Long anticipated by climbing circles n Taiwan, Taiwan’s first mountaineering school was established on January 28 in Taroko National Park. The school will be an important platform for mountain climbing education and skills passing on.
In the future the main areas of development of the school will not just be limited to climbing skills and will include mountain climbing ethics, food and overseas expeditions, with a focus on teaching people how to learn from the mountains rather than conquer than and how to reduce the environmental impact of climbing. Also, the interest of young people in climbing is waning and the climbing community in Taiwan is gradually ageing. It is hoped the school can offer courses for student climbing clubs and members of the public to attract new young blood to mountain climbing.
The main future development directions of the school will be “mountaineering,” “exploration” and “trails”. Mountaineering will include climbing, rescue, snow training, guide training and overseas expeditions and aims to teach climbing ethics and increase climbing skills；exploration includes river tracing, rock climbing, tree climbing and canoeing, the aim being to give people a chance to explore their inner self and stimulate their potential; trails will focus on trail repair and building of partnerships, with the objective of raising the level of ecological and environmentally friendly facilities.
Taiwan is very mountainous and has three alpine national parks: Taroko, Yushan and Shei-pa. Taroko was chosen as the starting point for the National Park Mountaineering School because it has complex terrain, containing all the kids of terrain and environment the school needs, and extreme changes in climate from low elevations to high elevations and it also enjoys convenient transport links. Taiwan’s mountains have very rich natural resources. In the future the mountaineering school can cooperate with Taroko, Yushan and Shei-pa national parks to develop distinctive activities.
The school will offer a variety of courses and experts in various related fields will be recruited to act as instructors in the school to pass on specialized knowledge through the passing experience and practical experience. Many aborigine mountain rangers are not just skilled climbers they are also very familiar with mountain history and culture and courses can be designed through which the wisdom of the aborigines can be passed on to allow more people to known the unknown history and stories of the mountains.
In the future the school will offer different courses suited to the needs of conservation wardens, volunteers, partner aborigine groups, members of the general public and student. As Taroko National Park director You Deng-liang said in the ceremony to open the school, the school has just been established and there is substantial room for hard work in the future. He hopes the school will give people the guidance they need to enjoy mountain activities safely and in a way that respects the natural environment.
Translated by：Kevin Lax
Source：Taroko National Park Headquarters