Mom Climbs Cliff With 2-Year-Old Strapped To Her Back

Menna Pritchard is a 26-year-old student earning a degree in outdoor education. She is also mom to 2-year-old Ffion. An avid rock climber, Pritchard recently scaled a cliff with little Ffion strapped to her back in a carrier. She was wearing a helmet, the child was not.

Pritchard posted a photograph on her blog of her latest climbing adventure at Three Cliffs Bay in Wales, and it has sparked outrage. Many people are calling her selfish and irresponsible. If Pritchard wants to take risks, go ahead, they’re arguing but don’t make that choice for your toddler.

But Pritchard is standing by her decision. “I can appreciate if you didn’t realize how safe the environment I was in, it could be worrying. But I was top-roping, which means if you fall you don’t fall any further than where you came off,” she told The Daily Mail. “It is the safest form of climbing you can do.”

The single mother went on to say that she’s very conscious of safety, so much so that she stopped half-way up the rock-face around 30 feet up because she felt they’d gone far enough. She also explained that the pair could not fall because her climbing partner on the ground was holding them secure with a rope.

What’s upsetting even the most experienced climbers, though, is that Ffion wasn’t wearing a helmet, and there’s a high risk of rocks falling from above. Pritchard said that she personally wore a helmet “out of habit,” which she now regrets because of how it looks in the photo.

“Life is all about risks, whether that’s something as simple as getting in your car every day or climbing up a rock face,” she said.

What do you think? Was Pritchard endangering her child’s life or has the whole thing been blown out of proportion?

(Photo: dailymail.co.uk)