Mountains in wilderness don’t need hardware

We humans want the most out of life, so why shouldn’t we push to get more of what we want?

at’s what some rock climbers must be thinking. ey want to enter designated Wilderness in order to drill permanent anchors into wilderness rock faces, turning these wild places into sport-climbing walls.

When the Wilderness Act became law in 1964, it put wildlife and wild lands rst, decreeing that these special places should be left alone as much as possible. is unusual approach codi ed humility, arguing that some wild places, rich in wildlife and natural beauty, needed as much protection as possible.

So far, the Act protects less than 3% of what Congress called “untrammeled” public land in the Lower 48. ese are unique places free of roads and vehicles and most manmade intrusions that a ict the rest of America.

e Wilderness Act also prohibits “installations,” but to get around this, a group called the Access Fund has persuaded friends in Congress to introduce a bill that would, in e ect, amend the Wilderness Act. e PARC Act directs federal agencies to recognize the legal use of xed anchors in Wilderness, a backdoor

Introduced by Rep. John Curtis, a Republican from the anti-environmental delegation of Utah, and co-sponsored by Democrat Joe Neguse from Colorado, the “Protect America’s Rock Climbing Act” (PARC Act) has been promoted as bi-partisan. Yet over 40 conservation groups, from small grassroots greens to large national organizations, have written Congress to oppose the bill. Wilderness is not about human convenience, they say, it’s about safeguarding the tiny pockets of wild landscape we’ve allowed to remain.

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RYLEE DUNN Community Editor rdunn@coloradocommunitymedia.com approach to statutory amendment that even the U.S. Forest Service and Department of Interior oppose.

In a hearing on the bill, the Forest Service stated that “creating new denitions for allowable uses in wilderness areas, as (the PARC Act) would do, has the practical e ect of amending the Wilderness Act. (It) could have serious and harmful consequences for the management of wilderness areas across the nation.”

Beyond the permanent visual evidence of human development, xed anchors would attract more climbers looking for bolted routes and concentrate use in sensitive habitats. at impact is harmful enough, but the bill also sends a loud message: Recreation interests are more important than preserving the small bit of Wilderness we have left.

What’s coming next is clear. Some mountain bikers, led by the Sustainable Trails Coalition, have introduced legislation to exempt mountain bikes from the prohibition on mechanized travel in Wilderness.

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LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com en there are the trail runners who want exemptions from the ban on commercial trail racing. Drone pilots and hang-gliders also want their forms of aircraft exempted.

What’s confounding is that climbing is already allowed in Wilderness. is bill is simply about using xed bolts to climb as opposed to using removable protection. at’s apparently confusing to some people.

An article in the Salt Lake Tribune went so far as to wrongly state that, “a ban on anchors would be tantamount to a ban on climbing in wilderness areas.”

But now, even some climbers are pushing back. e Montana writer George Ochenski, known for his decades of rst ascents in Wilderness, calls the Tribune’s position “Total bullsh*t.” In an e-mail, he said bolting routes “bring ‘sport climbing’ into the wilderness when it belongs in the gym or on non-wilderness rocks.”

For decades, many climbers have

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There’s a certain cliché about big things coming in small packages, but over the years that has become increasingly true with regards to tiny houses and the culture around them. e COVID-19 pandemic and a ordable housing crisis have both contributed to more people investigating the myriad uses of tiny homes, and all signs point to that number rising.

For those who are already fans of tiny homes or are eager to learn more, the Colorado Tiny House Festival is back for the sixth year to provide all the information and exploration anyone could want.

“We’ll have more than 30 structures available to check out this year and a bunch of new builders coming in,” said Art Laubach, organizer of the festival. “We have a lot of variety and new stu for people to see, especially with how much our industry has grown since COVID.” e Colorado Tiny House Festival will be held at Riverdale Regional Park, 9755 Henderson Road in Brighton, on Saturday, June 24 and Sunday, June 25. e festival is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days.

According to provided information, the festival is the largest tiny house and alternative living event in the region and allows attendees to explore some of the di erent tiny home options, chat with experts in the elds of homebuilding, sustainable living and long-time tiny home residents, and sample the wares of vendors and local eateries.

While tiny homes are designed to be used as more permanent residences, there are plenty of options on the recreational side of things for travelers to explore.

“Tiny homes are built more like foundation homes and are built as four-season structures with typical home materials,” Laubach said. “But there is the camper van side, which is something we’re seeing more people interested in, especially with the workfrom-home options that followed COVID-19.”

Young people are particularly getting interested in recreational vehicles