New Sandstone Area

The New Sandstone area is one of the best micro crags in the park. If this were in Britain you would have seen photos of it by now. The stone here is partially metamorphised sandstone which has embedded quartzite pebbles, though not technically quartz conglomerate. It is some of the best sandstone in the country though weak spots are found on several routes.. The routes here are steep and well defined, though short. But what they lack in height is made up for by high quality powerful moves. Though the lines are technical, there is very little pussyfooting involved. It is a beautiful craglet with flat sandy accommodations and a southern aspect.

It is still closed to climbing. That in itself is a long story with many characters. The CMC, DLFA, and the DNR all just couldn't get along. Add one amateur biologist to that mix and we all know the result. A real bummer considering some of the routes here are as good as it gets at the Lake. Sight to EZ's solo of Donkey, and the Fuck Aid battle... It was a good day back in the early eighties when this place was reintroduced to the climbers who were establishing what was to become the golden era routes at Devils Lake.

I got on a line here between donkey and ..chimp. No send, but it was really, really technical and very hard. Anyone know anything about it?

To my knowledge and the old-timers that line hasn't been done. It is infact the infamous "Fuck Aid" line that stirred tensions between the CMC and DLFA so many years ago... I have spent some time on it and all I can say is yes, technical is putting mildly, and yes, very hard. Only one move I couldn't do towards the top just below the last shitty finger jam. One of the last great problems at the lake. Not to mention the gear is not too bad at all...

A little history why the the area was closed, #1 there was graffiti Fuck Aid put by a aid route, in a place were it never rains, #2 carpet pieces, and old car mats were left under the overhang for bouldering, it was great place to boulder on a rainy day, #3 there was a couple of pieces of fixed trad gear left in the route #4 there was a top rope set up left at the top of the a route, this what the amateur biologist found, I think it was all the factors, it was not just the aid climbing, the sticking points, graffiti, litter(carpet) fixed trad gear,

If I were to summarize Mr. Alex A's petty fibs I'd need only one word: inhumane. To get right down to it, we have a choice. Either we let ourselves be led like lambs to the slaughter by Alex and his hatchet men or we evaluate the tactics Alex has used against me. While I don't expect you to have much trouble making up your mind you should nevertheless consider that I am thoroughly shocked and angered by Alex's hidebound improprieties. Such shameful conduct should never be repeated. I happen to believe that I enjoy the great diversity of humankind, in our food, our dress, our music, our literature, and our forms of spiritual expression. What I don't enjoy are Alex's spiteful, self-serving morals, which test another formula for silencing serious opposition.

Just because I understand Alex's calumnies doesn't mean I agree with them. Under these conditions, the downward spiral of society and the concomitant growing threat of barbarism are the natural results of Alex's brutal taradiddles. Of that I am certain because by refusing to act, by refusing to bring Alex to justice, we are giving Alex the power to wage a clandestine guerilla war against many basic human rights. When you get right down to it, any rational argument must acknowledge this. His diabolic values, naturally, do not. Given the tenor of our times, if Alex continues to lead us, lemminglike, over the precipice of self-destruction, I will surely be obliged to do something about him. And you know me: I never neglect my obligations. I have just enough stomach left to address one last instance of Mr. Alex A's vindictive imbecility: He sincerely believes that he can keep us everlastingly ill at ease and get away with it.

Alex,

The trash at the "New" didn't help (and Dave Timberlake very quickly cleaned that up for everyone), but I think what got us in Almerli's crosshairs was that he found a dead rattler hung from a limb on the trail going up to the "Old" (no way to know if that was even due to a climber or not). And for the DNR's part, I think they were just caught by surprise at how extensive the user trails are at both the "Old" and the "New."

Ultimately, the only real contribution the DLFA and the CMC made to the various closures up here was telling all the rest of us about the area. They also had little to do with the "Old" being reopened.

I miss the rattlers we used to see here and up at the East Bluff.