Carolina Climbers ’ Coalition Fall 2014 Meeting

1. Carolina Climbers’ Coalition Fall 2014 Meeting October 3rd, 2014

2. Agenda • Introductions and overview • Treasurer’s Report • Membership report • Area reports • Big picture stuff • One other thing...

3. Board members • President – Brian Payst • Vice-President – Phil Hoffman • Secretary – Sarah Wolfe • Treasurer – Morgan Blaisdell • Northern Mountains Rep – Mike Trew • Southern Mountains Rep 1 – Mike Reardon • Southern Mountains Rep 2 – Jon Jones • Northern Piedmont Rep – Neil Rankin • Southern Piedmont Rep • SC Rep – Stephen Scoff • At-large member – Ron Funderburke • At-large member – Laura Boggess • T-shirt volunteer – Kayah Gaydish

4. Treasurer’s ReportMorgan Blaisdell, Treasurer

5. Treasurer’s Report • Significant gifts in 2014 • Rock and Rave Competition • Triple Crown Bouldering Series • Stephen Felker • Seby B. Jones Family Foundation • Sunrift Adventures • Re-gear • Sean Coburn Thank you!

6. Secretary’s ReportSarah Wolfe, Secretary • Membership • 271 Current members • 130 Peregrine ($25) level • 78 Quartzite ($50) level • 22 Gneiss ($100) level • 4 Granite ($250) level • 2 Lifetime ($1000) level • 35 Student level ($15)

7. Northern PiedmontNeil Rankin, Northern Piedmont Rep • Moore’s Wall • Meeting with the Park Superintendent next week to plan trail days and longer-term trail ownership • Pilot Mountain • Thanks to Bill Webster for all of his work on hardware • Bolting was done at the park’s request to spread out climbers and reduce impacts at the top of the cliff • Sauratown ! • 5 year agreement • 7 days a week starting January 1, ending at the end of February • $5,000 / year so contribute at carolinaclimbers.org

8. Southern Piedmont • Crowder’s • Condolences to the families and friends of Gary Mims and Mark Byers, both victims of accidents in the park this year • Asheboro • Signed another 2 year lease agreement • Toilets have been cleaned

9. Northern MountainsMike Trew, Northern Mountains Rep • Stone Mt. • New superintendent, but she is familiar with climbers and we don’t anticipate anything changing. No changes resulted from the accident earlier this year • Grandfather Mt. State Park • Climbing is not allowed per the deed on the property, please be sure you are climbing on NPS land • Blue Ridge Parkway • MOU with the Park Service is being finalized • Establishes BCC and CCC as partners and climbing as a legitimate use of the park • BCC/CCC will manage fixed anchors as an accepted and inherent part of climbing

10. Southern Mountains Mike Reardon and Jon Jones, Southern Mountains Reps • Laurel Knob and Bradley Falls • Good trail days • LK kiosk rebuild is almost done (thanks Drew Dekle and Jeep Gaskins) • Buffalo Creek Park • Handful of boulders, but a great joint effort between the village of Lake Lure and the CCC • Rumbling Bald • Triple Crown on December 13th-15th • Comp on the 14th, trail day on the 15th • Really good CCC-park relations and some incredible potential

11. South Carolina Stephen Scoff, SC Rep • Table Rock • Season open 9/1 - 12/31 • Not much progress, so if you go politely mention how much you would like to see a longer season • Glassy Rock (Pickens) • Partnership with the town, but need DNR to agree • Potential for long slab routes 5.5-5.9 • Chattooga River Boulders • Lots of problems from headwaters down to the lake • Good area for Clemson students as it’s 30-45 minutes away • Jocassee Gorges • Tons of problems and lots of development still going on • Contact Brad Caldwell at upstatebouldering@hotmail.com • February bouldering festival in the works

12. Big Picture Stuff State Park climbing management plans • Generally, pretty decent with flexibility at each park • Submitting comments on the fixed anchor section (too detailed and specific) and clarifying the no top outs and bouldering, free soloing, the things listed as “not allowed” versus just “discouraged” • Appears that the plans are still under review and subject to change

13. Big Picture Stuff Linville Gorge • Derick Calloway is leading an effort to map rescue access points and climbs that can be reached, funded by a grant from the Access Fund • Access Fund and maybe AAC grant for a new kiosk at Table Rock • Plan to apply to have the Table Rock climbers trail included in the official trails • Great partnership with SAWS, who have an MOU with the Forest Service to do trail work

14. Big Picture Stuff Rescue • Appalachian Mountain Rescue Team is trying to form, if you are interested visit appalachianmountainrescue.org • Linville Rescue has an affiliate role – less training and climbing rescue focused, they invite interested climbers to talk to them about it

15. Big Picture Stuff Education • Access for Education Summit in November of 2013 • New Access Fund position: Education Director – NC’s own Travis Herbert • ROCK Project and “The Pact” - a climber code of ethics highlighting a basic, high level set of minimum impact behaviors that will keep climbing areas open and help preserve the climbing environment. Launches November 1st

16. Big Picture Stuff 20th Anniversary • 2015 is the CCC’s 20th • Lots of events in the works, if you have ideas please share! • Kick off is at Rumbling Bald comp and we have a goal of 200 new members over the year for the 20th • Stay tuned for announcements

17. One more thing...

21. Hidden Valley (Abingdon, VA) • Major credit to Zachary Lesch-Huie who has been working this for the past year • Closed since 2004 • 200 or so mostly sport routes ranging from 5.5 to 5.13, heavy in the 5.10-5.12 range • $45,000 purchase price with $30,000 coming from an Access Fund Land Conservation Campaign loan • 3rd CCC acquisition • Opening date TBD, see carolinaclimbers.org for details and updates, trail days, etc. • Donate now at carolinaclimbers.org/hiddenvalley

22. Thanks for coming out and for supporting the CCC! Good luck tomorrow if you’re competing! Have fun and check your knot if you’re roping up somewhere else! Now can someone get me a beer?