Federal agencies are considering a controversial rule that would restrict rock climbers from leaving gear attached to cliff walls in designated Wilderness… which could affect some of California’s iconic routes in Yosemite and other historic climbing destinations.  

The National Park Service and Forest Service are reviewing more than 12,000 public comments. Some climbers fear the policy would bar them from creating new routes… but others say regulation is necessary to keep wild places wild.

KQED’s Alix Soliman reports:

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On a hot afternoon in Pinnacles National Park, 63-year-old climber Chris Bellizzi [Buh-LIZ-ee] grunts his way up a steep, red rock face.

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He’s following another climber up a sport route…unclipping his rope from small metal loops, called bolts, that are drilled into the rock.

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Bellizzi has spent countless hours hand-drilling bolts — every six feet or so — on rock walls in Pinnacles, opening up new routes for climbers to safely ascend. 

“I started here at 16 or 17 — my friends dad took me here — and in ‘81 I started bolting here.”

For decades, climbers have put up new routes on an ad hoc basis, tracking which ones need maintenance through online forums and word-of-mouth.

If the federal proposal is approved, a permit would be required for drilling new bolts and replacing rusty old ones in all land protected under the Wilderness Act…that includes 80 percent of Pinnacles. 

Park staff would also have to evaluate hundreds of existing routes. 

“It’s ridiculous, to have regulation, and to have a person go up there and look at each bolt”

Bellizzi and other climbers worry they wouldn’t be able to set up new climbs and that current routes would fall into disrepair, making them more dangerous. 

“That kind of oversight is gonna be more costly than the government wants to do.”

Cynthia Hernandez is a spokesperson for the National Park Service. She says established routes would remain open while officials assess the gear, and climbers would be allowed to leave anchors to ensure they can get down safely. 

“What this draft guidance would help us do would be to provide a way for us and for climbers to make sure this activity can happen in a way that protects and preserves the resource.”

Joshua Tree National Park has been piloting a similar rule since 2022. Brad Young is a climber and author of a guidebook. He says climbers can’t get park staff to look at permit applications there. 

“So in a practical, but not a theoretical sense, a requirement to have permits would be a ban on establishing new routes.”

The Park Service says that’s a misconception. Climbing advocates like the Access Fund push for safe and accessible climbing routes all over the country. They say it’s unclear how the draft rule might impact iconic walls in Yosemite … all of the routes on the famed El Capitan, for instance, have permanent gear.

Erik Murdock is a spokesperson for that organization. 

“But it certainly allows the agencies to prohibit and remove any climb that they don’t deem necessary for the administration of the Wilderness.”

The Access Fund opposes the draft rule in its current form.

But some conservationists believe wilderness needs protection from climbers. 

Richard Knight, a professor at Colorado State University, has found that climbing harmed plants on cliff faces and disturbed birds in Joshua Tree.

“Just the human presence on cliffs alters the plant communities.”

Knight says the pandemic created a boom in outdoor recreation. With more visitors, the agencies have had to come up with ways to protect Wilderness from being trampled…like requiring reservations to enter some parks and permits to hike popular trails.

The proposed rule is another conservation strategy. 

“I think they did the right thing. The problem is, it’s going to be almost impossible to actually enforce.”

In the meantime, the agencies are taking stock of all the feedback. They will release a final version of the policy online. 

For the California Report, I’m Alix Soliman, in Pinnacles National Park

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