Tallulah Gorge Peregrines

Ezra Ellis wrote:This has turned into a great thread, Will, the Georgia climbing community thanks you for being the park ambassador!!!! Best Ezra

Ezra,
Ambassador is probably a good word to use. Living here it's easy for me to see the frustrations that are endured by the Park Service as well as those felt in the climbing community. When I said the park is willing to listen to thought out access solutions, that is exactly what I meant. Listening doesn't always turn into action for a lot of reasons. The greatest of those reasons IMO is the State Park's chain of command. It would be great if the buck stopped at the park manager level, but that is not the case and therefore the manager must decide if the issue is something that has a reasonable chance of surviving the swim upstream. Not to mention the number of hunts in which they could have a dog in. The old "choose your battles" routine. Our job as representatives of the climbing community, IMO, is to provide information and counsel to help sell these access issues when it's possible. Do I think we can gain access to the Upper Buttress?....not likely. Do I still want to continue to try?...absolutely. Now, the more perspectives we get on the issue, the more information available to make decisions. Feel free to PM me if you are interested in giving some input.

Copied from the Tallulah Gorge State Park Website:

ROCK CLIMBING TEMPORARILY CLOSED -- The park is excited to announce that a Peregrine Falcon has nested inside the gorge and is raising chicks. For this reason, rock climbing is temporarily suspended. Park staff wish to thank the observant rock climbers who reported the nest and were good stewards for this amazing raptor. Visitors may view the nest from overlooks 8, 9 and 10. Binoculars are recommended.

I'll post more info as it becomes available as far as what "temporarily" means and also how the birds are doing. These decisions aren't made lightly and the Raptor & Climbers guide issued by the Access Fund was received by the park for review. Most raptor closures end in late July. If this closure follows suit it would not disrupt much of the climbing season as it is currently very hot on the Main Face. I would encourage all future contributors to this thread to consider the impact of how these posts are perceived by those outside the climbing community.

Complete closure?!?! In this case, a more targeted closure could accomplish the same thing without eliminating climbing.

From a legal perspective there is little we can do to force change thourgh the administraive process. Maybe it is time to go over the DNR's head and flood the govenor's office with letters in support of reduced restrictions on climbing in the gorge.

Nice job assholes. Nice fuckin job.

Have fun at Yonah and Curahee Senor Cabrera.

Our best play here is to move forward and stick together. At this point ad hominem attacks make us all look bad, IMHO. Capeesh?

What I just heard.... The park is watching.

Meanwhile, where's the SCC in all this?

They are installing bolts on cracks.

Here's something...if they don't stop issuing gorge floor permits during this closure they have, in effect, made our case for us regarding a separate permitting system for climbers when the time comes.

Paul Barnes wrote:Here's something...if they don't stop issuing gorge floor permits during this closure they have, in effect, made our case for us regarding a separate permitting system for climbers when the time comes.

This! May be the best thing to come out of this unnecessary closure of the entire cliff.

Where is Jackoff Vegan?...I figured he'd be in here to gloat.

Stephen F wrote: Maybe it is time to go over the DNR's head and flood the govenor's office with letters in support of reduced restrictions on climbing in the gorge.

Address:
Office of the Governor
206 Washington Street
111 State Capitol
Atlanta, Georgia 30334

Phone:
404-656-1776

Fax:
404-657-7332

Or you can email here:
gov.georgia.gov/webform/con…

I reiterate Ben's question. Where is the SCC in this?

The SCC could give a shit about Tallulah.

A.) It's not in Tn or AL
B.) They can't buy it.
C.) They can't bolt it to death
D.) They cant have their in house authors pen and sell a new guidebook for it.
and...
E.) They will probably now post the closure on Facebook as some sort of responsible stewardship by climbers and take credit for it...even though they've had nothing to do with Tallulah for yrs.

They're sittin this one out and leaving it the locals, Thank God. Things are in the works to get together some folk, come up with a plan, and get with the powers that be at the park. Stay tuned.

Looks like were night climbing :)

There's always Allenbrook.

^or yonah

Well this is certainly a shame. I had to visit Tallulah's website b/c I thought the post about closure was a joke, especially the binocular part at the end. But there it is on their main page. At least they posted it so you won't have to drive there to find out.

IMHO the Park Service was looking for a reason, just looking for one, anything at all, to close this place to climbers. I have long wondered why Park Rangers are so anti-climbing, and can only continue to speculate... why, why do you hate us? With the current restrictions in place, combined with what will certainly be an annual bird closure, when will climbing be allowed?

I had been impressed with the SCC and their work in the past. Who should I be sending my money to now instead? Primary things I want are Access and fixed anchor maintenance.

Where to send your money?
Keep it.

Buy a wrench, a bolt kit, and a 24" long piece of 1 1/4" schedule 40 pipe.....Drill a hole in one end and sling with chord.....alternatively swedge cable for a light funkness device.

Use your spare change to climb at obscure, abused (preferrably weekdays), or mismanaged areas.

Remove crappy anchors, dumb anchors, prolific or illegal anchors, and save the good hardware.
If you see stupid or excessive protection bolts, use good judgement and either rearrange or remove mank.....keep the good hardware.

Buy ten five piece stainless steel bolts.
With your recycled stainless, if you use good judgement, and fix one station or a couple bolts every other trip, then....
You will be part of the solution.

Where not to send your money....
I mean, I wouldn't support....
Trespass, unsanctioned, or verboten bolting....Steele, LRC, Tennessee Wall....
Bolting of cracks.....the afore mentioned "sport rack crack" per se.....
Excessive and flagrant, unecessary top rope station installation....
Retro bolting of CLASSIC, protectable trad lines....at Steele, at Yellow Bluff, other places.
And much of this at the hands of the SCC's Bolt Committee.....or whatever.

Once you begin a sustainable campaign of fixing anchors and bolts, you won't need that money.
At that point, if you are feeling altruistic, save it up and listen for undercurrents of true ACCESS opportunities.
Who knows, if you are in the right place at the right time, we may effect something special.

Ninnery-free!

This is what is happening with Tallulah and I applaud Will and everyone for a tactful approach.

Or just save up some money and fly out west were it is BLM land and they promote fun for people.