Two days left to add your voice to the discussion regarding the future of commercial/guided climbing in Rocky Mountain National Park. The National Park Service (NPS) wants your input on how to manage guided climbing within the Park. For more than 20 years the sole concessionaire (read: only company allowed to guide) in the Park has been the Colorado Mountain School (CMS). Once upon a time that probably made sense, but the Park Service wants to keep up with the changing landscape of recreation on the Front Range, so they’re accepting public comment on the new system.
This summer four Commercial Use Authorizations were granted for an experimental go at allowing other guide services to operate in Rocky, alongside CMS’s concession. These were awarded randomly, with four winners being drawn from a field of 19 total. A couple made sense–Eli Helmuth’s Climbing Life Guides and Acadia Mountain Guides–while two others were a bit out of left field. One was a off-road touring company with zero experience with rock climbing. NPS sounds open to considering improvements to their management plan, due to be announced in 2015 for implementation in 2016. Make your voice heard!
Click through to THIS LINK and follow the prompts. You’ll be offered the opportunity to comment on four main questions. These will cover how you perceive changes in the climbing community over the past decade, your opinion on how climbing/guiding should be managed/structured in the Park, and so on. A few things to consider:
–There is currently no realistic plan for non-CMS guides to work in Rocky Mountain National Park. The current system excludes internationally certified guides like Dale Remsberg (he’s also Technical Director of the American Mountain Guides Association, or AMGA) and Markus Beck (owner/founder of Alpine World Ascents), as well as several other LOCAL rock and alpine guides certified by the AMGA. These are guides with the highest levels of certification available and they’re not permitted to work, though a first-year guide with no formal training or certification can work if s/he’s employed by CMS.
–Low-ratio guiding (one or two clients max), as professional mountain guides practice, would account for a tiny, tiny fraction of user days in Rocky. Professional/certified guides are also generally committed to Leave No Trace principles and are passionate/responsible stewards of the land. A certified guide is a land manager’s best ally in protecting the resource!
–Academic/institutional outings (NOLS, Colorado Mountain Club, or a university outdoor program, for example) are often run with large groups, by people with relatively little training and generally no certification. While these groups definitely belong in the mix, they should not be exempted from the permitting process. Large-ratio outings have a far, far greater impact on the resource then 2:1 or 1:1 guiding.
–Whatever groups are allowed to work within Rocky, there should be some thought given to getting lower-income participants, particularly kids, into the backcountry. Perhaps with each CUA awarded, a number of their user days should be discounted or pro bono?
–Minimizing competition isn’t healthy for the guiding industry, or any other. Further, if a client has a strong, trusted relationship with a guide, shouldn’t s/he be encouraged to come visit with that particular guide?
There are a few thoughts on the process. I’m sure you have a few of your own, so share them with the Park Service and let them know you’re interested in commercial climbing in the Park!
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