Comment from Richard Sportsman

The safety of climbers (new and experienced) hinges on volunteers and policy makers/implementers working together to protect the lands we all cherish and love. We want to avoid accidents so the ability to place gear especially in emergencies is an important step to keeping many people safe. My experience is that most climbers want to safely climb and minimize damages these incredible lands that we share, and they accomplish this feat by understanding the subtleties in these decisions. I advocate for a stance that includes climbers safety and protection and therefore strongly urge NPS, BLM and FWS representatives to incorporate our learnings for the betterment of climber and other visitors as well. With your improvement of these fixed anchor policies, will insure a simple and effective stances that will keep climbing a past time for millions of visitors and residents in the United States for decades to come. Thank you very much for your time and consideration to this issue. 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.