Environment: Wearing Down the Mountains

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Janke was preparing for a two-day, 1,100-ft. climb last week on Yosemite's Washington Column. He proudly showed off a device that climbers are adopting to reduce an unpleasant residue of their sport--a sealed plastic drum on a drag rope to carry human waste off the cliff. In the early days of climbing, people bivouacking halfway up a rock face would throw their waste to the ground below. "Today that's simply unacceptable," says Janke.

Still, good intentions in camp do not always translate into the best practice in the field. About two miles west of Camp 4 is El Capitan, the majestic 3,000-ft. cliff face that is America's most famous climbing spot. On a busy day in the high season, there can be as many as 50 climbers on the face of El Cap, and each one is dragging up a considerable amount of equipment, trash and human waste. "On big walls, people get very intense after a few days up there--they feel more at risk, and ethics tend to go out the window," says Lincoln Else, Yosemite's sole climbing ranger. He regularly finds gear and trash left behind on the top or cast down to the base area below.

Like snowboarders or surfers, says Else, climbers see themselves as part of a counter-culture and dislike being dictated to. To spread his message of "leave no trace," he mingles with the climbers as much as possible and plays host to a coffee each Sunday morning at Camp 4. Hardest to educate are the growing legions of boulderers, many of whom started climbing in gyms and regard the sport as a social activity, not a wilderness experience. Bouldering is cheap, requiring no ropes or expensive equipment, and it attracts younger climbers, who hang out in groups watching each other try different maneuvers.

"The impact is more immediate because there is a lot of activity at the base of the rocks," says Scott Fischer, climbing ranger at Joshua Tree National Park. He sees vegetation crushed by crash pads being dragged between sites, multiple trails created across the desert surface and an abundance of "micro trash"--climbing tape, bottle tops, cigarette butts.

The Access Fund, a national advocacy group for U.S. climbers, set up a bouldering campaign last year. It has donated money to clean up campsites and trails around popular bouldering sites, though some continue to be trashed. "We have a real challenge getting the message out to younger climbers," says Access official Shawn Tierney.

By the end of the afternoon in Camp 4, nobody has managed to get up Midnight Lightning. Hack heads back to his tent. "Yeah, climbing is an impact sport, but so is hiking or horse riding," he says. Of course, horses have no desire to conquer cliffs like El Capitan. Only humans do that.