Federal Rock: A Hard Place

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By Newsweek Editors

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Rock-climbing legend has it that celebrated conservationist David Brower installed the first permanent piton in North America. Brower, now in his 80s, confirms that he placed "a half-inch expansion bolt with a hand drill and a hammer" at Shiprock in Arizona in 1939. Fifty-five years later, rock-climbing has become one of the fastest-growing outdoor sports, with an estimated 500,000 adherents. But the sport, and pitons, to which climbers clip their ropes to break falls, have become flash points of controversy. There are about 7,000 "fixed anchors" in Yosemite and 5,000 in California's Joshua Tree alone. These days, they are often installed with cordless electric drills instead of hammers. This proliferation of bolts "offends the mountain," says Brower. "Power drills offend the mountain."

Since the late 1980s, these bolts have also offended environmental groups. Critics complain that climbers flock to established routes, trampling vegetation and leaving chalk marks on the mountain (chalk is used for a better grip). Rock jocks who won't leave so much as a PowerBar wrapper on the trail are incensed at the notion that they might not be conservationally correct. Fixed anchors are essential for safe climbing and descent, they say; to outlaw bolts in some places is to outlaw climbing. Grazing, mining and air strips are allowed in some wilderness areas -- and bolts are a menace?

Both the Interior Department and the U.S. Forest Service are currently debating bans on fixed anchors. Meanwhile, former enemies such as The Wilderness Society and the Access Fund, a national climbing group, are seeking common ground. Many climbers agree that power drills should be banned in national parks, and some wilderness advocates say the judicious use of fixed anchors is OK. As for the mountains, and whether they really are offended by modern climbers, we may never know.

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