|
|
Corporate
Support
ACG/Nike,
Boreal USA, Exum
Mountain Guides, La Sportiva,
Marmot, Mammut,
Metolius, Omega
Pacific, Inc., Misty
Mountain, Petzl, Pika
Mountaineering, prAna,
Sterling
Rope, Trango In February, 1999, four Americans put on a slide show in La Habana about climbing around the world. The show was a day later than advertized. The tropical sun light could not be blocked from the room in the La Habana's sprawling Sport City campus, and the images were very hard to see. But then, half the show was ice climbing, being shown in a country that has never recorded a sub-freezing temperature! Only half a dozen Cubans showed up. It was not an auspicious introduction of climbing to Cuba. However, it did lead two of the Cubans, Vity Echazábal and Carlos Pinelo, to join the Americans in a joint exploration of Cuba's climbing potential. And the Americans have returned again and again, each time helping the development of Cuban climbers. Now, just three years later, when these same American and Cuban climbers gather to climb together, more than 20 Cubans show up. Climbing classes held in La Habana regularly draw 30 eager neophytes. More remarkable, these programs were put on by Lapiaz de Escala y Deportes, one of the few independent conservation organizations in Cuba, which was created by the Cuban climbers. The swift introduction of climbing and the emergence of some environmentalism in Cuba was made possible by a dozen outdoor industry companies. These companies donated thousands of dollars worth of equipment for the Cuban climbers--and to a country where, because of the U.S. embargo prohibiting trade with Cuba, they could expect neither future sales or good public relations. They did it because they believed that helping these Cubans was the right thing to do. Cuba is a country rich in beauty and resources, particularly human resources. 42 years of Communism, however, have impoverished the Cuban people. Buying a climbing rope would take a Cuban's entire salary for two-years. A rack, harness, and shoes would take 10-years of saving. Without these, however, climbing and teaching climbing would not be possible. Stepping into this gap, the climbing companies donated the shoes, harnesses, equipment, ropes, and clothes. And American climbers have purchased additional items, such as power drills and bolts.
Quoting Menocal, a recent article in Climbing summed up the new approach: "By providing the Cubans necessary gear, the opportunity to get to the crags in a country where transportation is a major hurdle, and mainly the vision of what they can do, we've made it possible for them to be our partners in developing the Cuban climbing scene." The satisfactions for the corporate sponsors have opened them to the rewards of using climbing to influence the lives of the poor in the third world as well as in the U.S., and, for some, changed their sponsorships. For example, Mike Grimn of Misty Mountain said that "this has been a very rewarding experience." As a result, Grimn says, Misty Mountain will "no longer sponsor expeditions that are just going climbing." The companies that have been supporting the Cuban climbers are: ACG/Nike
|
|||||||||||
| Topo
Maps |
|
Contact
Us |
||||||||||
| To Top | ||||||||||||
Contact Webmistress |
||||||||||||
