For many, mountaineering is not intrinsically competitive and what limited rules there might be are generally a consensus ethic around respecting the mountains. Consequently, it is hard to consider it a sport, or a game (in a Wittgenstein-ish way).
For some, there is a fuzzy continuum between climbing a high mountain for personal satisfaction and the super-contrvied arena of Olympic climbing, whereas for others, maybe most, these are very distinct spheres.
Well, I'm following the somewhat contrived use of 'sport' as in the quote attributed to Hemingway, and enjoying its dismissal of football, athletics etc as mere 'games'. But for me mountaineering counts as a sport because of its contrived rules and aims, "I am to convey myself without use of helicoper or ladders to the local high-point labelled Zinalrothorn".
To my mind, because the rules of ascent are self-imposed rather than delineated by a governing body, climbing the Zinalrothorn your way for your aims removes the activity from being a sport.
Last year, I gave a presentation to my hiking club (composed of a range of ambitions and experiences) titled "Why we climb". Although related explicitly to the activity of rock climbing (very much a minority interest within the club) and drawing heavily on the philosophical theses of "Why we drive" by Matthew Crawford, the same principles apply to mountaineering - the sense of embodied skill enabling the pursuit of personally rewarding ends being a purely internal affair, as it were.
For my part, the competition climbing end of British mountaineering has always been anachronistic, and even the publicised and sponsored expeditions to arbitrary peaks grate significantly. Again, much also depends on whether various non-summiting activities in highland terrains constitute mountaineering in any formal sense.
For many, mountaineering is not intrinsically competitive and what limited rules there might be are generally a consensus ethic around respecting the mountains. Consequently, it is hard to consider it a sport, or a game (in a Wittgenstein-ish way).
For some, there is a fuzzy continuum between climbing a high mountain for personal satisfaction and the super-contrvied arena of Olympic climbing, whereas for others, maybe most, these are very distinct spheres.
Well, I'm following the somewhat contrived use of 'sport' as in the quote attributed to Hemingway, and enjoying its dismissal of football, athletics etc as mere 'games'. But for me mountaineering counts as a sport because of its contrived rules and aims, "I am to convey myself without use of helicoper or ladders to the local high-point labelled Zinalrothorn".
PS regarding what constitutes mountaineering - was Nan Shepherd a mountaineer?
Well as the word originally defined by Wm Shakespeare, yes she was (see previous post
https://aboutmountains.substack.com/p/william-shakespeare-poet-playwright ). I'd call her a hillwalker. But I suspect that if she were still around she'd actually "reject all labels".
To my mind, because the rules of ascent are self-imposed rather than delineated by a governing body, climbing the Zinalrothorn your way for your aims removes the activity from being a sport.
Last year, I gave a presentation to my hiking club (composed of a range of ambitions and experiences) titled "Why we climb". Although related explicitly to the activity of rock climbing (very much a minority interest within the club) and drawing heavily on the philosophical theses of "Why we drive" by Matthew Crawford, the same principles apply to mountaineering - the sense of embodied skill enabling the pursuit of personally rewarding ends being a purely internal affair, as it were.
For my part, the competition climbing end of British mountaineering has always been anachronistic, and even the publicised and sponsored expeditions to arbitrary peaks grate significantly. Again, much also depends on whether various non-summiting activities in highland terrains constitute mountaineering in any formal sense.
Climbing is fraught with danger and is more like an adventure than a sport