A Rocky Situation : Joshua Tree Superintendent and Climbers Are at Odds Over Recent Ban on Bolts

Three people have lost their lives climbing rocks at Joshua Tree National Monument this year, all since a ban on new protective eyebolts or replacing old ones in wilderness areas of the park went into effect on Feb. 1.

The two facts are not connected, but the coincidence has soured the harmony between rock climbers and the National Park Service at the most popular rock-climbing site in the world, at a time when the sport is booming.

There were no fatalities from 1988 through 1992, a remarkable record, considering, according to surveys, that 37% of about 5.7 million visitors in that period spent part of their time climbing rocks. Some were serious climbers, with ropes and other proper equipment as well as some technical skill, and others were what climbers call “scramblers”--unequipped kids and others who simply like to climb rocks.

Two of this year’s victims were serious climbers, one a scrambler.

Park superintendent David Moore said not much could have been done to prevent the deaths.

“One of our responsibilities is to provide a safe and enjoyable visit, while protecting the resource,” Moore said. “But I don’t think you could keep people from traveling on rocks. It’s their park. And why would you do it? To me, climbing is a valid activity--a good, wholesome activity that people do . . . including rock climbing.”

The rock climbers might be surprised to hear Moore validate their sport. Some of them think he is trying to eradicate it from the park.

Moore came to Joshua Tree from Chiracahua National Monument in Arizona in July of 1991. Although he is not a climber and there was no climbing at Chiracahua, Moore said, he likes climbers. Visitors to Joshua Tree like climbers. Another survey showed that 71% of the visitors watched rock climbers and 80% of them enjoyed watching them. Most of Moore’s rangers are climbers.

Climbers, he said, have been an asset.

“Their cleanup (projects) have done an outstanding job,” he said. “They’ve provided trail markers so people will go along instead of fanning out and destroying more vegetation. They’ve funded some restroom facilities where people park to climb. They have benefited the park.”

The misunderstanding started, he said, with the climbers’ third annual cleanup project last year, which they hoped to finance by selling T-shirts and other items. Moore had to tell them, “We don’t allow any commercial operations inside the park.”

As a result, said Randy Vogel of Laguna Beach, who represents the rock-climbing advocacy group The Access Fund, they lost about $1,500.

Then came the park’s recently completed 18-page Climbing Management Plan, to which the climbers and representatives of environmental organizations contributed. Section 1.5 C states: “ . . . no new bolts, or replacement of old, will be permitted within Congressionally designated wilderness areas of Joshua Tree National Monument . . . (pending) scheduled studies . . . “

Wilderness, Moore said, is 83% of the park. The climbers felt they had been double-crossed. Vogel said Moore’s bolt ban was inserted as “last-minute tampering” with the final plan after he and others had reviewed five drafts over a year and a half, and it could make sport climbing more dangerous.

Sport climbing, which is especially popular at Joshua Tree, is a more secure form of rock climbing in which routes are fixed with bolts beforehand, allowing a climber to clip in with carabiners--spring-loaded closed hooks--and ropes for protection.

“If climbers aren’t allowed to place bolts or replace them, you might see an increase in accidents, and (the park) would have to bear some responsibility,” Vogel said.

Moore responded by quoting from one of Vogel’s two books, “Sport Climbing.”

“First off, he’s got, ‘Warning: Climbing is a sport where you may be seriously injured or die.’ (Then) ‘Fixed protection: Many of the routes in this book use bolts and pitons which are permanently placed in the rock . . . (but) these fixed protection pieces should always be considered suspect and should always be backed up by equipment that you place yourself.’ ”

Thus, Moore said, “We don’t feel we’re adding to any danger, because a climber wouldn’t use a bolt that he considers unsafe, anyway.”

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The bolts, permanently placed in solid rock by drilling, may deteriorate.

Moore said he understands that but said when he gathered his park people to discuss the final draft of the plan, the question was asked: “Why are we permitting bolting in wilderness? We don’t even permit (people) to pick a dandelion in a national park. When you leave wilderness, nobody is supposed to know that you’ve been there. Bolting seemed to me--and others--that that is something left behind.”

Vogel said, “I don’t think bolts are really the issue.”

The climbers also say that while he was at Chiracahua, Moore cited a section of the National Park Service regulations that prohibits “walking on, climbing, entering, ascending, descending, or traversing an archeological or cultural resource, monument, or statue” to prohibit climbing there, when it was apparent that in the intent of the regulation a monument was not a park but a structure, such as the Washington Monument.

“I don’t know where they got this climbing of a monument thing,” Moore said recently. “We didn’t have climbing in Chiracahua. . . . They didn’t have (climbing) when I got there.”

As far as monuments are concerned, Paul Henry, an avid climber who is Moore’s chief ranger, said, “You can’t climb on Mt. Rushmore.”

But, Moore said, he does not intend to use the monument rule to ban climbing at Joshua Tree.

“I thought we had a pretty good rapport with most of the climbing groups,” he said. “I do have a problem with bolts. Bolting in a park or tearing apart rock . . . if you went checking to see if there was gold out here and had a rock hammer, we’d issue you a citation for destruction of national features.”

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Bolts were not considered a factor in the fatalities at Joshua Tree. David Crowley, 40, of Marina del Rey, fell April 3 on the “Deceptive Corner” route of Echo Cove. A park board of inquiry chaired by Henry determined that Crowley had “exceeded his climbing abilities . . . used bad judgment . . . (and) improperly placed a camming (safety) device.”

Also, his companions took him to a hospital in the bed of a pickup truck when, Henry said, rangers could have summoned a Medivac helicopter.

David Kim, 20, of San Juan Capistrano, died March 12 on “Coyote In the Bush” at Indian Cove. Henry’s inquiry determined that Kim was “inexperienced” and had climbed “20 feet above his protection”--meaning, when he slipped he fell nearly 40 feet.

Rebecca Moreno, 17, of Orange, was not a climber but a scrambler, on an outing at Indian Cove Feb. 28. She slipped, fell and struck her head.

Moore said he will not use the the fatalities to try to ban climbing in the park.

“I don’t think it would be possible,” he said.

Will Friday of Naturalists at Large of Ventura was at Joshua Tree recently, teaching eighth-grade girls to climb.

“Climbing in general is going through a lot of changes right now, and Joshua Tree is the center of it,” Friday said. “The main concern I have is the sheer numbers . . . so many people that there are going to be more accidents.

“As climbers, we have our act together, but there are so many of us that we have to be aware of the ethics. I think that non-bolting in the wilderness is 100% appropriate, there are so many (other) places to go.”

But, Moore said, rock climbers always will have a place at Joshua Tree.

“They probably got 99% of what they wanted in the plan,” he said.