Proposed Climbing Guidance Could Limit Wilderness Climbing

Kate Rutherford climbing at Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado. Photo credit: Chris Noble.

Outdoor recreation is one of the primary ways Americans come to know their public lands and develop a stewardship ethic. There is a long history of Americans taking part in human-powered recreation on public lands, including our country’s 111 million acres of Wilderness. Hiking, backpacking, camping, backcountry skiing, rock climbing, paddling, and mountaineering are some of the many ways people experience and enjoy Wilderness.

Right now, new proposed policies from the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service have spurred a debate about how to manage climbing in Wilderness, particularly around small climbing tools called “fixed anchors.” Whether you’re a climber or not, these proposed policies have important implications for how federal agencies manage outdoor recreation, and how the human-powered recreation community contributes to the conservation movement.

What are fixed anchors?

For those less well-versed in climbing equipment, fixed anchors are essential parts of climbing safety systems, and include bolts, slings, and pitons, which allow for the safe ascent and descent from climbs. Though climbing styles vary, some limited use of fixed anchors is generally considered necessary for safe climbing, either to protect blank sections of rock where removable “trad” protection is not available, or to allow climbers to descend technical terrain without leaving gear behind. Although fixed anchors are primarily used for climbing and mountaineering, they are also used for other recreational pursuits including backcountry skiing, whitewater paddling, and canyoneering.

Climbers’ use of fixed anchors predates many of America’s modern public lands laws, including the Wilderness Act. With the exception of the National Park Service, who approved a broadly supported Wilderness fixed anchor policy in 2013, there has never been a consistent national policy regulating where and how fixed anchors should be placed and replaced. The climbing community has been requesting such a policy for decades, and has worked collaboratively with land managers, other conservation organizations, and Tribes to ensure that climbing is sustainably managed and does not threaten environmental or cultural resources. The new guidance could be a big change for how recreation has been managed in Wilderness that could have unintended consequences.

Climbing and Outdoor Recreation in Wilderness

When the Wilderness Act was passed in 1964, its goal was to create a National Wilderness Preservation System to protect and preserve land in its “natural condition.” Supporters of the Wilderness Act embraced outdoor recreation as a core Wilderness value, and the law dictates that Wilderness areas should have “outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation.” Thankfully, the proposed guidance from agencies does recognize that climbing is a historic, and valid, use of Wilderness.

Throughout the history of climbing, fixed anchors have generally been permitted, although Wilderness designation limits where and how they should be placed. In Wilderness areas, climbers must use hand-drills to install bolts, bolts are to be used sparingly, and bolt-intensive “sport” climbs are not considered appropriate. Famous Wilderness climbing destinations include iconic places like Yosemite’s El Capitan, the White Mountains in New Hampshire, and the North Cascades in Washington (Access Fund and The Mountaineers). Climbers have long accepted commonsense regulation to protect Wilderness character while also allowing climbing access.

Proposed Climbing Guidance

Last November, the Park Service and Forest Service each released proposed Wilderness climbing management policies, and they are inviting the public to comment on these policies until January 30. While both sets of policies acknowledge that climbing belongs in Wilderness and that fixed anchors are an essential part of climbing safety systems, the draft policies have caused concerns with climbers. One concern is that these new policies could lead to prohibitions on both new and existing climbing routes.

For the first time, both the Park Service and Forest Service policies characterize fixed anchors as “installations,” which are prohibited under the Wilderness Act—a significant change that goes against 60 years of policy and practice. Both policies create pathways for fixed anchors to be placed and maintained, but only through a three-part review process including a Minimum Requirements Analysis, a complex legal tool more typically used for bridges, fire lookouts, transmission lines, facilities, and other larger infrastructure projects (NPS and USFS). This process charges land managers with evaluating whether the thousands of fixed anchors found across America’s Wilderness areas are necessary to administer the Wilderness Act’s recreation purpose (a very high bar). The practical effect is that this would flip anchors from being allowed (unless a land manager restricted them) to anchors being prohibited (unless a land manager explicitly approves one). This leaves open the possibility that land managers might restrict future climbing route development, limit climbers’ abilities to replace existing unsafe anchors, deem existing routes illegal, and even remove existing routes. Access Fund and American Alpine Club have compiled a detailed summary of the draft guidance, which you can read here.

What does this mean for the conservation movement?

As a coalition of human-powered outdoor recreation organizations, Outdoor Alliance works to build consensus among recreationists to support conservation efforts. Right now, we are facing some of the biggest challenges to the outdoors and our natural environment that we ever have. From climate change to a high demand for the outdoors, to building a diverse and vibrant conservation movement, there are huge problems to tackle and we need a big tent of folks invested in protecting more land and water—through Wilderness and other means. Climbers have been a crucial part of the conservation movement. Their support for protecting more Wilderness areas has been central to numerous conservation successes over the last 50 years, including the recent Dingell Act which protected 1.3 million new acres of Wilderness.

Click above or at left to read Outdoor Alliance’s letter to the Forest Service and Park Service.

For Outdoor Alliance as a coalition, and for many of our partners in the recreation community and the outdoor industry, the proposed climbing policies potentially impede our coalition’s ability to be full-throated advocates for more Wilderness. If our goal is to protect more wild places, hindering consensus in the outdoor recreation community will result in less Wilderness, not more. Whether or not you climb, and whether or not you climb in Wilderness, this issue will have implications for how well the outdoor community is able to advocate for conserving land as Wilderness.

The Forest Service and Park Service are accepting comments on their proposed climbing guidance until January 30 (a recently-extended deadline). You can read Outdoor Alliance’s joint comments with Outdoor Industry Association and The Conservation Alliance to the Forest Service and Park Service right here.