New boulders, or not?

Let’s say, hypothetically, there was this bouldering field. Its setting is very close to an urban/residential area, and has about 30 or 40 well know boulders that are regularly climbed. Just on the fringe, quite a bit harder to reach, there was another 10 or so boulders. They’re not hard, probably ~V0 to V5, but they’ve not been climbed, as far as I know, and have no established trail to them.

Now the ethical dilemma:

• Is it okay to blaze (cut) a trail to them?
• Is it okay to cut the foliage from around them?
• Should I post about the, seemingly, first asent?

Or, should I just climb them frontiersman style?

One of the 10

No (if they are a descent problems a social trail will appear), no (especially if you are talking about those large fibrous growths at the base), and yes (if you want others to show in the spring).

There are several things to consider.

• Climb some of the problems first, are the a worthwhile addition to the area? If it is and others seem psyched to go to the boulders repeatedly, cutting a trail will help to limit impact in the long run.
• Check if there are any land ownership issues, is there anyone you should or could contact to help with desiding on a route for the trail?
• If you do decide to trim some stuff to put up problems, try to keep it to a minimum and do a good job of it. Cutting off branches randomly and leaving sharp spikes for people to impale themselves on is lame as is taking out whole trees when a little prunning could do the trick.
• FA's on boulders can be tricky. It is pretty easy to climb something and for there to be no sign of passage with in a short period of time if a problem does not gain a level of popularity. You are best off using your own judgement on this one, but things to consider would be: Did the problem require a lot of brushing, did obvious hand holds break, was a branch in the way (though it was not always there) etc.

I guess in my view, if it is going to be a good addition and there is no issue with putting a trail in, go for it. Otherwise I'd just climb what you can and leave it be.

That boulder looks like one at the Draper boulders...I could be wrong. I only went there once.

Its fun to find treasures like that! I vote NO however, on cutting foliage. Try to get some accents somewhere else in the area. If you get this area popular though, some out- of -towner will probably do the gardening for you unfortunately.
Steve

It looks like Ogden to me. You shouldn't worry about cutting srub oak. That shit grows like a weed, and will grow back quickly, with a vengeance. It's best not to talk about it, though, just do it (oops, too late!)

Don't expect the masses to flock to your sweet new problems, do it for yourself, or not at all.

Well shoot "Backcountry"! Now we want to know where it is already...

You're right!

New? I bet they're at least a few million years old.

yuk yuk yuk

I'm curious if anyone knows the beta on the half dozen or boulder problems way down the slope from the training camp wall in Rock Canyon?

After looking it over in a guide book and talking to a local who knows, it appears that these boulders receive enough traffic to have names already... The vague trail has snow on it and what looked to me like ~V0 to V5 is actually V- to V2. The boulders with scrub oak around them are so short & easy (from what I hear) that no one would want to climb them and have thus been left alone.

Seems like I'm going to have to look harder to find some fresh boulders.

Thomas Riddle wrote:I'm curious if anyone knows the beta on the half dozen or boulder problems way down the slope from the training camp wall in Rock Canyon?

That boulder is called the Heroin Hut. It's in the black Utah Bouldering book. Mountainworks has copies of it, but my copy is in storage. I remember that there's a V4 on the far right called Broken Glass (I think that's what it's called) and there's a V-harder coming out through the middle, with maybe a V2 to the left of that? Sorry if that's not accurate; it's been years since I've been there.

MarkG wrote:New? I bet they're at least a few million years old.

That's what I was thinking.

Just you guys wait... We're going to get that big quake and then they'll be some new boulders!

heraldextra.com/news/local/…

You might even get one in your living room.