Mountaineering
Sport of mountain climbing / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism[1] is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports in their own right.[2][3][4][5] Indoor climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering are also considered variants of mountaineering by some,[6][7] but are part of a wide group of mountain sports.
Unlike most sports, mountaineering lacks widely applied formal rules, regulations, and governance; mountaineers adhere to a large variety of techniques and philosophies (including grading and guidebooks) when climbing mountains.[7][8] Numerous local alpine clubs support mountaineers by hosting resources and social activities. A federation of alpine clubs, the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA), is the International Olympic Committee-recognized world organization for mountaineering and climbing.[9] The consequences of mountaineering on the natural environment can be seen in terms of individual components of the environment (land relief, soil, vegetation, fauna, and landscape) and the location/zone of mountaineering activity (hiking, trekking, or climbing zone).[10] Mountaineering impacts communities on economic, political, social and cultural levels, often leading to changes in people's worldviews influenced by globalization, specifically foreign cultures and lifestyles.[11]