Being responsible, for climbers, entails the following three basic principles:

• Respecting the interests of other people
• Caring for the environment
• Take responsibility for your own actions

Mountaineering Scotland has guidance and information on Climbing Ethics and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code on their website.

There are commonly held mountaineering and climbing ethics which good climbers abide by. Some of these ethical issues can often get forgotten, especially by new or non-climbers.

Climbing ethics are a set of ideals that help us make decisions about every aspect of mountaineering, including where we climb, how we climb, how we treat our climbing environment and how we wish our sport to develop in the future.