Bolting in Wilderness Areas
- Tia Bohinc
- 15 hours ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 14 hours ago
BACKGROUND.
As sports climbing has moved from inside climbing gyms to the Great Outdoors – including virgin rock faces in congressionally designated Wilderness Areas -- the affected federal land management agencies have struggled to respond.
New “installations” are expressly prohibited by Section 4(c) of the 1964 Wilderness Act, as well as the use of any “motorized equipment.” Federal land agencies have largely (and correctly”) held that this prohibits sport climbers from drilling and installing permanent bolts and fixed anchors in congressionally designated Wilderness Areas. However, some sports climbers have ignored this prohibition and constructed “vertical trails of bolts” to make ascents on virgin rock walls they could not ascend by “fair means” using traditional removeable protection.
ESWA believes that allowing any bolting or other disfigurement of rock faces (or any other natural feature) in Wilderness Areas is contrary to the letter and purpose of the 1964 Wilderness Act. At the heart of the Wilderness Act is its mandate that Wilderness Area be “untrammeled by man” – e.g., not manipulated to facilitate human desires but left alone in their natural condition. The Wilderness Act is a self-imposed restraint on human hubris and desires so that we leave a legacy of wilderness for future generations. Pounding fixed protection into vertical rock walls to appease the desires and egos of a few sport climbers is simply wrong.
The Access Fund and other industry groups began lobbying Wilderness land managers and Congress to legitimize existing bolts and authorize the installation of more bolts and anchors on new virgin rock faces in Wilderness Areas. In 2023, their congressional supporters introduced the misleadingly named “Protect America’s Rock Climbing Act” (PARC). It stalled as a stand-alone bill but was included at the last minute in the more popular “Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreational Experiences” (EXPLORE) Act that became law on January 4, 2025.
Section 122 of the Explore Act provides that:
By June 2026 the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior must issue guidance for recreational climbing activities on Federal land, including Wilderness Areas.
The guidance must recognize that recreational climbing (including use, placement, and maintenance of fixed anchors) is an appropriate use within Wilderness Areas if undertaken (1) in accordance with the Wilderness Act, and (2) subject to any terms and conditions determined by the Secretary concerned to be appropriate.
The guidance must describe requirements, if any, for placement and maintenance of fixed anchors in Wilderness Areas, including any terms and conditions determined by the Secretary concerned to be appropriate, which may be issued programmatically or on a case-by-case basis.
The guidance must include direction for the continued use and maintenance of recreational climbing routes (including fixed anchors along the routes) in existence as of the date of the Act.
THE PROPOSED GUIDANCES.
Drafts of the required guidances were released by the USFS and NPS in June of 2026. Although the details of the USFS, NPS and Fish & Wildlife Service proposals vary in detail, they largely restrain new bolting in the Wilderness Area various managed those agencies, consistent with Section 122’s mandate that new bolts and anchors can be installed only if and where such can be done consistent with the1964 Wilderness Act. The proposed Guidances generally recognize that neither sport climbing nor any other recreational activity can occur in Wilderness Areas if they imperil maintaining the area’s wilderness character.
Although each agency’s Guidance varies in detail, some of their key elements are:
Bolts and anchors in place on January 4, 2025 are allowed as required under Section 122 of the EXPLORE Act.
No power drills may be used due to the Wilderness Act’s express prohibition of the use of any motorized equipment in Wilderness Areas.
The USFS draft Guidance requires local Forest Districts that have climbing opportunities to adopt climbing management plans to restrict or prohibit bolting “where its occurrence, continuation, or expansion would adversely impact wilderness character or other resource values.”
The USFS draft Guidance also notes that “the establishment of bolt-intensive climbing opportunities may be incompatible with the preservation of wilderness character.”
The NPS draft Guidance requires that a special use permit be obtained prior to the installation of any new bolts or anchors, with limited exceptions.
ESWA filed comments on the USFS and NPS draft Guidance’s generally offering support but suggesting some clarifications and improvements. Copies can be found below under Useful Links.
This webpage will be updated when the draft Guidances are made final.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Submit your own comments on the proposed USFS Policy before the upcoming deadlines.
Donate to ESWA to help us protect our Wilderness Areas from threats like this.
USEFUL LINKS
1. Section 122 of the EXPLORE Act
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