Hikers have launched a petition against Taichung and Nantou County bylaws that company mountaineers to pay for rescue services and limits mountain climbing to selected routes, saying they are too restrictive and lack an understanding of the activity.
Users of Keepon, a hiking Web site, launched the campaign following the passage of the Nantou County bylaw on Monday last week and the Taichung bylaw in June, as they said the two bylaws, as well as a draft bill proposed by the New Power Party last month, imposed restrictions and penalties on hikers, but does nothing to prevent accidents.
Both bylaws require hikers to pay for rescue services, take out insurance and be led by certificated guides when entering dangerous areas. Violators are subject to a fine of between NT$10,000 and NT$50,000.
One of the campaign organizers, mountain guide Lin Yi-hua (林乙華), said the Taichung bylaw prevents mountaineers from exploring areas outside selected routes, which could limit professional and academic activities.
“Mountain climbing is not simply about trekking along national parks or climbing the 100 peaks of Taiwan. Experienced mountaineers have to look for potential trails and researchers have to search for lost trails or ancient Aboriginal communities, but the bylaw does not make room for those activities,” Lin said.
“The public should not view mountaineering as wasting social resources,” Lin said.
“Nature is unpredictable and professional guides would not change routes thoughtlessly, but they do so according to experience and hikers’ abilities,” she said.
The user-pays principle for search-and-rescue services should not be implemented without a proper insurance system, as insurance companies do not insure any expedition teams with less than five members.
Teams usually have fewer than five members, Lin said, adding that existing policies do not fit mountaineers’ needs.
One netizen said it is necessary to distinguish what hikers are doing from the government’s perception so that the public does not think that mountaineering is a “death-seeking” activity.
However, the user-pays system is what forces mountaineers to train and prepare properly, another netizen said.
A mountaineer with 30 years of experience, surnamed Lee (李), said the government should establish a price guide for rescue helicopter services, or the bylaws would not stop hikers.
Chiayi County Volunteer Rescue Squad director Lu Wen-cheng (呂文正) said he supported the management and the user-pays system because it is risky and costly to carry out a rescue mission, especially during typhoons or torrential rain when landslides are likely to occur.
The user-pays system is to prevent the abuse of state resources, such as flying people with minor injuries back to the city, Lu said, adding that hikers need to assess their physical condition and weather and plan a safe route.
Campaign organizers said they plan to send the petition to the Taichung and Nantou governments and the Executive Yuan by the end of this month.
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