Comment from Hardy, Adam

I’ve been involved in the climbing community for over 15 years. While I recognize the need to protect sites and reduce damage of wilderness areas, climbing is a legitimate recreation and is very low impact when properly managed. It’s critical to keep places accessible, not just for the sake of the sport, but also for the sake of the place. We reserve beautiful wilderness areas for our enjoyment and that of future generations. Restricting access or implementing policies that effectively restrict access is counterproductive. 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.