The weekend's finally here, and it's time to climb. You've checked the guidebook and know the gear needed for every pitch. The rope, harness, shoes, quick draws, cams, stoppers, rain gear, water, and a few Clifbars are packed. But have you planned equally well to leave no trace?
Leave No Trace. Taken literally, the phrase sounds pretty unrealistic. Everybody knows zero impact is impossible. But this literal interpretation ignores the goals of the program. Leave No Trace is about making better choices. Choices such as where to camp, when to build fires, and whether to place a fixed anchor. Choices that can decrease our impact on the land without denying the fact that some will occur with every outdoor activity.
Horse packers, backpackers, snowmobilers, and now climbers are rallying around Leave No Trace, a phrase first coined by the Forest Service more than 20 years ago. Since its inception, Leave No Trace has grown into a large educational program and partnership between public and private land users. The program's goal is simple: to help people do a better job of using public lands. Leave No Trace maintains a realistic set of expectations. Any improvement is a step in the right direction. The program's slogan represents a goal that, though it may never be reached, is simple and easy to remember. Through a set of six basic principles, Leave No Trace strives to point out simple ways to reduce human impact on the land. Methods include using a stove rather than burning scarce wood, packing out your toilet paper, and using removable protection or natural anchors wherever possible.
Once learned, the principles can serve as a reminder of the little things one can do to decrease impact, but they are only guidelines. Ultimately, individuals must make their own decisions and choose their own compromises.
Climbers, who know the importance of fixed anchors and have witnessed the increased of them in their sport, may wonder how the Leave No Trace movement will affect them. The movement does not demand the abolishment of bolting or the end of route development. Instead it asks that people consider the implications of these actions before they commit them. Instead of saying leave no rappel slings, Leave No Trace suggests we clean the old unsafe ones and leave only those we need. Instead of eliminating fixed anchors, Leave No Trace challenges each climber to think about the climbs they choose, the fixed protection they place, and the paths they hike. It asks us to question whether new development will really diversify climbing opportunities or just add more. Obviously once new routes are pioneered, use follows, and use brings impact. Leave No Trace means asking whether the routes are worth the impact they will inevitably bring to an area.
One of the great successes of the Leave No Trace program is that it offers people suggestions and then leaves the responsibility to the individual. If we each take some of that responsibility for improving our own habits, America's land and water will benefit. It's not surprising that the program is changing people's habits for the better. Most outdoor recreationists agree that they can do a better job, and given the principles of Leave No Trace, they do.
And climbers can as well. The Leave No Trace program is in the midst of adapting its principles so that they make sense and can offer concrete suggestions for those of us who work and play in the vertical world. Leave No Trace is an opportunity for the climbing community to organize around an identifiable national program that protects our dwindling resources. It's a chance for the world to see that climbers are just as concerned with the quality of the sport as the quantity.
Once aware of the simplicity of the principles, even such a diverse group as climbers may find themselves picking up litter, being more conscious of trampling issues, burying human waste, making anchors more discreet, and admitting that they too strive to "Leave No Trace." Phil Powers is the Chief Mountaineering Instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School and Regional Coordinator for the Access Fund. He is currently formulating guidelines for the Leave No Trace rock-climbing ethics handbook.