. Competition climbing is sometimes called "sport climbing", which is the name given to pre-bolted lead climbing.
A climbing rope is a rope that is used in climbing. It is a critical part of an extensive chain of protective equipment used by climbers to help prevent potentially fatal fall-related accidents.
A dynamic rope is a specially constructed, somewhat elastic rope used primarily in rock climbing, ice climbing, and mountaineering. This elasticity, or stretch, is the property that makes the rope dynamic—in contrast to a static rope that has only slight elongation under load. Greater elasticity allows a dynamic rope to more slowly absorb the energy of a sudden load, such from arresting a climber's fall, by reducing the peak force on the rope and thus the probability of the rope's catastrophic failure. A kernmantle rope is the most common type of dynamic rope now used. Since 1945, nylon has, because of its superior durability and strength, replaced all natural materials in climbing rope.
An ice screw is a threaded tubular screw used as a running belay or anchor by climbers on steep ice surface such as steep waterfall ice or alpine ice during ice climbing or crevasse rescue, to hold the climber in the event of a fall, and at belays as anchor points.
Artimes Farshad Yeganeh is an Iranian rock climber who has specialized in both competition climbing, and outdoor sport climbing and bouldering. He has been climbing for 30 years as a professional climber, a member of the Iranian National climbing team for many years, as a route setter in many national, continental, and world cups and championships, and Head Coach of the Iranian National climbing team for 6 years. He also participates in sport climbing and bouldering competitions and is one of the most famous Iranian climbers.
Alpine climbing is a type of mountaineering that involves using any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large routes in an alpine environment. While alpine climbing began in the European Alps, it is used to refer to climbing in any remote mountainous area, including in the Himalayas and in Patagonia. The derived term alpine style refers to the fashion of alpine climbing to be in small lightly-equipped teams who carry their own equipment, and do all of the climbing.
Iraj Maani is an Iranian mountaineer. He started his climbing career when he was 15 years old. He has climbed his first Eight-thousander as a member of Iran's national mountaineering team. He is a member of the youth committee of the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation.
Pit Schubert was a German non-fiction author, climber, and mountaineer. He was the founder and former head of the safety commission of the German Alpine Club (DAV).
The Ice Climbing World Cup is an annual ice climbing competition organized by the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA), who has regulated and governed the sport of competition ice climbing since the first IWC in 2002. It is the ice climbing equivalent of the IFSC Climbing World Cup in rock climbing.
The Ice Climbing World Youth Championships is an annual international competition ice climbing event. It is organized by the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, who regulate and govern competition ice climbing and consists of two events: lead climbing and speed climbing.