Ethics

At its annual General Assembly in October 2009, the UIAA approved the Mountain Ethics Declaration, a central guiding document on the ethics, principles and values of our sport.

 

It outlines ethics of ethics of sportsmanship, respect for cultures and care for the environment, and includes guidelines on the use of supplementary oxygen and performance-enhancing drugs. 

 

The process leading to the approval of the document began in 2001, when the UIAA Mountaineering Commission completed the Mountain Code. In September 2002 experts, representatives from mountaineering federations and some of the world's leading mountaineers and rock climbers from around the world met at the “Future of Mountain Sports Conference” in Innsbruck. This conference was organised in cooperation between the local government, the Oesterreichischer Alpenverein (Austrian federation), the Deutscher Alpenverein (German federation) and the UIAA. The participants developed the Mountain Code further and the conference finally adopted the document as the Tyrol Declaration on Best Practice in Mountain Sports.

 

The Tyrol Declaration has been translated into many languages and promoted by member federations and the UIAA Mountaineering Commission. The declaration was however not adopted by the UIAA General Assembly.

 

The new Mountain Ethics Declaration is based on the Mountain Code and the Tyrol Declaration, but also includes aspects of the UIAA Summit charter 2002.