bolting laws

[scott]

ok - so what are the rules on machine bolting in national forest land - wilderness area. i assume hand bolts only?

 

and save me the lecture.

[Off_White]

Yes, wilderness area = hand drilling. If it's just national forest, machine drilling is allowed.

[Bug]

Don't worry about the lecture. They banned all the anti- bolting guys.

[Mos_Chillin]

Conversely, all the banning guys bolted.

[111]

you shouldnt bolt in a wilderness area!!!!!

 

"An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in this chapter an area of underdeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions..."

 

Emphasis on "permanent improvements". dont get me wrong, I would love to see bomber 2 bolt belays in wilderness areas but it goes against the most basic ethic that created wildernesses in the first place. Have at thee CCcommers!

Edited February 26, 2006 by 111

[dalius]

Feel free to bolt in wilderness areas. Just no power drills. Must tap tap tap, turn turn turn. Repeat.

[scott]

thanks.

[Bug]

If Larry the Tool heads your way, eat your bolt kit.

[Mos_Chillin]

[JosephH]

Wilderness Area = No drilling. That's why they call it "wilderness" area and not a "please f#ck this up" area.

[Mos_Chillin]

Yeah, that's the Government's job, and it hates competition

[Off_White]

Wilderness Area = No drilling. That's why they call it "wilderness" area and not a "please f#ck this up" area.

 

That's your ethical standpoint, I believe the question was about legality.

[Dechristo]

"This land has your bolts

this land has my bolts

from California

to the New York island

from the redwood forests

to the gulfstream waters

This land has bolts from you and me."

[JosephH]

And what is the current law (please cite a link) for fixed anchors in designated wilderness?

[elaine]

No lecture here. Like the others have mentioned, you can bolt in wilderness, just no power drilling. It's supposed to be done by hand. There is a link from the Access Fund's webpage about the support of fixed anchors in wilderness, and that consideration for the use and placement of fixed protection should be done on an area-by-area basis.

http://www.accessfund.org/pdf/FA_letter_12-3-03.pdf

 

From talking with different land managers, it is an issue that has not been ultimately resolved. It's not a matter of can vs can't, it's just how they get placed for now.

[mattp]

For those contemplating putting up new routes or crags, an equally important consideration, often overlooked, is trail building. Land mangers or property owners are often upset by the development of user-built trails.

[kurthicks]

Land mangers or property owners are often upset by the development of user-built trails.

 

This is the problem with Infinite Bliss. The bolts were not the concern for the USFS

[John Frieh]

Scott: depends on where you are.

 

The AAC has good info: Wilderness Fixed Anchor Chronology

 

Basically what others said: no power tools but legal except in the Sawtooths.

[Dru]

If you install a via ferrata by hand, is it OK then? Or does that qualify as a trail?

[mattp]

It wasn't quite that simple, Wazzu. There were certainly some in the Forest Service who DID have a problem with the bolts but the trail was at least as significant a concern and in a real way more so. Management plans do not allow for trailbuilding, but the rangers noted that trails are proliferating all over the place so that, for example, there is barely a lake anywhere that doesn't have a trail to it. The user built trail on nearby Mailbox Peak, too, was a big issue for them. In addition to the trail and the power tool issue, there was also the concern for the prospect that the climb might draw concentrated use by a new user group in a new area. Previously, that face had seen a handful of ascents in twenty years.

[kurthicks]

except in the Sawtooths.

 

where no fixed anchors are legal.

[Tony_Bentley]

Feel free to bolt in wilderness areas. Just no power drills. Must tap tap tap, turn turn turn. Repeat.

 

Something like that. I think there are more taps though. It takes 10 minutes to drill into granite with a 5/16 Hilte and an Eastman rock tool once you become proficient. I wonder who has blatantly broken the laws here in the Cascades? So far I only know of one climber who has passed into the grey area of power drilling.