We’re All in This Together

As I was hiking up to a local crag last week, I noticed some new stone steps that had been installed on the steep trail. At first I didn’t think much of it, but as I continued up, it became clear that someone had put some serious effort into improving this slidey path. I figured it was someone I knew, but as I later found out, it wasn’t anyone that had been involved with developing the cliff. How cool, I thought, some one else is stepping up and taking ownership of an area that they obviously enjoy climbing at.

Developing a cliff is an often thankless task. You spend hours upon hours cleaning routes, putting in anchors and roughing out a trail, all so you and the rest of the community can have another place to climb. Of course people often appreciate the work and the resulting routes, but most don’t necessarily want get their hands dirty with the grunt work. I guess that’s what really struck me about these new stone steps. Here’s someone else who cares enough to realize crags don’t make themselves, and that they could improve the experience for everyone. I can tell you the approach to this crag is now much more pleasant given the work that was done.

I’ve also seen anchor material get replaced at various local crags recently, again indicating that certain folks are willing to give a little of their own time and resources to better the local cliffs. So here’s a big thanks to all you great people out there. Thanks for the efforts and keep ’em coming. We’ll keep opening new crags, in fact there’s one in the works right now that is some of the best climbing this side of Rifle. Stay tuned.