The Hypocrisy of Anti-bolting Regulations:

The hypocrisy of most people who oppose bolting, bouldering, and climbing is obvious to anyone with more brains than a chalk bag. The anti-climbers can't stand the thought of a bolt a thousand feet up the side of a cliff or a trampled bush at the base of a boulder problem, but they are happy to drive to anti-climber rallies in cars powered by crude oil, over roads that have been blasted out of the 'wilderness'. At those rallies they might enjoy sausage or sandwiches made from BLM-grazed beef, washed down with a soda in an aluminum can that came from a giant open-pit mine, kept cool in a refrigerator that depends on factory-produced fluorocarbons. The light that lets them see each other while they deplore the Evil Climbers might come from a power plant in the belly of a giant dam that flooded thousands of square miles of desert canyons. They will print the results of the meeting on paper that came from clear-cutting of forests.

Just remember, they are preserving the environment, and you, the climber who might put in a few bolts or kick up some dust at the bottom of a boulder, are "destroying the environment".

Unless the plan is derailed, sometime in 2003 the USDA, via its Nazional Forest Service arm, will issue sweeping regulations that will outlaw bolting on most public land. (I do not share the hope of the AF and others that a "balanced" regulation will be adopted). Most of the public will not know or care. The Nazional Pork service thugs, well armed and funded by the sheep-like citizens of Amerika, will roam the backcountry, ready to bust the few climbers who dare to stand up for freedom. The vast majority of climbers will buy into the nonsensical notion that bolts are somehow bad and need to be restricted.

And another little piece of what makes us free men will have died.

I'd ask you to write, call and have a "dialog" with your elected and appointed officials if I thought it would do any good. But, if you do and they back off, I'll be the first to admit my cynicism was unfounded.

Can you find the bolts n this picture?

How about this one?

No bolts here; this is government-approved land use.

I think there are a few bolts on the cliff to the left.

Isn't pristine wilderness great?

I guess drilling is OK if the drill is big enough.

Can't have those climbers trampling the bushes ...

Cows good, climbers bad.

View South from N. Mountain, Hueco in the year 2525.

I wonder if Lake Powell has any bolts below waterline.

On man's art is another man's pornography ...

*Snappy Tom and Bimbos are now closed to all climbing. Good-bye, Three-Star Arete. All because certain people are worried about some dirt blowing away. I bet those same people live in houses, drive cars, eat beef that comes from cattle that graze on what would otherwise be "pristine" wilderness, etc. Hypocrites. Send them out into the "wilderness" for a few days naked, sans equipment, and I bet they will be less worried about saving dirt for future generations. Erosion is cool. It makes the planet more beautiful. Look at the Grand Canyon, or the Fisher Towers, or White Sands New Mexico. Eco-freaks will say, "but its different when the erosion is man-made. Its not 'natural' erosion". Give me a break.