Yosemite Awahnee rock climbers (#0562)

I guess there's no environmental movement for liking lichen....

One of the motivations for the "clean climbing" movement 40-odd years ago was to minimize damage to the rock. Pitons became politically incorrect because of the damage caused by hammering them in and then removing them.

Somehow I was aware that pitons were now used much less frequently. Despite that, it seems that rock climbing has become much more common -- sometimes too common. They weren't obnoxious while I was in Yosemite, but they've become a detriment to enjoying parts of Joshua Tree and in the Alabama hills near Lone Pine.

It's become a lot more common now--I guess for once I was a trend-setter! ;) But even back in fall 1974, when I went climbing in Joshua Tree with some friends, there was a section that was off-limits for climbing. I think the reason was traffic jams due to the gawkers!