UKC

Tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10 a.m., Rich Emerson, a director of the Association of British Climbing Walls, will be giving evidence about the indoor climbing sector to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee. The session will be available to watch live online or via replay.

Prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, last autumn the DCMS launched an inquiry into the financial viability of community sport and called for evidence from sporting organisations.

Love the chin-nappy in the photo. Sure that's the impression we want to give?
I mean... if you're going to go to the trouble of putting it on... just..... why?

In the walls I've been to (and at the wall where the image was taken) masks are to be worn when walking around the centre and between climbs and don't have to be worn during exercise on the wall. It's common to see people climbing with masks pulled down like this. Some will choose to wear them while climbing and others won't, especially as some people can't reasonably exercise with a mask on due to health conditions.

I get all that, same everywhere, but why half-wear it in an article cover photo?
Health conditions that preclude wearing it I can understand, but ones that require putting it on halfway is a new development.

The photo wasn't taken specifically for this news report. It's very difficult to find imagery to suit every article and we rely on our database for illustrations. If we'd have chosen one without a mask, would we have received complaints that there was no mask/it looked 'pre-COVID'? (yep, I thought about that!)

Fair points. I wouldn't have thought to mention it if it was absent. Like you say, don't have to be worn on the wall, and it doesn't look like there's anyone else about, and I wouldn't have taken issue with that, and stock photos existed before covid.
I just really struggle with the logic (in the wider world too) of chin coverings. If you've gone as far as putting it on I don't get why people stop at the point where you get none of the benefit.

I blame Theo for not adjusting his mask mid climb, bet he's given up washing his hands too!

To prevent transmission of a respiratory disease it seems counterintuitive to wear a mask whilst breathing normally and remove the mask whilst breathing heavily. 

I would estimate that over 50% of our adult customers wear their masks correctly when climbing.

Interesting article here. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/20/talking-can-spread-covid-as-much-as-coughing-says-research.

Airflow appears to be key. Many walls are poorly ventilated and inadvertently impede airflow through design. Maximising climbing space creates a very effective series of baffles. 

Most of my local walls would struggle to achieve the flowrates recommended in the report. 

Interesting debate.  Something I started getting a little worked up about in relation to my daughter climbing at walls.  I don’t climb so I am there to watch her.  I noticed she would climb as much as she could with the mask on but then eventually would start to either do the chin nappy thing or take it off completely.  I wasn’t lecturing her, just seeing what was going on.

what I did notice which I felt was even worse was the touching of the mask.  It was once, twice, three times per climb.  Either adjusting it, taking it off or putting it on.  The mask would end up covered in chalk.  It just felt like she was multiplying her risk.

In the end I realised I wasn’t touching anything whilst Walking about and watching so I carried a bottle of cleanser and told her not to touch her mask at all.  If she wanted to climb with it off then I removed it etc.  It felt safer than the previous touching it all the time.

Not saying it works but it definately felt safer handing her a mask that wasn’t covered in chalk and hand prints.