Climbers Calling For Use Of Fixed Anchors In National Park Wilderness With Few Exceptions

More than 200 comments were made during the opening days of the National Park Service's review of the use by climbers of fixed anchors in official wilderness, and most were in favor of that practice.

The review was ordered earlier this month by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who called for the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to review climbing regulations within official wilderness areas they manage and whether policies governing wilderness study areas and other wilderness-quality lands should be updated.

"Interior is focused on expanding outdoor recreation opportunities, removing unnecessary barriers to access and use and managing public lands in a way that benefits the American people," Burgum said in announcing the reviews.

For the Park Service, the directive requires the agency to consider improvements to Director's Order 41, which governs management of wilderness in the park system.

"The [Park Service] is interested in recommendations regarding whether updates, clarifications or revisions may be appropriate to improve wilderness management and ensure policies continue to support effective stewardship of wilderness areas across the National Park System," said the release that announced Burgum's directive.

The directive that focused on the use of fixed anchors, which are pounded into rock walls and left there to enhance protection for climbers who can fasten their gear to the anchors, in official wilderness produced an initial surge of comments. A vast majority of those were driven by the Access Fund, a climbing group that advocates for "sustainable access and conservation of the climbing environment," as most used language provided by the group to call for allowance of fixed anchors in park wilderness.

The following two paragraphs were used time and again by many of those commenting:

I support the recognition that climbing is an appropriate Wilderness activity and that fixed anchors, critical pieces of the climbing safety system, are allowable in Wilderness. I also support provisions to allow climbers to place or replace fixed anchors without authorization in the event of an emergency. I appreciate that the policy protects existing climbing routes that were developed before the PARC Act was passed into law. Legacy Wilderness climbs should remain available in order to preserve America’s rich climbing legacy.

Please improve policies to expedite timely replacement of fixed anchors in order to avoid unnecessary barriers to climber safety. The authorization process for new climbing routes that require fixed anchors should be easier to navigate. Please provide a clear path for programmatic authorization, or preauthorization, at climbing areas that do not necessitate case-by-case special use permits.

There were exceptions, though.

"While climbing has increased in popularity in the US, my experience is that it is indoor climbing has really experienced this growth more than outdoor," wrote John Nicoll in his comment. "If anything popular outdoor climbing areas are seeing less use. Management of climbing in park units should work to limit installation of bolts, especially in wilderness areas. Minimal bolting allows for adventures that made the sport popular, and excessive bolting has negative impacts of the park resource itself as well as the spirit of the sport. We don't need to create the gym experience or expectations outdoors. Keep wilderness wild."

Clinton Rasmussen also opposed a change in Park Service regulations that would allow fixed anchors in official wilderness.

"Climbing has certainly increased in popularity within the United States. However, climbing in many wilderness areas has not necessarily seen that increase due to the skill and adventure required to climb in such areas," he wrote. "Over bolting allows a smaller barrier of entry that can result in overcrowding, safety concerns, and impact on vegetation and wildlife. Management of climbing in park units should work to limit the installation of bolts. Let's keep the spirit of adventure alive and keep the wilderness wild."

Some who commented pointed out how safety can be improved by allowing fixed anchors.

"Responsible outdoor recreation in wilderness introduced me to the important intersections of climbing safety, environmental conservation, and joy in the outdoors. Being able to replace fixed anchors in a timely manner not only helps to prevent accidents and increases climber safety, overall it can minimize the impact of climbing on the greater crag and environment because the anchors will allow climbers to always use the same place rather than searching for natural anchors when the bolts start to look worn out," wrote  Chloe Zehr. "It would help the climbing community and recreators at large to respect wildnerness and leave no trace practices to have further clarification (and consistent language) around fixed anchors."

You can read the comments, and make your own, at this page.

Back in 2023 both the Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service proposed bans on fixed anchors in official wilderness, but they were never adopted. At the time, the two agencies said that, "the combined impact of many fixed anchors in a single area or rock wall can have a significant effect on wilderness character. Therefore, fixed anchors constitute a prohibited use pursuant to the Wilderness Act §4(c) and may only be authorized if they are determined to be 'necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the area for the purpose of [the Wilderness Act]' through a minimum requirements analysis (MRA)."

The debate over whether fixed anchors are appropriate in official wilderness has been ongoing for more than two decades.

The Park Service in 2011 was updating its approach to wilderness management and called for, and eventually settled on, a general ban on fixed anchors in official wilderness, and potential wilderness, found in the parks.

The establishment of bolt-intensive face climbs is considered incompatible with wilderness preservation and management due to the concentration of human activity which they support, and the types and levels of impacts associated with such routes. Climbing management strategies will address ways to control, and in some cases reduce, the number of fixed anchors to protect the park’s wilderness resources or to preserve the “untrammeled,” “undeveloped,” and “outstanding opportunities for solitude” qualities of the park’s wilderness character. -- Director's Order 41, adopted May 2013.

But the issue resurfaced in 2023 with legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, that would allow permanent climbing anchors to be used in designated wilderness areas in the National Park System as well as on national forest lands.