Comment from Eble, Geoffrey

Mountaineering, alpine climbing, ice climbing, rock climbing, canyoneering and caving are all celebrated, traditional, time honored and historic recreational uses of public lands, both by private parties and as commercial ventures. There is >absolutely no place< for these activities to be rendered unsafe for participants by prima donna, mad person, excessively purist attitudes prohibiting the use of fixed anchors in wilderness or front country public lands. Their pov is nonsense and apparently in some cases, mentally unbalanced even. Especially considering the extensive public infrastructure and commercial uses currently allowed in National Parks and Monuments. Let's take the Grand Canyon, for example, with visitor facilities, restaurants, water lines, shelters, stores, bridges and restrooms in the canyon itself. Commercial river running companies run thousands of people on enormous, mechanized and motorized J-rigs through the canyon on the Colorado River every year! So to ban practically invisible and certainly mostly unnoticeable climbing anchors is the height of hypocrisy and unfairness. I wholeheartedly endorse the reasonable use of fixed climbing anchors in wilderness areas, as well as front country public lands. I support the recognition that climbing is an appropriate Wilderness activity and that fixed anchors, critical pieces of the climbing safety system, are allowable in Wilderness. I also support provisions to allow climbers to place or replace fixed anchors without authorization in the event of an emergency. I appreciate that the policy protects existing climbing routes that were developed before the PARC Act was passed into law. Legacy Wilderness climbs should remain available in order to preserve America’s rich climbing legacy. Please improve policies to expedite timely replacement of fixed anchors in order to avoid unnecessary barriers to climber safety. The authorization process for new climbing routes that require fixed anchors should be easier to navigate. Please provide a clear path for programmatic authorization, or preauthorization, at climbing areas that do not necessitate case-by-case special use permits.