Editing Mountaineering (section)

==Organisation==
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2021}}

===Activities===
There are different activities associated with the sport.
* Traditional mountaineering involves identifying a specific mountain and route to climb, and executing the plan by whatever means appropriate. A mountain summit is almost always the goal. This activity is strongly associated with [[aid climbing]] and [[free climbing]], as well as the use of [[ice axe]] and [[crampon]]s on glaciers and similar terrain.
* [[Ski mountaineering]] involves skiing on mountainous terrain, usually in terrain much more rugged than typical [[cross-country skiing]]. Unlike traditional mountaineering, routes are less well-defined and summiting may not be the main goal.
* [[Peak bagging]] is the general activity of ascending peaks that are on a list of notable mountains, such as the [[List of Alpine four-thousanders|4000m peaks of the Alps]].
* [[Enchainment]] is climbing more than one significant summit in one outing, usually on the same day.
* Climbing [[via ferrata]]s involves traversing ladder-like paths on highly exposed terrain.
* [[Ice climbing]] which involves proceeding on steep sections of blank ice with crampons and ice axes. This activity often requires progressing on steep and blank sections of ice. Most mountaineers have to rely on ice climbing skills to climb upon the higher peaks in the European Alps, Himalayas and Canadian ranges.

===Rules and governance===
Mountaineering lacks formal rules &ndash; though appropriately empowered bodies make many pertaining to specific use of mountains and practices on them.  In theory, any person may climb a mountain and call themself a mountaineer. In practice, the sport is defined by the safe and necessary use of technical skills in mountainous terrain: in particular, roped climbing and snow travel abilities. A variety of techniques have been developed to help people climb mountains that are widely applied among practitioners of the sport.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Andrew J. Kauffman |date=June 30, 1948 |title=Some Tips for the Apprentice Mountaineer |magazine=Up Rope! |volume=4 |number=19 |url=http://files.patcms.org/upropes/1948/1948-13.pdf |access-date=2022-10-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329084315/http://files.patcms.org/upropes/1948/1948-13.pdf |archive-date=2020-03-29 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="freedom"/>

Despite its lack of defined rules and non-competitive nature, certain aspects of mountaineering have much of the trappings of an organized sport, with recognition of specific climbing activities &ndash; including [[climbing wall]]-based competition &ndash; by the [[International Olympic Committee]]; on a club level, the prominent international sport federation [[International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation|the UIAA]] counts numerous national [[List of alpine clubs|alpine clubs]] as its members, while others, such as [[The Mountaineers (club)|The Mountaineers]] and the [[French Federation of Mountaineering and Climbing]], remain independent.

The premier award in mountaineering is the privately granted [[Piolet d'Or]],<ref name="RockIce2018">{{Cite web |url=https://rockandice.com/climbing-news/recap-of-the-piolets-dor-2018-ceremony-in-ladek-zdroj-poland/ |title=Recap of the Piolets d'Or 2018 Ceremony in Ladek Zdroj, Poland |date=5 October 2018 |website=Rock and Ice |access-date=29 March 2020}}</ref> which has expanded from a single recognition to multiple.  While there are many competitions, particularly in [[toprope]]d climbing wall disciplines, there are no "official" world championships or other similar competitions for mountaineering broadly.