uiaa 2020 general assembly

peter muir elected as president & 
a full review

The 2020 UIAA General Assembly (GA) was held on 23-24 October. Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the annual meeting took place online for the first time in the federation’s 88-year history. A record number of delegates – 130 representatives from 68 countries – joined on Zoom and a further 250 member federation representatives and partners followed an accompanying livestream on YouTube. This article provides a comprehensive overview of elections, membership, Commission reports, panel discussions, honorary membership, future GAs and the Strategic Plan 2021-2024.

Following October’s General Assembly, the newly-formed UIAA Executive Board has already enjoyed two productive online meetings. A message regarding the progress of the EB can be viewed here.

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UIAA PLANS FOR INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN DAY 2020

11 DECEMBER

Ahead of this year’s United Nations’ International Mountain Day (IMD) – 11 December – the UIAA is promoting a series of initiatives. These include those led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), UIAA member associations, Mountain Partnership, the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) as as well as those organised by the UIAA itself.

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MOUNTAIN PROTECTION AWARD: PROGRESS SERIES

2017 WINNER: MOUNTAIN EVEREST BIOGAS PROJECT

Following recent profiles on the progress made by two past UIAA Mountain Protection Award winners – Mountain Wilderness France (2016) and AlpineLearning Project Weeks (2019) – the focus turns to 2017 winner Mount Everest Biogas Project (MEBP). The United States-based project, launched in 2010, is a volunteer-run, non-profit organisation that has designed an environmentally sustainable solution to dealing with the impact of human waste on Mount Everest and eventually other high altitude locations.  This year was set to witness significant on-site progress on Everest but the Covid-19 pandemic, as detailed below, has caused significant hold-ups.

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CHANGES TO 2020-2021 UIAA ICE CLIMBING WORLD TOUR

FOCUS ON CONTINENTAL COMPETITIONS

At the beginning of the summer the UIAA Ice Climbing Commission published a very exciting provisional 2021 UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour calendar. When the calendar was released, the Commission also added an advisory that the feasibility of events taking place was dependent on the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now some three months on, the Commission – with the support of the UIAA Executive Board and Office – has considered the current situation and the potential developments over the coming months in great detail and due to the general uncertainty and ongoing international restrictions in place has made the decision to postpone the World Tour (World Cups, World Championships and associated rankings) until the 2022 season.

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UIAA SAFETY UPDATES

LATEST COMMISSION MEETING; Q&A SERIES; MAMMUT RECALL

The UIAA SafeCom has enjoyed a productive month.

Commission Meeting: Amit Chowdhury, newly elected Executive Board member of the UIAA, opened the latest online UIAA Safety Commission (SafeCom) meeting by announcing that in light of being appointed to this new role he would be stepping down as President of SafeCom. Recommended to chair the Commission for the next four years is the current Vice President Lionel Kiener, Swiss Alpine Club (SAC). Kiener’s nomination will be sent to the UIAA Management Committee for confirmation at its next meeting. The online session was attended by ten UIAA accredited laboratories, 25 international manufacturers of climbing and mountaineering equipment as well as guests from ICAR (International Commission for Alpine Rescue), recently elected UIAA Observer Member, and the Italian Alpine Club (CAI)’s Centro Studi Materiali e Tecniche. Full story here.

Latest Q&A Article: This month’s question is: Can half ropes be used as a single or twin rope?

Mammut Recall: UIAA Safety Label holder, Mammut, has shared the following information regarding a security recall for various avalanche backpacks with the Removable Airbag System 3.0. This, together with all other equipment recalls communicated to the UIAA Safety team, can be found on the Recalls & Warnings page.

 

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COVID-19: TASKFORCE HOSTS SIXTH MEETING

MEDCOM SUPPORTS PUBLICATION OF COVID-19 PAPER

The UIAA Covid-19 Crisis Consultation (CCC) Taskforce held its latest online meeting on 18 November. A review of discussion points can be found here.

Furthermore, the UIAA Medical Commission, primarily its President Urs Hefti, have contributed to a new paper ‘SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 & mountain sports: specific risks, their mitigation and recommendations for policy makers’. The publication is one of the first dedicated to Covid-19 and outdoor/mountain sports.

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UIAA VOLUNTEER SERIES

#4 NIKOLAY PRIMEROV

At 37, and in relative terms, Nikolay Primerov is one of the younger volunteers supporting the UIAA, International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation. Over the past few years he has served as one of the Athlete Representatives on the Ice Climbing Commission. “My motivation for joining as an Athletes’ Representative was to improve communication as sometimes it felt like the Commission was just working by itself,” explains Nikolay. “Now I feel like this link has been strengthened and I know that athletes’ voices are heard. They are the most important pillar in the sport.”

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UIAA FEATURES IN LATEST VOLUME OF THE HIMALAYAN JOURNAL

TRAINING (STEVE LONG), MEDCOM (GEORGE RODWAY), HONORARY MEMBER (TOM NAKAMURA)

First published in 1929 with the mission ‘To encourage and assist Himalayan travel and exploration, and to extend knowledge of the Himalaya and adjoining mountain ranges through science, art, literature and sport,’ The Himalayan Journal continues to provide compelling and interesting content on an annual basis.

The recently released 75th edition of The Journal includes three articles written by three people with a close association with the UIAA.

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