Climbers make pact with feds

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1999 | 10:20 a.m.

Rock climbers are by their nature planners. They know the route they want to take up the mountain, and they are already looking for another handhold at the same time a foot finds purchase on a narrow lip of rock.

Now climbers have joined with the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management in planning the future of climbing in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.

The Las Vegas Climbers Liaison Council, a group of about 80 local climbers, has formed a partnership with the Forest Service and BLM, and two rangers have been assigned to oversee climbers in the Spring Mountains, including Red Rock Canyon.

"Basically this is an effort by both the climbers and the regulators to ensure that climbing areas are managed and to let both groups exchange information," said Mark Limage, a 20-year climber and president of the climbers council.

The pact is a memorandum of understanding with both parties agreeing to promote the protection, management and enjoyment of climbing areas.

Limage believes the agreement, which was signed in June, gives regulators a chance to keep track of the fast-growing sport of rock climbing and provides a safety net for climbers.

Forest Service officials "can see that this is a growing recreational use, and they want to learn more about it to better manage these areas," Limage said. "At the same time the agreement gives the climbers something in writing that spells out that the Forest Service will work with us.

"Now if a Forest Service supervisor gets changed, which happens pretty regularly, we have a relationship established."

Nationally there has been friction between climbers and the Forest Service over regulations that went into effect in June 1998 making it illegal for climbing bolts and other foreign objects to be permanently fixed to rock in wilderness areas.

The regulation affects 40 premier climbing areas in 400 wilderness areas across the country -- including Mount Charleston.

"After that came down in 1998 it has been left to each individual district, and the Forest Service here has been pretty liberal, and the communication we have should help iron out any problems," Limage said.

Both of the new climbing rangers are longtime rock climbers, and that has helped in continuing the communication between both sides.