Quit Destroying Trees at The Enchanted Tower

To whomever saw fit to "trim" the tree at the base of Grendal please stop and do not trim or cut down any other trees in the area. These trees not only look nice, but provide shade and keep the hillside from eroding away. The trees across from Jabberwocky, Shipwrecked, and Babies / Frog Prince wall are all missing branches from improper cleaning of routes. While this particular tree next to Grendal may have appeared dangerous, with some common sense it is easy to avoid swinging into the trees while cleaning the routes. Several ways to keep from swinging into the trees and damaging them while cleaning a route.

1. Tram off the first bolt and boulder up or use a stick-clip to retrieve your draw. (This is my favorite and generally saves a lot of energy of having to pull way in on a steep route to clean the bottom 2-3 draws.)
2. After cleaning down to the 1st bolt, climb on top-rope until you are well out of the way of the trees.
3. Re-climb the route on top rope cleaning the draws as you go.
4. Skip or backclean the first few bolts so you don't have to clean them on the way down.
5. If applicable use a permadraw while cleaning to put the climbers side of the rope thru to lessen the swing at the base. There use to be a permadraw 3-4 bolts up on Grendal for this purpose.

wow that is seriously awful...looks like there is enough rock to build a small wall to stabilize erosion if enough people were available to help. I never understood why people do stuff like this...just enjoy nature dont try to bend it your will

Great reminder! I see a lot of vegetation removal that is not necessary and possibly illegal. Leave the vegetation, folks. If you can't climb the route while safely avoiding the vegetation, then find a different route.

These lands do not belong to climbers. They belong to everything/everyone and the vegetation is a part of the wilderness. If you need a vegetation free climbing area, then I suggest your local climbing gym.

Bump for more exposure. Thanks for the education reminder, Mike. And while we're at it, I'd request folks please stop scavenging trees around the campsites for campfires.

Bump... this should be highlighted knowing that direct access through the ranch was lost a few years back! We should strive to limit our impact. The desert doesn't recover as quickly as other climates.

Same with wooden ice tools. The natural bends where the branch meets the tree are typically the strongest points for the ice axe but they end up leaving the tree weak and devoid of leaves. Please do not pilfer trees in established camping and climbing areas. national forest is land of "many uses"; go there to harvest.

theres gotta be a kinder, gentler way

Darren Mabe wrote:theres gotta be a kinder, gentler way