Closures and Restrictions resulting from climber disrespect

So I am doing a bit of research for some skool stuff and I need some help from the climbing community abroad.

I am researching closures and restrictions of access to climbing areas that result from climbers' disrespect (for the rules, land, other users and management). To give you an idea, stuff like what happened at Torrent Falls in the Red River Gorge with the Meyer family - Mr. Meyer closed unrestricted climbing access because of climber's letting their dogs do their business on his yard, peeing around his house when he specifically put up a Port-o-let in his parking area, and generally being foul mouthed and rude.

I am looking for other areas throughout the country that have had occurrences similar to this, both in the past and in the present, and what the consequences were/are. If you could clue me in to your local area or at least point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated!

Right here in our own backyard:
mountainproject.com/v/color…

How about closures that occur from no climber disrespect to the natural resource, wildlife habitat, nor endangering the unknowing general public?

A cliff in CT was closed to climbing due to overuse. Individuals, as well as many groups, were using it as a top-rope site. Finally, some.. uh.. person cut down a tree on top of the cliff for a fire. I don't know if it was a climber or not, but climbers were blamed. Climbers had not been using the privately owned cliff and parking lot in a respectful manner at all. It was closed soon after someone cut down the tree.

It's called Small Cliff and it's in the Ragged Mountain area of Southington, CT. I don't remember the surname of the owners, but I could find out if it will help you out.

--Marc

The Connecticut closure of Small Cliff is probably a lot more to do with the politics of the situation than with any real climber issues. The cliff is owned by George Brierly and the original closure was alledgedly for environmental restoration. A much used trail passes over the cliff and there has always been abuse there but climbers as a group were never really blamed for it. The main climbing-related problem was relentless use by summer camps - they would arrive with 20 - 30 kids in tow and spend an entire day toproping (sometimes with poorly constructed anchors!). Mr. Brierly asked these groups to stop coming and they did so that wasn't probably a factor in the closure.

Most of the locals believe that this is part of the whole KN situation - Mr. Brierly is on very friendly terms with him. There have also been tensions between the Brierlys and the RMF - the Brierlys are prominent members of the Berlin Land Trust which holds the conservation easement to Ragged Mountain. As owner of the adjoining property, he's never really been a neutral 3rd party in the dealings with the RMF. It's always possible that the closure was a way of playing hardball with the RMF.

There's no way to really know what the story is behind this closure but it's certainly not a case of clear-cut climber behavior issues.

There is a pretty predictable sequence of events for most "new"-ish climbing areas getting closed. It doesn't have to do with disrespect as much as lack of planning.

1. person/posse finds a new stash.
2. person/posse gets psyched on it & tells their friends.
3. person/posse say "don't tell your friends" to friends.
4. They tell anyway.
5. Friends of friends leave trash, pads, butts, bolt-stuff they shouldn't, chip holds, dog poop on lawns, or/and (insert favorite faux-paux here), etc.
6. Land manager (aka The MAN) finds out climbers are there for the first time & doesn't have any ideawhat's going on.
7. Land manager finds poop, trash and climbers fighting about bolts.
8. Land manager decides climbers are just a pain in the ass and more work for him, closes crag.
9. person/posse blames friends of friends and land manager (The MAN)

If person/posse had approached land manger with positive "how can we help" attitude before #5, it usually stays open.

Oh-yeah. Some might say "if person/posse didn't tell their friends, it would all be OK"

Uh...that doesn't usualy work for long. Mostly being upfront with "the MAN" is the way to go. The earlier the better.

John Peterson wrote:There's no way to really know what the story is behind this closure but it's certainly not a case of clear-cut climber behavior issues.

I was climbing quite a bit in CT when the cliff was closed; I remember the story about the tree being cut down as central to why it was closed. The area was pretty trashed by the time they did actually close it. No more trashed than the base of Main Cliff from, say Vanishing point to Weissner's Slab. However, Main cliff is essentially owned by climbers and Small Cliff is owned by the Brierly's (thanks for reminding me of the owners' name), privately. If I owned it, I probably would have closed it myself, considering the state of it.

I wouldn't say for sure that it was closed because of 'climber behavior issues,' but I would say that the erosion caused by climbers was definitely central to the decision to close the crag to climbing.

