Originally Posted by
RooFlyer 
So is it the law there, or a request?
The law I will comply with; a request I will consider but in the case of the Pyramids, if it was safe, I'd climb (as I have already).
Some people do the right thing only for fear of breaking the law and being arrested and imprisoned (or going to hell, or purgatory, or being reincarnated as a coughroach etc etc).
Other people do the right thing because they have some ethics and some basic respect for other people.
I'm not religious, but I observe REQUESTS for silence, respectful conduct, removal of shoes and no photography in churches, mosques and synagogues.
<snip>.
Still not sure about the situation at Egypt's pyramids. I gather now that its a request by the locals, not the law, so not sure why you posted earlier "You can't climb the great pyramids at Giza ..." (Which I have, so therefore I "can".)
Talking about "doing the right thing" is the usual argumentative trick of transferring values from the personal into the general.
Please think about it: does the entry fee to a museum or art gallery entitle you to do to the exhibits whatever you please? You are not buying rights to Ayers Rock. What you are paying for is the upkeep of the facilities, the visitor centre, the roads in the park etc. If it seems expensive consider how far you've just driven/flown. It costs money to make it convenient for you to visit. Everything needed here has to be transported over huge distances and that costs money.
<snip>
Think about it ... if I visit a museum etc there are hard and fast rules about what I can an cannot do. Climbing Ayers rock is perfectly within the rules of visiting, if its safe on the day. And actually, by paying Park admission, I
am buying the 'right' to visit and climb the rock, if its safe to do so on the day, and I otherwise comply with the park rules.
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There are other concerns about climbing, however: the path left by rubber from the soles of climbers’ shoes is visible from kilometres away and some tourists leave litter and damage the rock. Moreover, extreme heat and a lack of toilet facilities mean that large amounts of evaporated, concentrated human urine flow into the area’s waterholes whenever it rains.
Frankly Rooflyer your a Geo I thought you new better ...........
Rooflyer it's not going to be damaged? ...
Well, I'm not sure what that photo illustrates except the very common phenomenon of rock pools developing in sedimentary rock, with trails of dark algal residue caused by water over-flow. The holes are often caused by a bigger-than-average grain or drop- stone sitting in a depression, then grinding its surrounding rock away whenever it moves when water flows - a natural mortar and pestle. Or are you implying they are where people have trodden? You can see this phenomenon all over the world. In many places the indigenous people use the natural 'potholes' for storage of foods or for grinding places.
As a geo I don't claim any particular expertise in the consequences of lack of toilet facilities
other than what you have described is typical of very many National Parks, unfortunately - like I said above, any National Park ranger will tell you that a human visiting a Park will damage it. I'm not convinced that human urine flowing off the Rock into waterholes is any worse problem than animal urine and faeces but then I'll leave that analysis to you.
My bottom line: Climbing Ayers rock is a permitted, regulated activity at the National Park and a pastime of generations. It was agreed to by the Traditional Owners as a condition of having the land handed back. Everyone can make their own decision whether to climb or not, but it would be nice if those making a negative decision could keep their moral superiority to themselves and let the rest of us get on with it. Who knows, engaging with a traditional owner at the site might change my mind about this issue, but the more I get hectored, get presented with specious arguments, get called names, or get shouted at DO NOT CLIMB THE ROCK, the more my back gets up.
The photo shows some of the erosion caused by wind, water, frost shattering and insolation cracking - not by people climbing on these surfaces. Uluru was formed more than 500 million years ago and what you see now is a fraction of what it originally was. Erosion of this monolith has been quite rapid. The impact of humans has only been over the last 40 000 years and is less significant that natural erosion. However like humans anywhere there is always an impact on the natural environment.
