Recreational marijuana is legal in Canada today and many people are celebrating what some argue has been a longtime coming. Canada is the first G7 country to legalize it. Each province sets it own rules as to how it can be consumed and where it can be smoked.

Marijuana has long been part of the climbing culture. In 1977 a plane full of marijuana flying over Yosemite crashed in a lake. Climbers heard about the crash and rushed up to see what happened. They even made a T-shirt that said “I got mine at Lower Merced Pass Lake.”

The climbers walked across the frozen ice and found hundreds of bails of marijuana, which they brought back to Camp 4. The climbers smoked it, sold it and after a few months, were buying housing and cars. Watch a clip here.

The cutting-edge climbers in Yosemite during the 1970s called themselves the Stonemasters, but Lynn Hill once joked, they might have been the “stoned masters.” They smoked prodigious amounts of low-grade marijuana.


Fast forward a few decades to 2001 when Chris Sharma was stripped of his World Cup title after testing positive for THC at a competition in Europe.

Rescues for Stoners

A few years ago, group of climbers had to be rescued from the top of England’s highest mountain because they were too stoned to descend. A three-hour rescue took place on Scafell Pike because they were “incapable of walking” after smoking cannabis.

And back in Canada, North Shore Search and Rescue in B.C. is currently warning people who go to the mountains that doing so under the influence of any mind altering substance is a bad idea. Read the blog here.

North Shore Search and Rescue notes five examples involving drug use. According to them, this is just a small sample from a large list of similar incidents:

– On Cypress, a young hiker decided to take Acid while hiking with friends, had a bad trip, and required medical assistance and evacuation. Unfortunately, weather prevented helicopter access, so this was a primarily ground-based operation, and delayed the response by hours.

-Two individuals went snowshoe camping on Mount Seymour and at some point in the night, they consumed marijuana and ecstasy. One of the campers had a psychotic episode and stabbed his friend with a bowie knife, while his friend returned the favour. The RCMP emergency response team responded with our members and both snowshoers were arrested and taken to the hospital.

– On Cypress, a snowshoer consumed edible marijuana, had a seizure, and required intubation and ventilation while being evacuated. No other drugs were found in their system.

– Near Lions Bay, a hiker had consumed mushrooms and marijuana, and while going to urinate, fell 60 meters into a ravine. He sustained a serious head injury and had to be evacuated by helicopter long line.

– Two young people left a bar on Burnaby Mountain and were heavily intoxicated with alcohol. They decided to take a shortcut down the mountain through the woods. They both fell to their deaths.

The mountains are not the place to lose yourself in a drug-induced stupor, nor are they a place to experiment and learn your tolerance. The reality we face is that the wilderness is unforgiving and it can take a long time for rescue crews to reach you, even if you are only a couple kilometers up the trail.

Surveys

A few years ago, Climbing Magazine conducted an anonymous survey of pro climbers and almost everyone said they smoked pot. A memorable quote from the survey is, “Smoke pot, check your knot.”

And trainingbeta.com conducted a survey and had 1,462 respondents and found the following:

72% of the respondents have been climbing between 1 to 8 years.

75% climb or train 2 to 4 days a week.

65% never mix climbing or training with cannabis.

37% are not bothered being around those who are using marijuana.

43% feel their comfort depends on the people who are high and the setting they are in.

46% responded that feeling comfortable being belayed by someone who is high depends on the person and setting.

6% are fine with high belayers.

47% are not comfortable with high belayers.

There are currently a number of high-profile athletes that have endorsement deals, like pro skier Tanner Hall who is sponsored by a cannabis company. And who can forget when Ross Rebagliati won the first ever Olympic gold medal in snowboarding in 1998 but was lost the medal after THC was discovered in his system. The drug wasn’t banned and the medal was given back.

And there are a lot of climbers who use Cannabidoil (CBD Oil), which has been proven to suppress the bodies natural inflammatory response. Read more about CBD here.

Some of you will think that you shouldn’t smoke weed and climb, and some of you might be smoking weed right now before your next session.

Remember to be responsible and stay safe. Your partner’s life is in your hands out there.