Climbers gather around the Sprinter to talk about how they can be better stewards of climbing areas while climbing at Wall Street during this year’s Moab Craggin Classic. Lands of the Ute, Dine, and Ancestral Puebloan peoples. AAC member Levi Harrell
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Summit Register 004—Letter from the Editor
AAC Policy Team
As climbers we have an extraordinarily intimate relationship with our landscapes, whether that be high alpine environments, our local crag, bouldering spot, or our gyms. Since 1902, the AAC has been committed to protecting these spaces. As our definition of what climbing spaces are and what it means to protect and conserve them have evolved, we have come to firmly believe that protecting communities, people, and culture is as important as protecting physical spaces. Our renewed focus on people and communities in concert with protecting and preserving our landscapes is an expression of this belief.
Photo by AAC member Bryan Miller
Over the last few months, we’ve reflected on our strengths and most pressing needs as a Club. These conversations have led to restating our policy and advocacy vision: We envision a future in which 5 million climbers are united in protecting the climbing places we love for current and future generations.
The foundation of our policy and advocacy strategy centers on actively engaged climbers. This is reflected both in our community organizing work and in a government affairs approach, which elevates climber experiences and stories. Climbers are our lifeblood and our work is member-centered and volunteer-powered. We will engage local and national issues with the collective voice of our 25,000 members and thereby activate the climbing communities that surround them. Our community gives a damn. And because we know that politics, policy, and advocacy is predominantly local, we’re building the Climbers Advocacy Network (CAN) to activate the most effective advocates to inform local issues such as climbing management plans and permitting. We plan to feature the work of the CAN in upcoming issues of the Summit Register.
Building the CAN has already started, with a small, passionate group of member-volunteers raising their hands to lead their regions. As we build the network and empower the CAN with information, we’ll lean into supporting 30x30 legislation, land policies impacting climbers, equity and inclusion, and amplifying work of non-profit partners and community groups, among other pressing issues. In our conversations with AAC members, land managers, lawmakers, adjacent non-profits, and community based organizations, there’s been great enthusiasm for this vision.
Our collective voice has the strength to create new ideas, move conversations, and give direction to the climbing community. As we educate and begin funneling resources to building the CAN, we take time in this issue of the Summit Register to consider some key issues for climbers at the national level, and steps we can each take to support national legislation. But with the CAN as inspiration, it is clear that advocacy goes beyond Capitol Hill.
This issue of our quarterly policy zine explores the nuances of advocacy, and the many creative ways individuals and local climbing organizations (LCOs) can advocate to protect our communities and physical spaces. In one feature article, AAC policy manager Taylor Luneau considers the role of local climbing organizations and local climbers in fostering effective and accessible climbing management plans for our overcrowded public lands. In another article, climber and advocate Kate Rutherford describes the power of eating local organic foods in the regions where you climb. Advocacy has many avenues, and we know our work ahead will ultimately lead to further engagement with lawmakers and change makers who can broaden our impact. We are looking forward to working side by side with all of you towards this future.