Boulder Basin Campground/ Black Mtn Area threatened.
|
Let's seriously talk about ethics. There has been complaints from the Forest Service about the loud partying after hs and campfires (that are not permited at this time) in the Boulder Basin campground Black Mountain area. World class Bouldering destination with amazing mind blowing campsites. Unfortunately due to the behaviour of certain groups of climbers/boulderers, the area might be at risk of being closed out. |
|
Calm down. That nutty ranger blames the climbers for just about everything. It's probably not climbers at all. |
|
Woah... |
|
Yup, the ranger has it out for climbers. Yet there are some people acting a fool, climbers / non climbers alike. I've witnessed some pretty unfair treatment of users, & some punk a$$ behavior on the part of users. I haven't seen any rules posted, but I keep my dog leashed. The ranger likes my dog a lot. |
|
I agree with OP. |
|
Sounds like all of you users who are in the know, need to start educating all of the climbers you meet out there. |
|
I have been to Black about every other weekend over the summer, and most of the issues I have seen have been with families/couples who are there to camp, not climb (although I don't camp in Boulder Basin.) Most climbers know how to treat the places we love, and if you see some who don't, educate them. |
|
Would a clean up day help? I'm down to help and I fucking hate bouldering. Is the ranger really out to get climbers or are there enough shit-for-brains dumb-ass climbers out there to piss him/her off? I bet its the second. |
|
I saw mention of a book....did a guide come out for the area? If so then prepare for the shit storm that happened up at tram after that guide came out. I have been out of climbing for the last year with a shoulder injury but Black was one of the last bastions of bouldering "solitude", hopefully that isn't changing drastically. |
|
Choss Chasin' wrote:I saw mention of a book....did a guide come out for the area?Yep! The death of black mountain |
|
I love the whole "it isn't climbers, climbers are responsible" argument. That may have been true years ago, but it isn't anymore. If anything climbers nowadays are increasingly the problem and feel like rules don't apply to them because they are on a mission from God to send their V12 one move lowball. |
|
Certainly, some random chodes are going to Black Mt. & being foolish. Probably the same way they are showing up anywhere & everywhere being foolish. Some being climbers. The "usuals" are not. As to the guide book adding traffic, everyone wants it for themselves. I would drive past any other bouldering area to get to black mountain. Mainly because, even with the new guidebook, I can have entire areas of awesome rock to myself, on the busiest day of the year. It's not to hard to get away. I am friendly with the ranger, & You are right Adam, everyone has bad days etc, BUT I can say from personal experience that his preconceptions about climbers contributes to the problem. He puts people on the defensive with his accusatory tone. I've seen him make a very polite woman who made a simple mistake cry. Fact is, climbing is allowed. The attitude that we should beg for the right or feel ashamed of being there to boulder is wrong. I do agree, something does need to be done about education. I too take issue with the annoyance of tic marks. But most importantly, there needs to be clearly posted rules, & the distinction should be made that climbing IS NOT a problem. People are. |
|
GoBOY..... is this person named "Gary" ????? about 15 years ago we were doing a ton of roped climbing at the top of the tram, on Coffman Crag. This STATE OF CALIFORNIA RANGER "GARY" did not like climbers one bit.... when you got on the tram GARY would get on behind you and ride up. The moment you stepped off, he would demand that you surrendered your pack to a search.... No Beer, No Pot, No electric drill... the first time he found these on me he "let me off EZ... if I would ride down on the next tram"... In short the guy hated climbers... period. |
|
Guy, none of the rangers I have met are named Gary. Crazy story! Hopefully his threats he's been making about compromised access are only scare tactics. More than anything, I hope that everyone who goes to black mt pays the piddly 5$ fee, & follows the rules. |
|
GoBoy..... is the $5 for the adventure pass???? |
|
Adventure pass is no good there. 15$ to camp, 5$ to park. Also, 5$ for additional vehicles in a campsite (seems to be an unwritten rule). That is the kind of confusion / ambiguity that has lead to conflict. I'm not complaining about the fees though, the road is being well maintained. |
|
I was up there last winter. Road wasn't bad but it did take me a few tries to get up the last little hill before campgrounds. I had some weight in my CRV. Would you say the road is better now? |
|
Regarding the road: since the rainstorm at black in the middle of September, there is a rough patch that small cars can't get up...just an FYI. My truck does fine. As of last weekend, I ran into the ranger (John, I think) and he informed me that Boulder Basin was gated. Not sure if this is a seasonal shutdown. |
|
hotdogcasserole wrote:Regarding the road: since the rainstorm at black in the middle of September, there is a rough patch that small cars can't get up...just an FYI. My truck does fine. As of last weekend, I ran into the ranger (John, I think) and he informed me that Boulder Basin was gated. Not sure if this is a seasonal shutdown. The ranger has not been ticketing people for parking on the side next to the shitty spot, but he has made little comments like "I think it's funny that you think you can just park wherever you want on the road". Regarding behavior of climbers on the mountain, I think it's a case of a few bad apples ruining it for the rest of us. For example, I was up there the first weekend in October bouldering, and the BB campsite seemed about 80% full of climbers. Then two dip-shits had a fire in the ring right next to Where Boneheads Dare...Several other sites spot-lighted them and booed, but they didn't put the fire out. I, being whiskey drunk, set out to confront them and tell them to put their fire out. They said that they were here all the time, they didn't think it was a big deal etc. etc. They had the mentality that Rob Gordon mentioned in his post: they were strong climbers that thought rules didn't apply to them because they probably boulder in double digits...This is the kind of attitude that drives me fucking nuts. I was unable to get these asshats to put their fire out and am lucky to have escaped their campfire without a physical altercation haha. I guess my point is that we need to put pressure on people to do the right thing, especially when they are climbers that are threatening our climbing areas. Rant over.Thanks for doing this. I know its kinda a pain in the ass and really messes with your drunk but this level of accountability is to curb (although not stop) this shitty behavior. |
|
Toss a can of beans in the fire when they aren't looking? |
|
maybe next time, just open with pissing on their fire. |