We talk to Tommy Caldwell and Access Fund Policy Director, Erik Murdock, to discuss a massive public lands bill that’s moving through congress called the Natural Resources Management Act. We dive into what makes it so important, hear about Tommy’s involvement with the Access Fund, then Erik helps us unpack the Natural Resources Management Act — what it is, how it was created, and why it matters to climbers.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Why Tommy got involved with the Access Fund (1:41)
• What’s in the National Resources Management Act? (2:19)
• How did it achieve bipartisan support when so little does? (6:20)
• Which parts have the biggest impact on climbers? (11:24)
• What is the Land and Water Conservation Fund? (13:40)
• Ways for climbers to be better advocates (16:30)
• Other exciting projects with the Access Fund (20:32)
• Plans for Climb the Hill 2019 (22:25)

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What’s the biggest environmental impact we have as climbers? It’s easy to be distracted by the obvious stuff: chalk marks, cat holes, bolts. But, as journalist J.B. MacKinnon points out, the reality is much more complicated.

Longtime climber J.B. Mackinnon is a contributor to The New Yorker on ecology and consumer issues. He has written several award-winning nonfiction books including The 100 Mile Diet and The Once and Future World, and he is now working on a book on consumerism in the outdoor industry. In this conversation, we talk about the places climbing has the greatest environmental impact, how this has changed over the decades, and how we as a community can reduce our footprint.

(MacKinnon's website and work)

TOPICS & TIMES

• MacKinnon’s free soloing experience (1:40)
• What are the biggest environmental issues within climbing culture? (6:25)
• What are the underlying costs of consumer culture? (8:45)
• How is the outdoor industry different from other consumer industries? (10:06)
• What climbing equipment is most problematically produced and marketed? (14:28)
• On the importance of community-wide conversation (18:50)
• How do we decide to leave certain cliffs as ecosystems? (21:25)
• How do we prioritize climbing locally? (23:30)
• How do we get brands to do a better job? (28:20)

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Erick Davidson makes the best cams that you’ve never heard of — they aren’t sold in stores or online, and Davidson’s company, Merlin Rock Gear, doesn’t even have a website.

Erick, a mechanical engineer by day, designs and fabricates large-format cams that are much larger than Black Diamond’s number 6 Camalot, and that cover sizes way beyond what is protectable with more common commercial cams. And because of some clever engineering and expert construction, they’re also much lighter than the Valley Giant cams that span similar sizes.

Beyond the engineering elements of it all, making your own cams and selling them to people for use in very consequential settings is a much more serious undertaking than making chalk bags, packs, or bouldering pads. So we talk to Erick about the innovations in design he brought to Merlin cams, how he convinced himself that they were safe to use and sell, and where you can pick one up before you find yourself at the base of an unprotectable squeeze chimney.

TOPICS & TIMES

• How did Erick get started making cams? (2:35)
• When cams fail, which part is usually breaking? And why? (9:20)
• What’s different about the stem of Merlin cams? (15:25)
• How does taking tons of poorly placed whippers affect the cam? (22:53)
• What do the control horns do? (32:50)
• Will there be a production run in the future? (39:40)
• Where does the name “Merlin” come from? (47:20)
• How can people place an order? (50:05)
• Has Erick whipped on one of his cams yet? (53:02)
• What’s the best possible way to boost sales? (58:05)

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