To bring non-climbers out there up to speed, fixed anchors, often referred to as bolts, are used by rock climbers for safe ascension and descension in technical vertical terrain. Rock climbing anchors have legally existed within federally designated Wilderness areas for decades, and in many cases, were placed there long before the Wilderness Act was signed into law in 1964.

Of note is the Little Cottonwood Canyon Climbing Area Historic District which has been determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, and includes routes put up in the 1960s by the Alpenbock Club. Hundreds of people climb these routes, which depend on fixed anchors, every year. Little Cottonwood has, in fact, become a training ground for Olympic athletes like Utah native Nathanial Coleman. Along with Little Cottonwood, the list of established rock climbing destinations located within Wasatch Mountains’ Wilderness areas, most of which are in view of the Wasatch Front urban interface, goes on to include Big Cottonwood Canyon, Ferguson Canyon, Lone Peak, and American Fork Canyon. All told, it is estimated that 30 percent of climbing in the Wasatch is within Wilderness situated just minutes from Salt Lake City. That’s hundreds of long-established routes with necessary fixed anchors that have been around for decades, much of which are made up of non-stainless hardware that, if not replaced, will corrode, rust, and fail under human weight. The Salt Lake Climbers Alliance contends that maintaining existing climbing resources, even those located within Wilderness, is a matter of public safety.

This standpoint not only runs counter to Johnson’s outdated opinion that fixed anchors do not belong in Wilderness, but to the National Park Service’s (NPS) stance on the issue as well. Recently, the NPS moved to prohibit fixed anchors in Wilderness areas across the nation. This would set a dangerous precedent for other federal agencies to follow suit, essentially prohibiting climbing in Wilderness. 

Now is the time to finally move away from arguing about whether or not climbing belongs in Wilderness and towards common sense climbing area management, as outlined within Protect America’s Rock Climbing Act (H.R. 1380). This bi-partisan bill, co-sponsored by Representatives John Curtis (R-Utah) and Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), would bring consistency to how climbing areas within designated Wilderness are managed by: 

• requiring the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to issue national guidance on management of climbing within Wilderness areas;
• clarifying that climbing, including sustainable placement, use, and maintenance of fixed anchors, are appropriate uses within Wilderness areas; 
• preserving the existing authority of land management agencies to regulate climbing to ensure it protects Wilderness characteristics, natural resources, and cultural values; and
• providing means for public participation in decisions impacting climbing in Wilderness.

Andrew Bisharat, publisher of Evening Sends, succinctly framed the importance of maintaining climbing anchors within Wilderness areas in his piece “Breaking the Wilderness Bell Jar.” “This abstract conception of ‘Wilderness’ forever preserved under the bell jar of strong federal regulations need not be incompatible with responsibly regulated adventure sports like rock climbing, which leverage trails and, yes, bolts,” Bisharat wrote. “This is not to say that there shouldn’t be some areas of Wilderness that are entirely free of human presence. There should be. But let’s start standing behind the truth that climbing is relatively contained and quite low-impact, and whatever environmental costs are accrued through climbing infrastructure, these costs are absolutely worth the gains in spiritual flourishing and well-being that climbing delivers.” ” 

Utah, as well as much of the Western U.S., is blessed with world-class rock climbing, from roadside crags to alpine summits, much of which has existed within Wilderness areas for decades. With an exponentially growing climbing community, people will continue to climb these established routes for years to come. But if the National Park Service fails to establish a climbing management plan and continues to pursue its fixed-anchor ban in Wilderness, there will unfortunately be accidents and deaths as anchors age and ultimately fail. The time has come for both the federal government and naysayers like Johnson to acknowledge the reality that rock climbing bolts are a legitimate and useful part of the Wilderness experience.

Thanks for finding the one and only error in my comment (a typo). Cheers, Erik

Erik Murdoch, my father, Ed and I both spell our name with an “o” — Marston.

Thanks for the comment.

David,
You are an ideologue who is publishing false information. Fixed anchors are legal in Wilderness right now. The NPS, DOI, Dept. of Ag, and the entire House Natural Resources Committee (and anyone who is familiar with this issue) disagrees with your factual error and misunderstanding of the issue. We can debate whether you want fixed anchors to be “illegal” in the future, but we cannot debate the facts about current policy and law. As a publisher (who got his job through nepotism), you should be ashamed of yourself for peddling propaganda. High Country News wrote this about Ed Marsten, “He was also a commercial developer of Paonia’s two-block downtown and a fierce opponent of anyone — no matter how well funded and powerful — who used political influence to try to close off access to wilderness.” In the end, your shameful propaganda did not work. On June 21st, the House Natural Resources Committee unanimously voted to accept an amendment to the PARC Act that ensures that fixed anchors remain appropriate in Wilderness (in accordance with the Wilderness Act and other current policies), and that the bill will not be misinterpreted as a revision to the Wilderness Act (the concern of Dana in her factually incorrect opinion piece). This amendment was supported by staunch wilderness defenders and was not opposed by the US Forest Service or the National Park Service. Hopefully the bill will become law this year. Please stop misinforming the public and using your father’s platform to spread propaganda.

I’ve seen a lot of climbers nit-picking over the term “sport climbing” and arguing, oddly, that the Access Fund isn’t trying to get sport climbing in Wilderness.(Access Fund is not funded currently by Patagonia or Chouinard) But the PARC Act is incredibly short and easy to read. It explicitly “recognizes the appropriateness of the allowable activities in paragraph (2)” in designated Wilderness. Paragraph (2) refers to: “(A) recreational climbing; (B) the placement, use, and maintenance of fixed anchors; and (C) the use of other equipment necessary for recreational climbing.” Sport climbing, by definition, relies on fixed anchors for the climb.

Moreover, stating an intention to or past act of installing a fixed anchor, without a permit (director’s order 41), in Wilderness is illegal.