Tag: Alex Honnold

The world’s most renowned rock climber was due on Capitol Hill for a US Senate reception with other top climbers from around the country, who had descended en masse on Washington to lobby for greater protections for public lands. Trump slashes size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments in Utah Read more Honnold, the subject of an upcoming film documenting his ropeless climb last year of the 3,000ft El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, had run out for a quick meeting with the National Park Service. Galvanized by the rollback of public lands by the Trump administration, and empowered by the roaring growth of the outdoor recreation industry, organizers had invited the athletes to Washington for a day of meetings with members of Congress and agency heads. In 62 separate meetings, 13 teams of athletes and advocates made their ask of politicians and regulators: protect public lands by supporting funding for things like land and water conservation, firefighting, research and staffing. And support the sensible acquisition of new public lands to preserve irreplaceable ecosystems. “The political climate around outdoor recreation and public lands has changed dramatically in just the last year,” Brady Robinson, executive director of the Access Fund, told the Guardian. There was Tommy Caldwell, whose 2015 ascent of El Capitan’s Dawn Wall captured the national imagination. And – maybe – Alex Honnold. “I have never seen wilderness truly be a partisan issue,” said Powers, of the American Alpine Club. “The American public is supportive of public lands,” he said.