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The Protect America’s Rock Climbing Act (H.R. 1380) is a bipartisan collaboration before Congress that aims to establish rock climbing as a legitimate activity across all federal lands, and direct relevant federal departments to include language in their management policy that addresses rock climbing and the placement and maintenance of fixed anchors. What does this bill say and what does its implications mean for rock climbing in the future? We bring in Chris Winter, Access Fund executive director, to fill us in on his ongoing efforts to lobby on behalf of the climbing community.
But first AB fills in Chris on some of the latest headlines in the climbing world, from April Fools faceplants to stealth edits on Chris Sharma’s ascent of Sleeping Lion.
Last, we have some Buddy Spray, presented by Yeti and open only to those who support our podcast on Patreon. Ben Chipman sprays downs his friends and for this welcome bit of selflessness we’re giving him a Yeti Yonder.
One response to “RunOut #101: Will Congress let climbers bolt in Wilderness?”
Thanks Andrew and Chris for helping shed some light on this issue that I was personally confused about. I also felt like a got a sneak peak behind the curtain of how politics actually works which was cool.
As someone who has spent 5 seasons guiding and basically living in America’s second largest wilderness, the Frank Church, I found this episode especially intriguing. Although the Frank Church isn’t known for it climbing (because there is basically none, but there is lots of potential) my time there gave me a unique lens to view this episode through.
One thing I thought was interesting, is that numerous times, boats and planes are brought up as examples of things that don’t get used in the wilderness. But in the Frank Church both planes and jet boats were grandfathered in when the Frank became wilderness. I felt like this related to the discussion around climbing in RMNP (but I’m sure is relevant at many other areas) and in this case climbing should be treated as historic use and the ethics that have developed in that area should be adhered to but now just more closely managed.
I also found the section about hand drilling vs. using a drill to be interesting. I worked on a trail crew for three days in the Frank and had to clear hundreds of logs on horseback with only hand saws so as to abide by the wilderness code of ethics. This is only to say that while Ive never hand drilled a bolt, I understand in some way the inconvenience the wilderness act places, semi arbitrarily upon us. However, it seems that most people agree that when it comes to bolting in the wilderness, there is a line, as gray as it may seem at times. I feel that hand drilling bolts could be seen as a methodology that, through inconvenience, helps keep developers on the right side of that line. In short, it’s much shittier to hand bolt a bolt ladder…
Just some food for thought. Thanks again for the insightful episode and I can’t wait for the follow up!