Rifle Clean Up Brings Out The Best

Guest blog by Andy Wellman.

By most accounts this year’s Rifle Clean-Up event was the most productive ever! If I had to point to one reason I think it was that the locals came out in droves ready to make their canyon a friendlier place for climbing. There had been mass e-mail communication amongst most of the local climbers for months in advance discussing what projects should be completed, and people showed up ready to make it happen. Perhaps nobody should receive a larger pat on the back than Michael Kennedy, president of the Roaring Fork Climbers Coalition, who spent countless hours and who knows how much money fixing up the approach to climbs which he doesn’t even climb on! Props to you Michael. Mike Logan and Mike Brumbaugh (and many others) put in some serious time and effort helping Michael revamp the base of the Project Wall, moving boulders to create more parking spaces, building stairs up the erosion prone trail to Living in Fear, and building a retaining wall type platform along the base of some of the best routes in Rifle to cover the crumbling pile of loose choss which people have been belaying on for the last decade. Thanks so much Mikes!

The Summit County crew impressed everyone by constructing a stone stairway to heaven, (um… I mean PMS) and then back down the hill to the route Kingfisher. The stairway fixes the problem of a very slippery dirt slope which has caused people to eat shit for years, and is impressive in its size and fortitude. And they busted it out in about 2 hours! Nice work guys! Other projects completed include replacing many old and rusty bolts, repairing bridges damaged by high flood waters this spring, and helping clear brush from the Koper trail, a popular hiking trail amongst town locals and visiting tourists. And everyone spent the day picking up trash.

The party was not a disappointment either! Over 140 people showed up to share the Avery Beer and hamburgers, and voluntary donations towards next year’s Clean-Up event exceeded $500, ensuring that this tradition will not stop soon. While the large crowd prevented everyone from taking home a raffle prize, the mad dance party afterwards ensured that everyone took home a nice buzz. And to top it off, we as climbers were personally congratulated by Elmer the camp host, one who does not dish out praise often, for how smoothly everything went, how well we represented ourselves, and how clean we left the community house after we were done(more props to those that helped with the cleaning).

Well done everyone, and thank you so much to EVERYONE who pitched in a helping hand!

This is Andy Wellman’s first post for SplitterChoss.com. When he’s not climbing in Rifle, you can usually find him at the Wolverine Publishing world headquarters, putting out some of the best guidebooks around.