Is Wilderness Climbing Done For?
Plus, Griffith Park history on the radio, LEGO P-22, Terrible advice for winter gear, and a Big change to your favorite park pass
howdy
Maybe it’s the multiple writing groups I’m in colliding with the end of a big freelance project, or maybe it’s just the very slow digestion of that enormous Thanksgiving meal, or maybe it’s deleting the 18 different emails I got over the weekend from every store and organization I’ve ever even thought about, but this week really flew by without me getting a chance to put together a solid howdy section for the newsletter. So instead, I’d just like to remind y’all that I made a surprise live appearance on KPCC’s legendary AirTalk with Larry Mantle this week.
The show has a weekly segment on Los Angeles history, and I was invited to join historian, author, and teacher Mike Eberts to chat about the history and cultural significance of Griffith Park. Mike is a wealth of knowledge and a truly great guy, and I was happy to hop into the seat with him for another Griffith Park project (he joined me and Nathan Masters on an episode of Lost L.A. in Season 4, which you can watch here).
AirTalk is broadcast live, and we took a few questions and comments from listeners, which is always fun. In case you missed the segment on your post-holiday Monday morning commute, KPCC has the entire episode archived and available to stream or download here. The page also has the show divided up into segments, and you can scroll down to the bottom for the Griffith Park piece.
Aaaaaand hey, in case you want more on Griffith Park (or maybe for someone in your life who could spend a bit more time in one of the largest and wildest city parks in the country), I have a handful of copies of my book Discovering Griffith Park and you can buy one directly from me and even get it signed, too! Just be sure to pick one up soon to make sure you get it before the holidays!
The Big Story
Something to talk about
No More Climbing in Wilderness Areas?
Is rock climbing about to become a lot more difficult in federal wilderness areas? Maybe! A piece in the San Francisco Chronicle highlights a few proposed changes currently making their way through the bureaucracies of the National Park and Forest Services that is proposing that mountain sports using fixed anchors—including climbing, mountaineering, caving, ice climbing, and others—may be in violation of the Wilderness Act of 1964.
The groundbreaking Wilderness Act of 1964 is the law that established wilderness areas as a concept, and also put some fairly strict limitations on what can and cannot be done inside those areas to preserve their (relatively) “primeval character.” Some may find the restrictions a little on the draconic side—bicycles are not permitted inside Wilderness areas, for instance, because they are considered mechanized transportation. If trail work needs to be done in these areas, crews are not allowed to use engines of any kind, either.
These tight regulations have held since the law was enacted and have helped maintain the wilderness characteristics of these special places under the threat of increased use and development pressures, but it’s not exactly clear why the federal agencies are going after anchored mountain sports, which have allowed these activities since a 2013 director’s order (that also mentioned while everyone was OK with fixed anchor sports, they understood them to be in violation of the spirit of the Wilderness Act).
Understandably, the climbing community is a bit taken aback by all of this. You can read the entire proposal and register public comment from now through January 16, 2024.
RELATED
If you, like me, are never going to climb El Capitan but still want to see what it’s like to be up there, you’ll want to check out this video of climbers waking up on the rock wall. I hope you’re not a toss-and-turn sleeper!
Your Parks
Your Places
New Pass Policy
If you’re the kind of person who visits a lot of public lands each year—and I’ll guess you are—you may want to know that the Federal Interagency Pass (aka the America the Beautiful Pass) has some changes coming its way.
Beginning January 1, 2024, all park-specific and the Interagency passes will contain just a single signature line on the back instead of the two signature lines they currently have. This means that in order to use the pass to enter any federal land with fees, the person who signed the pass will always have to be present in the group.
This likely won’t affect a ton of people, but if you bought a pass to share with your spouse or significant other, you’re a little out of luck. I usually had my husband sign the second space on the pass so he would be able to use it if I was out of town or if he was taking a trip on his own. Now we’ll each have to have a pass. Or, I guess, I’ll have to use an easily forgeable signature?
via the Olympic National Park Instagram Account.
Tech Talk
Gadgets, Technology, and Hype
Winter is Coming
Off the Pacific Coast, a persistent high pressure system is about to dissolve, meaning the Northwest is finally about to get its first real blast of winter weather. Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood is currently forecast to get 32” of snow over the weekend, meaning it’s only a matter of time before I’m screaming curse words as I meander down ski runs, wilting every pine tree in earshot.
It’s time to gear up, and nobody—and I mean nobody—is gearing up quite like the good people of Reddit, who have posted a very entertaining and extremely not recommended collection of their own DIY crampons on the Mountaineering subreddit. Our friends at Gear Junkie put together an excellent compilation, which includes spikes on Crocs, ice axes strapped to puffy boots, and much more.
Again … uh, don’t try this at home. Or, try it at home, but don’t try this outside, OK?
One More Thing
Oh yeah, before I go …
Who doesn’t want to have their own little LEGO version of the world’s largest wildlife crossing, amirite?
As part of its LEGO Ideas series, user LivingHabitats submitted their design for a 2300+ piece version of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which is scheduled to be completed (in non-LEGO form) by the end of 2025. The LEGO Idea version features colors reminiscent of Southern California native plants, and has a cutaway to reveal some of the geology beneath the overpass as well. It’s pretty dang neat, if you ask me.
The way these work is they need votes from the public to move forward to actual consideration by the LEGO staff, so get in there and let ‘em know you support this!
Until next time,
Happy Trails.
