Minnesota Access Fund 2006 Update
Access
Fund Climbers Forum: Summary
April 30, 2006
Twin Cities U of M Humphery Auditorium
Moderator:
Kaija Webster (University
of Minnesota Duluth Climbing School, Access Fund) kwebster@d.umn.edu
Thanks everyone for the great turn out
this year for the Climber’s Forum. Here’s a summary of what we discussed. If
you’ve got additions or changes to this, just let me know.
Upcoming
Events:
-
Sandstone Clean-Up, Saturday, May 6
-
Taylor’s Falls Clean-Up, Saturday, May
20
-
Willow River Clean-Up, TBA: sometime in
July
-
North Shore Adopt A Crag Day, Sunday,
September 10
Minnesota
Climbers Association:
-
Shawn Tracy is working on getting the MCA
website updated
-
The First Annual Minnesota Spring Rock
Climbing Festival is slated to take place in conjunction with the May 20th
Taylor’s Falls Cleanup - proceeds
are set to help out the re-bolting effort at Red Wing.
Area
News:
(If a climbing area doesn’t appear in the News, it just means it didn’t come
up in the discussion this year.)
Shovel
Point
-
Shovel Point fixed anchors are slated to
be installed by the Park engineers this June
Sawmill
Creek Dome
- please keep environmental impact low when using/developing the
bouldering areas
Silver
Cliff
-
be on the lookout for areas of unstable
rock if you climb there
-
park at the north end of the tunnel,
there’s a great parking area and walkway to the climbs
-
some bolted routes have stayed up for a
while now, and some top anchors too
Ely’s
Peak
-
Again, please DO NOT cut across the field
or down the railroad bridge anymore. Follow
the Munger left to where the Superior Hiking Trail joins the Munger on the
right. Instead of following the SHT, take the lower climbers path to the tunnel.
Sandstone
-
Park Clean up for user groups like
climbers: Saturday, May 6, the city will supply lunch!
-
First ever Sandstone Ice Fest was held
this past December. Yahoo!
-
An online guide to Sandstone climbs is in
the works. Check the MCA website.
-
Official camping in the park is hopefully
coming soon.
Taylor’s
Falls
-
Taylors Falls Climber’s Clean Up:
Saturday, May 20
-
Shawn Tracy’s work to open the Cross hit
a dead end with the Scientific and Natural Areas folks – so the Cross is still
Closed to climbing.
-
There are no areas currently closed due to
unstable rock on either side of the river.
-
The Wisconsin side folks are still pretty
uninformed about climbing. Do your part and stop in to their office when you
climb in Wisconsin, say thanks and represent regional climbers in a positive
way.
Willow
River
-
Some mystery bolts were found, removed
from the rock, they may be from the area on the sough side of the river where
climbing is no longer allowed.
-
All of the regular trade routes are still
fully equipped
-
A clean-up is in the works for this June
-
Climbing is only allowed in Willow River
on Monday through Thursday all day and only until Noon on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday. No climbing is allowed on weekend afternoons.
Red
Wing
-
Mike Endrizzi is still working to replace
old bolts at Red Wing. He’s got about 20 routes left, Maybe 2 more years. Any
donations for equipage can be arranged through dreezman.com
-
Please leave any carabiners that you find
at the top of climbs. They are not booty!
-
Set your own top rope anchors rather than
running your rope through the chains/fixed anchors
Bolting
Safety Session
-
James Loveridge brought in samples of
different types of bolts and anchors. He
and Mike Endrizzi, Jeff Engle, Mike Helke, and Shawn Tracy had a discussion
about which types of bolts are best suited to each area and how to best install
each type. They also discussed the
safest metal combination for bolts and hangars. Both bolt and hanger must be
either all stainless or all carbon or it could result in galvanic corrosion
which could prematurely weaken the bolts.
-
DO NOT USE DIFFERENT TYPES OF METAL FOR
BOLTS AND HANGARS. BOTH STAINLESS OR BOTH CARBON IS BEST.
Websites:
-
http://www.climbingcentral.com/
-
http://www.umdrsop.org/climbing/index.html
-
http://www.safeclimbing.org/education.htm