Climbers raise red flags over proposed anchor rules for national parks

The mountain climbing community is concerned that new rules being proposed by the National Park Service and Forest Service could hinder their sport, making some mountains impossible to scale.

The new draft rules released last month could allow national parks to ban fixed climbing anchors entirely, and remove anchors that are already in place, claimed Erik Murdock, interim director of the Access Fund, a mountain and rock climbing advocacy group.

“This is a top-down proposal by a few attorneys in Washington, D.C.,” Murdoch said in a recent interview.

The new rules, among other things, could require climbers to get a permit beforehand to install anchors on local climbing routes in places like Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

Use of fixed climbing anchors in those mountains is relatively light — Glacier has notoriously rotten rock, and many of the popular climbing routes don’t require ropes. Climbing isn’t nearly as popular in the Bob Marshall, as many of the mountains are a day or more hike just to get there.

Still, nationwide, the new rules could have profound impacts.

For example, the rules state that land managers “consider a range of possible alternatives for different levels of fixed anchor use to accommodate recreational climbing in wilderness, including an option that considers the impacts of not authorizing any fixed anchors in wilderness or denying the specific installation application, depending on the circumstances. The analysis should be guided by the broad policy direction in Director’s Order 41 that ‘fixed anchors or fixed equipment should be rare’ and that ‘clean climbing’ techniques should be the norm in wilderness.”

Famous faces like Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan could be greatly impacted under such a measure, as climbing it by almost all people requires bolts and anchors, climbers note.

Seth Anderson is an avid Kalispell climber and Glacier Mountaineering Society Member. He noted that the rules pose another problem for him: safety.

“Where I see it being an issue is an emergency situation,” he said, noting that when you’re up on a mountainside, sometimes a climber needs to put in an anchor just to get down.

Under the new rules, climbers, if they’re even allowed, would likely have to get a permit to install a fixed anchor on a route prior to the climb.

At the very least, the new rules could prove onerous for the climbing community.

“Fixed anchor permits should include specific terms, conditions and special provisions to ensure the protection of park resources and visitors and the preservation of wilderness character, including but not limited to the number, type and color of fixed anchors, the specific installation dates, and location of the climbing route where the authorization is applicable, and any temporal restrictions. It is also highly recommended that the permittee be required to provide a post-climb report regarding the number and location of fixed anchors that were installed,” the draft rules state.

The climbing community is not resting on its laurels, however. They’ve introduced federal legislation in both the House and Senate that would specifically allow for anchors in national parks and wilderness.

It’s the Explore Act in the House and Aora Act in the Senate.

Both bills have broad-ranging aspects to them — the anchors provisions are just a couple sentences in each one, but important ones to the climbing community, as they would allow for the use of climbing anchors in national parks and wilderness, and would also preserve existing routes in areas.

Congressman Ryan Zinke and Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester all support the use of anchors, which are typically small fixtures that barely stick out of the rock itself.

“Sen. Tester has always supported Montanans’ access to public lands, and will continue to have conversations with conservationists and climbers to find a path forward on a rule that works for Montana’s outdoor community. 

"Sen. Tester encourages all Montanans to participate in the National Forest Service and National Park Service’s public comment period to make their voices heard, and ultimately will work with stakeholders to ensure that any final rule works for the Treasure State,” an aide to Tester said in an email.

“Congressman Zinke has always supported increased public access to public lands. Codifying climbers’ ability to access wilderness areas is one part of expanded access which the Congressman supports,” an aide to Zinke said.

An aide to Daines said the Senate version of the bill has already made it through committee.

The comment period on the proposed rules is available at: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/ then select the anchors link. Comments are due by Jan. 16.