--Marc

Regarding Small Cliff, erosion was always the "official" explanation for the closure but when the RMF offered to stabilize the area in the same way we stabilized the main cliff George wasn't interested. Like I say, it was almost certain that the local climbing politics were at work.

At other area in CT, landowners have recognized climbers as a positive force at the cliffs, often cleaning up messes left by the partiers. One of the frustrating things in dealing with access issues there was that landowners were often blaming climbers for all sorts of things that couldn't be substantiated or refuted. In many cases, the issue boiled down to people living near open space that believed they deserved special access to it in spite of the fact it was publicly owned.

Hueco Tanks - mountainproject.com/v/texas…

Joshua Tree Bolting Restrictions - nps.gov/jotr/planyourvisit/…

Arches - mountainproject.com/v/utah/…

Riverside Quarry -
mountainproject.com/v/calif…

Williamson -
mountainproject.com/v/calif…

In case it's of interest, closures are not just a U.S. phenomenon.

An example from North Wales in the mid 80's sounds very similar to the Torrent Falls incident. There was a great limestone crag, Craig y Forwen, (often called Craggy Forearm by English climbers), that was directly above a campsite/caravan/RV park. It was closed, and still is, I think, because of climbers expressing their disgust for the holds/their climbing performance etc. while dangling off routes. The owner felt he was losing business, and closed access to the crags.

Somewhere I have a slide of a sign near a cliff in South Africa stating that "Trespassers will be shot." What fun!

Hey everyone again - I know it's been awhile, so here's the update: Everything worked for the school story and now I have a chance to publish it online for a prominent magazine related to climbing (can't give all the details yet), but I am revising it dramatically as things have changed in the past few months (including Torrent Falls) - so any updates on climbing access related to climber's disrespect is (once again) appreciated. And when it's all polished & up online I will post the link - thanks!

With regards to the closure of the small cliff area at ragged mountain, it was allegedly closed due to over use....for the most part, climbers are part of the solution and not part of the problem. I regularly see climbers out there with garbage bags cleaning up after the teenagers who bust their glass beer bottles everywhere making a complete mess and I don't care who declares what off limits...you can't enforce a ban against teenagers...

Then there's cases where access is granted due to climbers' respectful actions towards landowners. This weekend i was out on my quad scouting out a new area in hopes of finding good, climbable rock and ran into the owner of the ranch the area is on. He and his wife had been camping out there all weekend. After about an hour long talk with what turned out to be a very pleasant couple, he invited us to climb, camp, ride, and even hunt(!!) on his land. They asked what was in our bags strapped to the quads and i told him climbing gear and bolting hardware, etc. They told us how they always wanted to climb so we invited them out and exchanged email addresses and phone numbers.

A little bit of kindness goes a long way.

Hey Daryl, I hope you share the new area here so we can respect it properly with lots of sweat and grunting... and a friendly word to the ranch owners. May I hazard a guess that it is near the Stronghold?

Cat Slab in Clear Creek Canyon (CO):
mountainproject.com/v/color…

metrozen wrote:Hey Daryl, I hope you share the new area here so we can respect it properly with lots of sweat and grunting... and a friendly word to the ranch owners. May I hazard a guess that it is near the Stronghold?

I most certainly will share it if anything worthwhile develops out there. We found a couple lines somewhat worthy of bolting (all face climbs really) but it looks like most of the routes will be in 'The Dry' range. Still allot of exploring out there to be done but i'm going to wait for it to cool off some before heading back. The heat and the bugs were intolerable yesterday. There's a couple possible multis i really want to check out as well. Just a heads up though, a quad is highly recommended to access this area (or raised jeep with paint you care nothing about). This was my 2nd scouting run up there and i'm still on the fence as to whether or not it will be worth developing/sharing. Still allot to explore out there so wish me luck! It would be wonderful if it works out since the land owners were so accommodating.

Thanks, D. Good luck. My buddies and I will bring the 1968 Toyota Land Cruiser instead of my Tacoma, which is much shinier. The cool thing about the cruiser is that when you want dinner you can take the grill off and use it as a grill.

Oh man... now THAT is good stuff there!

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Friggin priceless! :D