I've been slammed lately trying to finish up the semester, focus a little on helping out with SC access and then I've tried to slip a few sessions in between. As mentioned in previous posts, I've been helping the CCC work with the State Parks to try to expand climbing opportunities in South Carolina. We have had very pleasant meetings with both DNR and the Mountain region State Parks (Keowee-Toxaway, Table Rock and Jones Gap) and hope that we have set some positive wheels in motion. Over the last 2 days, I have been out early in the morning, with temps in the single digits to low double digits, working with some of the best rangers to identify areas that are of interest to SC climbers. Its been great to meet these guys, walk in their woods and inform them exactly what we're all about. All of the rangers have been receptive to our ideas and willing to find out if there are any hurdles that might stop access from happening in the near future. I'm a big fan of cooperation and forces working together so both succeed in their missions of conservation and recreation. Things are in the works and I hope to be able to tell you in the next couple of months that we will have expanded access and more places to enjoy climbing. If you are in SC and have been "scalping" some of these areas, please realize that this could really jeopardize the legitimate access work we are doing and could bring things to a complete halt. Please try to relocate your sessions to other legal areas until we can get this figured out and you'll be greatly rewarded in due time! The picture from above is taken from the Table Rock webcam...click over there and take a look every now and then to see how the park changes with the seasons. There should be some snow in the picture sometime soon!
I am also getting ready to take our yearly pilgrimage to Oregon to visit my wife's family. It looks like there might actually be a break in the usually wet weather to get a few days of bouldering in while I'm out there...I'm really looking forward to that! Otherwise, the best bouldering gym I've ever been too, The Circuit, just opened a new gym in Portland that's even closer to our family...so even more chances for me to get some crush on while I'm out in the Pacific Northwest! I'll hopefully post up some pictures while I'm out there of some bouldering at Carver Boulders and possibly Beacon Rock. Here's a sweet shot of Beacon Rock from across the Columbia River...
And here is a video of some bouldering at Carver...
No comments:
Post a Comment