Salt Lake climbing community wraps up year with 1,232 bolts maintained

Emmett Olson rock climbing above the Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon in the autumn of 2025. Photo: Root Roepke

WASATCH MOUNTAIN RANGE, Utah  — The Salt Lake Climbers Alliance clips off belay of another busy year of anchor maintenance with not only 1,232 bolts maintained, but also 208 routes visited, 1,600 firld hours worked, and 27 crags tended to.

“Thanks to the dedicated, precise work of the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance,” Avid recreational rock climber Root Roepke told TownLift. “It’s reassuring, never having to question the bolts you’re clipping in to all around the Wasatch Mountains.” 

The Alliance and members of the Olympic sport of Climbing and U.S.A. Climbing promote the sport together at World Cups in Salt Lake City.

The SLCA is proud of their staus as recipients of the 2025 Stewardship Award from the Office of Outdoor Recreation.

Aging anchor observations are reported by casual climbers via a popular and easy online interface between the public and the Alliance. It’s an unofficial group of like-minded community members from Park City, Salt Lake, Utah and climbing enthusiast who travel from around the world to enjoy the spectacular opportunities here in the state, and so rarely close in proximity to a major metropolis. 

Putting the donations and dues to work this year also looked like the six employees going to secret and not-so-secret spots to perform maintenance like Big Cottonwood Canyon, Little Cottonwood Canyon, American Fork Canyon, Maple Canyon, South Willow Canyon, Blacksmith Fork, Rock Canyon, and Indian Creek. 

The employees of the nonprofit Alliance’s highly-skilled Anchor Maintenance Staff include: Eric Salmi, Alex Lemieu, Chris Brown, Matt Clark, Davan Howell, and Drew Broadhead, they’ve surely proven they are doing more than just hanging around.