Climbing on El Capitan.
Climbing on El Capitan.

In 1929, an ariel cable car system was proposed in Yosemite National Park by Donald Tresidder, the park’s concessionaire. The system would take guests from the floor of Yosemite Valley up to Glacier Point. A second route was also scouted to take guests from Tenaya Creek Canyon up to Tenaya Lake. Ultimately the plan was scrapped because it was deemed too intrusive on the park’s landscape and natural beauty.

The Wilderness Act was passed in response to the development of many natural landscapes. Today anything above 4,200 feet in Yosemite Valley is protected, just 200 feet above the valley floor, in order to prevent future plans to develop the walls, whether through cable car systems or really anything else. The American Alpine Club highlighted the unique wilderness climbing on the legendary wall of El Capitan.

“If you don’t protect these areas they will be developed, and that was proven over and over again in my career.” – Mark Fincher, Yosemite Wilderness Specialist

While only 7% of America’s documented climbing is in designated Wilderness areas, climber and mountaineer David Brower played a major role in getting the Wilderness Act passed while he was Executive Director of the Sierra Club.

Human-powered climbing is protected in these areas, in addition to other human-powered recreation. The National Park Service (NPS) Director’s Order #41, Section 7.2, 2013 states that “climbing is a legitimate and appropriate use of Wilderness“, and congress has stated that wilderness areas “shall be devoted to the public purposes of recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use.”

The caveat with climbing in designated Wilderness is that no motorized equipment can be used, including drills. If a bolt or fixed anchor needs to be installed or maintained, it has to be done with hand tools, keeping the area as natural as possible.

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