Madaleine Sorkin is a sponsored athlete and extremely strong climber, but in 2006 near the start of her career, it all almost ended. Madaleine had just climbed the Resolution Arete, a classic Grade V in Red Rock Canyon. While rappelling in the dark, one of her bolted anchors failed and she fell fifty feet to the ground.
Madaleine survived, but her story provides us an entry point into the complex reality of land management and rock climbing in the United States. Fixed anchors are extremely important to climbers, but their politics are anything but simple.
Following is a video that was produced by Outdoor Research and the Access Fund. The video starts with Madaleine’s accident and then takes us into the world of the Access Fund and government policy…
–Jason D. Martin