In reply to fishy1 and others: Just to put things in perspective:
- Indoor climbing is safe (safer than walking across the road)
- Outdoor rock climbing is dangerous (broadly comparable to the risks involved in driving a car/motorbike e.g. variable but much higher for those lacking judgment and maturity)
- Winter and summer alpine climbing are very dangerous (greater risk than 'dangerous occupations' such as working underground/off shore)
- Winter alpine and very high altitude mountaineering are extremely dangerous (comparable risk to soldiers fighting/dying in Afghanistan)
Taking an objective view, you can easily see that both sides have a point. Giving a 17 year old a brand new 600cc motorbike is probably safer than giving them a pair of technical axes - at least they have to pass a test to ride the motorbike.
The difficulty is that it is that very few people have a clear idea of relative risks. The parents think it is all equally dangerous and the OP & friend probably don't recognise how high the risks actually are in certain areas.
I spend a very large amount of time climbing and hillwalking with teenagers and I'm sympathetic with the parents. With regard to climbing and mountaineering, young people (and lots of climbers generally) 'don't know what they don't know' so are not in any position to conduct valid risk assessments on what they do.
1) I wouldn't want any teenager to go trad climbing without at least some formal instruction or at the very least mentoring from those with much more experienced (in a club environment or otherwise).
2) Without a very sub-substantial amount of progressive mountain-walking and on-going climbing experience, or as part of a large experienced group, there, is no way I'd want a teenager to be out trying to climb in Winter.
3) If there was anything I could do about it, there would be utterly no way I'd allow my son/daughter of any age to go Alpine mountaineering without first doing a Conville Course or getting similar formal instruction.
Possible options are:
Get your friend to ask his parents to pay for him to do a climbing course a Plas y Brenin etc. as his Xmas present. He'll no doubt find out that he doesn't know as much as he thinks he does and his parents will have the reassurance that he's had high quality instruction.
As mentioned, join a climbing club. You learn a fair bit climbing with other people and his parents will know that there are 'responsible adults' around when he's out climbing.
Anyway, regardless of anything else, make sure the two of you apply for places on a Conville Course if you do intend going to the the Alps - see
http://www.thebmc.co.uk/Feature.aspx?id=1166.