STEELE: History, Route Information, REQUEST FOR HELP

I'm still rather dazzled that this day has come- that after all the years of hush hush, be-cool-daddy o, sneaking in to Steele ( a blessed few of us have benefited from the generous hospitality of nearby neighbors)to climb at a great crag much closer to Birmingham than most anything else- we can finally sing its praises openly. Can't say it enough: THANK YOU to Brad, Gus, SCC, et al, for your dogged work.
Much work yet to do: the SCC has a short window in which to raise the money to make the purchase. Thanks to ALL who have so quickly anted up.
HISTORY AND ROUTE INFORMATION:
While I know enough to tell you what a great climbing area Steele will be for everyone, there are still many known gaps in the present state of our collective knowledge. That is the double-edged sword of keeping quiet about closed areas and not climbing there: so much route history is lost because it is essentially an oral history. The lack of a complete guide doesn't change the rock one wit, but it can lessen ( or benefit, some say) our experience there. MORE IMPORTANTLY, lack of that knowledge directly affects present and future management of the area. The SCC,and the community at large, will be making decisions about bolting, new routes, style/ethics, etc., and will need as much information and input as possible.
A lot of this is already on paper;even so much of that is conflicting. Gus has his list ( Gus has a fine hand at drawing topos by the way, and has been so dogged about ferreting out obscure routes- no mean feat in the sweltering thickets along Chandler Mountain),I have mine, Dean has his list.
This is a jubilant call to all the Steele veterans to contact Brad or Gus or me or somebody and tell your stories! Photos, topos, anecdotes, dust em off. Shep posted a great note the other day on FACEBOOK ( see the group SUMMER OF STEELE) about watching Curt Merchant warm up his lycra by soloing MONOPOLY. I totally dig that stuff. Can somebody tell me who Graham Wilson is? Where he is? Who first braved the thorns to go up there and sink some pins? Who did Jim Detterline talk to when he wrote his MID ATLANTIC CLIMBER'S GUIDE? Can I score a copy for my collection? Did CHANDLER'S ROOF CRACK really stymie a young, traveling Lynn Hill? Let's celebrate what has come before so we know for sure where the next generation's projects are. Oh yeah, there are still new moves to send. Boulderers, get your brushes ready, there is some beautiful V-HARD yet to be done.
I would love to see a big fund raising party where all the Steele climbers past tell their stories and show old photos. Maybe up at the trailer on the SCC tract in the fall whenever the site officially opens. Anybody else interested in such an occasion? Contributors?
Get ready; the next Golden Age is here.

Wow...this is where I learned to climb in Chandler Mountain's heyday of 1982. Still, many of my fondest memories lie at Chandler Mountain. I will post some old pics from somewhere between 1982 and 1986 on the Facebook site

Fred, It'd be great if you'd post some up here...we don't all have Facebook.

Fred,
Can't wait to see/ hear your contributions. Hope to meet you some day soon. You ARE coming back climbing with us, aren't you? Thank you for responding.

OK, Lynn Hill along with some other Gunkies came down one weekend. She did Tech Noir (5.12 mixed) and Resisto-flex(5.11 trad). After sport arrived at Steele, Scott Franklin stopped by and did Meathooks(5.13 sport). It is GREAT that we have an opportunity to buy part of Steele. I got my start there and spent many a weekend there. We would camp in the field and go down to the truckstop to "bowelpack" (a Jeff Gruenberg term). Then shoot pool in the backroom. Lots of good times at the place. I feel sure there is potential for new route development in the area for sale. Let's all pitch in and help make and old used-to-was happy. Maybe I'll pull out the lycra.

OK... I added some photos here and will dig through 25+ year old pics for others. You bet I will come to Steele when it officially opens.

Howdy guys. You can see a quick promo about how Chaco and Rock/Creek are teaming up to help the SCC purchase Steele:

www.rockcreek.com/steele

The video itself is available here:
vimeo.com/3896990

akorn

Yeah baby. I'm stoked...woo-hoo.

I'm currently working on a fundraising video for Steele, trailer here:

kinetiscapefilms.com/videos…

I'd be thrilled to use any old photos and topos that anyone might have lying around. Crusty old video would be especially cool to have. If you'd like to donate your materials to this effort, please email me at:

weccleston at g mail dot com

I'd need to get them very soon, as the film must be finished in 2 weeks.

Thank you,

Will

as of May 18th --

To date we have raised $35,182 in donations and pledges towards our goal of $57,000. We need $21,818 to finish our purchase of the 25 acre tract at Steele.

62% completed towards our goal. We close on June 24th - 36 days from now.

more info on Steele at:
seclimbers.org/modules.php?…

You can help us achieve our goal by donating online at:
seclimbers.org/modules.php?…

long live Steele!