Rock Throwing Hiker "Horrified", Unaware of Risk to Climbers Below

After a video of him and a friend hurling boulders off of the East End of Rundle above Canmore made the social media rounds this week, a hiker has turned himself in to RCMP and reached out to the climbing community to make amends. 

In a post shared online via members of the Bow Valley Climbing Crew facebook page, the unidentified hiker states:
"I’m absolutely new to hiking, especially in the Canmore area and was entirely ignorant of hiking protocol and etiquette. I’m also horrified at how dangerous our actions were on East End of Rundle. Throwing rocks of any size is unacceptable, dangerous and sets a very poor example. I am extremely lucky that no one was injured."

At least once group of climbers on EEOR that day has identified the large rocks thrown in the video to be unsettlingly similar to some that whizzed past while they climbed. Thankfully, nobody was injured, and the incident will serve as a teachable moment to those involved. New signage is now in place, which will hopefully encourage other inexperienced hikers to think before they act. 

It should go without saying, but this sort of behaviour is both ignorant and dangerous, and should by no means be repeated. Even small rocks can kill, and climbers often dangle from the most improbably of places.

No charges were laid against the remorseful hiker.

Read an article on the events in the Calgary Herald, here: https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/novice-hiker-horrified-to-learn-he-could-have-killed-climbers-with-thrown-rocks