Roughly from 1986 to 1993, Armando Menocal was one of the founders and de facto leader of the nascent Access Fund. It is hard to imagine where climbing would be today without him. He fought for climbers’ rights, and though he wasn’t a fan of bolts he believed the government shouldn’t dictate how or where climbers place them. When government agencies tried to ban bolts, Armando stood in their way.
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Last November, the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service issued draft climbing management guidance that would ban fixed anchors (bolts, pitons, snow pickets, slings) in America’s Wilderness areas. This policy would impact some of America’s most iconic climbs in Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Rocky Mountain National Park, and more. The Access Fund is working to gather bipartisan support in Congress and advance America’s Outdoor Recreation Act (S. 873) and the EXPLORE Act (H.R. 6492), which include provisions that would safeguard fixed anchors.
One of the the main ways to support their efforts is via donation to the Armando Menocal Climbing Advocacy Fund, named in honor of the man who was a dedicated and early defender of climbing access. You can also sign a petition to the President here.
The following profile was first published in print in 2018. We’re republishing it online now in light of the current efforts and urgency to protect climbing in Wilderness.
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At 8 a.m. on July 27, 2017 Armando Menocal, 76, strolled up to a sidewalk table looking like he always does: cool and in a good mood. He was in Salt Lake City for an outdoor-industry trade show. His smile showed off a sizeable gap between his front teeth. Armando wore an African-print shirt and gray shorts. An Exum Mountain Guides’ visor shaded big sunglasses.
It had been a few years since I’d seen Armando. He had the same strong legs and nice tan, but there were Band-Aids on his arms. He’d been having trouble with his heart, he said, noting the irony that a
mountaineer and cross-country ski racer who’d always depended on his heart and lungs was now struggling with his ticker. He was on blood thinners and his skin was “getting old.”
Roughly from 1986 to 1993 Menocal was one of the founders and de facto leader of the nascent Access Fund.
It is hard to imagine where climbing would be today without Armando. He fought for climbers’ rights, and though he wasn’t a fan of bolts he believed the government shouldn’t dictate how or where climbers place them. When government agencies tried to ban bolts, Armando stood in their way. When trad climbers rallied against sport climbers, Armando stood in the middle. Without him we might not have sport climbing. Without sport climbing we might never have had gyms. Without Armando you might have to go to Europe or Mexico or Canada to clip bolts. Rifle. The New. The Red. And a thousand other sport crags might not exist.
I told Armando that I was interested in this pivotal time when climbing hung in the balance, but he started at the beginning, telling me about his mother, Dolores Granda Menocal, and father, Armando Menocal, and growing up in Miami, Florida, as a third generation Cuban-American. His great, great grandfather came to the United States to escape the 10-year (1870 to 1880) Cuban war for independence from Spain, he explained.
“Cuba lost that one,” Armando said in his rich story-telling voice, “and that was the first Cuban immigration to the United States. A huge number of Cubans came into Key West, started the tobacco industry there, and that’s when my great grandparents came.”
He said that a cousin of his great grandmother was the president of Cuba from 1912 to 1920 and that the president, Mario Garcia-Menocal, was once the subject of an H. L. Mencken story wherein Menken claimed not to know whether Garcia-Menocal was “more famous for his prodigious drinking or stealing from the public purse.”
This quote tickled Armando, who laughs easily and it took a little while for him to recover himself, but he finally stopped giggling and spoke of his three boys Matt, Marshall and Diego and his work in the 1980s as a civil-rights lawyer in San Francisco where, in Larry P. vs. Riles, he challenged the use of the IQ test in California schools. He believed the tests were discriminatory, and he won but it took 20 years.
“IQ tests are still used,” he said, “but not in California.”
Then he talked about the summer he climbed every dome in Tuolumne, how he’d never climbed a 5.12, considered himself a trad climber and yet somehow became a defender of bolts and sport climbing. While we discussed the fundamental rights of climbers Armando engaged in some gentle table pounding.
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