Media "Rough Guide" to Selected Outdoor Types
Hiker = A person who walks on two feet in natural areas, on trail or off-trail, for durations less than one day.
ex: A day-hiker spends an afternoon in Paradise Park, Mt. Hood
Backpacker = A hiker that spends at least one night outside between two "hikes"
ex: A backpacker hikes in to Paradise Park, camps, and continues hiking the next day
Scrambler = A temporary condition wherein a hiker or backpacker must climb or downclimb an unwalkable terrain between two trails or hiking areas
ex: A hiker climbs the short wall on Ed's Trail (Silver Star) or climbs the Elevator Shaft as part of a hike
Climber = One who participates in outdoor activity combining advanced hiking with actual climbing; possession of climbing gear is requisite for this definition, although use is not; typically involved mountains, cliffs, and other landforms over which walking is impossible because of steepness and ruggedness of terrain; there are as many types of climbers as there are types of climbing
ex: A climber on Mt. Hood
ex: An ice climber on a frozen Gorge waterfall
ex: A climber and his partner freestyle bouldering
ex: Reinhold Messner
Intelligence and experience are not factors in these definitions, although types of gear and presence of such gear is indicative of possession or lack of such traits. Gear tends to increase in proportion to the technicality of the activity.
ex: a cotton-clad newbie hiker in flip-flops on a remote trail, with a bottle of water in his hand and no pack
ex: a climber on Mt. Hood with full gear and a locator beacon
ex: a future PH.org poster who briefly became the poster-boy of how not to backpack while hauling far too much unnecessary gear on his first, ill-equipped backpacking trip...
AK47 = Andrei Kirilenko, #47, plays for the Utah Jazz.
(I know this is lighthearted and I mean no offense to the climbers currently lost on Hood; my thoughts are with them, and with their families)
