The Chairman of the Swedish Climbing Confederation recently announced that the Confederation will implement a policy for naming climbing routes–thereby eliminating those considered “offensive.” This proposed policy comes as a result of averse reactions to climbing routes in Sweden that have Nazi-themed names such as “Swastika,” “Hitler,” and “Third Reich.”
According to The Local, Sweden’s English newspaper, the Nazi-era named routes disturbed the likes of Cordeila Hess, a historian and climber. While climbing a crag in Gåseborg, Sweden, she noticed the routes’ consistent Nazi-themed naming, and said, “I was there with my friends and doing a bit of climbing, and I thought it felt rather unpleasant to climb through the Crematorium or say that ’now I am going to do Kristallnacht.” Hess (and presumably other climbers) feels that the names trivialize the suffering of the jews during the Nazi era.
While the Confederation clearly feels it has the right to re-name offensive climbing routes, climbing purists argue that the first person to climb a route has the right to name it what they want. Others argue that the Confederation’s desire to rename any route deemed offensive is a clear breach of freedom of speech.
[Via: E9 Climbing/About.com/The Local]
[Photo Via: The Local]
