In January 2012 an edict of the government closed Cuba’s western mountains to all, not only to climbers, but to all visitors, hikers, cavers, and birders alike. In Viñales National Park, where 80% of Cuban climbing routes are located, visitors are required to hire official guides and stay on a handful of trails “authorized” by …

In 2011, Access PanAm’s Grassroots Toolbox was completed with a first stop, self-help guide for local climber-activists, to start them on the process toward grassroots organization and stewardship of their threatened climbing environment. In 2012, we want to expand on this training with the Capacitación project: an intensive skills-based training workshop for Latin American access …

On August 25th, the Huascarán National Park (Perú) administrators got together to discuss the regulations for climbing and visiting the park. The plan (Propuesta de Reglamento de PN Huascaran) describes excessive and unnecessary formalities to climb at Huascarán National Park and ask climbers to go through a series of bureaucratic hurdles in order to climb. …

On a beautiful Saturday, in Bariloche, Argentina, 14 access activists from Argentina, Chile and Brazil met to discuss the problems faced by climbers in those countries. This meeting took place at the Mountain Hardwear Store. During the afternoon, we discussed the challenges faced by the Argentineans. Their recently created organization, ACCESO Argentina, is dealing with …

In December 2010, Kika Bradford (Access PanAm ED) and Esteban Degregori (ACCESO Argentina ED) gave a speech about what access is and what each person can do to help. Kika Bradford presented Access PanAm, while Esteban Degregori talked about local access issues. The audience was eager to share their concerns about access issues and participated …