Fixed Anchors in Wilderness
12 November, 1999
AAC Policy Statement on the Use of Fixed Climbing Safety Anchors in Wilderness for the Forest Service Negotiated Rulemaking Process
Throughout its almost 100-year history The American Alpine Club has been a consistent and active voice for preserving the mountainous regions in the United States in their natural state. Mountaineers and rock climbers were among the first people ever to visit these remote mountain ranges and wild areas we today know as wilderness. Through their explorations and adventures, climbers came to appreciate the wildness of these lands and became one of the most ardent advocacy groups fighting for their protection. The American Alpine Club testified on behalf of the Wilderness Act of 1964, and has steadfastly supported wilderness designation and appropriate management so that others in the future may continue to experience these areas in their natural state.
For as long as climbers have journeyed to the mountains and cliffs, they have used different types of climbing safety devices to protect their ascents and descents. The first recorded use of metal devices to assist in the ascent of a rock face in the United States occurred in 1875 when George Anderson placed primitive iron spikes in holes drilled into Yosemite’s Half Dome. The modern piton first came into prominence in Germany and Austria early in the 1910s, and was used as early as 1914 in the United States. Use of a fixed piton as a rappel anchor was documented as early as 1920 on the first ascent of Lizard Head Peak in Colorado. In the early 1930s climbing literature reported that rope slings were the most prevalent rappel anchor in use. The first expansion bolt used in this country occurred in 1939, when a Sierra Club party placed four of them in areas where piton placement was not possible to safeguard the first ascent of Shiprock in New Mexico.
All forms of “fixed climbing safety anchors” – a generic term used to describe slings, pitons and bolts – were used extensively throughout the country for many decades before adoption of the Wilderness Act both in areas that subsequently became designated wilderness and in non-wilderness areas. Wilderness philosophers devoted countless reams of paper to defining wilderness and the activities that were appropriate or inappropriate with the wilderness spirit. Similarly, Congress devoted thousands of hours of testimony to discussing the consistent and inconsistent uses of wilderness. In both instances climbing was always viewed as an archetypal recreational use of wilderness, and never once did either group mention fixed climbing safety anchors as being incompatible with wilderness designation. Considering that many of the fiercest wilderness advocates were climbers who regularly placed and used fixed anchors, the failure to mention these safety tools as prohibited objects should be interpreted as a sign they were never viewed as detrimental to wilderness values.
While widely used by American climbers, how, when and by whom fixed slings, pitons and bolts should be placed to safeguard climbing has been an item of intense debate over the decades. Pitons and bolts initially were judged by some as “unsporting” tools that allowed the inferior climber to triumph over peaks and rock faces that should be left for better climbers (as were crampons when they were first invented), but with the passage of time accepted norms were developed. Piton placement and removal largely was discontinued in the 1960s and ‘70s due to its long-term damage to crack systems and the development of removable protection. A growing “leave no trace” wilderness ethic developed both regarding climbing safety equipment as well as a general approach to the land that sought to minimize impact on the natural environment. However, even in the “clean climbing” era, fixed climbing safety anchors still are used as a last resort in areas where removable protection is not possible to protect the climber’s ascent, or to fashion a safe anchor from which to rappel.
In light of this history of fixed climbing safety anchor use, The American Alpine Club believes the following points should apply to climbing in Congressionally designated wilderness areas, Congressionally designated wilderness study areas, and agency-recommended wilderness study areas:
Mountaineering and technical rock climbing are time-honored and acceptable uses of American wilderness lands that allow citizens to interact both physically and mentally with nature in its primitive state;
Many alpine environments and mountain ranges exist only in designated wilderness or wilderness study areas, and many wilderness climbing experiences cannot be replicated in non-wilderness settings; Fixed climbing safety anchors are necessary tools allowed by the Wilderness Act as substantially unnoticed “imprints of man’s work” that climbers periodically must use and leave in place to protect the climber while ascending and/or descending a route; Inadequate protection is one of the leading causes of injuries and fatalities in climbing. Climbers must retain the discretion to determine what forms of protection to use – including the use of fixed climbing safety anchors – to protect themselves while climbing in designated wilderness or wilderness study areas;
Wilderness climbing, including the use of fixed climbing safety anchors, should be managed to preserve wilderness character and values, and to ensure we leave future generations with an enduring resource of wilderness;
Management of wilderness climbing, including the placement, use and removal of fixed climbing safety anchors, should occur at the local level through climbing management plans, and should be based on objective information about use patterns and resource conditions. In all management actions, land managers should chose the least restrictive means possible of achieving a desired outcome; Wilderness climbing should be viewed by climbers as a fundamentally different experience than non-wilderness climbing. Climbers who recreate in designated wilderness and wilderness study areas should challenge themselves to practice the highest form of “leave no trace” ethic possible by using fixed climbing safety anchors sparingly and only as a last resort when other options are not possible to protect climber safety; and
Motorized equipment is specifically prohibited in designated wilderness and should never be used to facilitate placement of fixed climbing safety anchors.
Adopted by The American Alpine Club’s Board of Directors on November 12, .