BETA PHOTO: Witches Caudron. The amount of trash was actually...
Description
Spray-painted walls, busted beer bottles, and cups strewn everywhere from the frequent underage drinking parties would keep most away from this La Crosse crag. However the local climber will find that there are several super classic lines here that would be a pity to pass up because of the mess. BEWARE - Any ledge under 8 feet up may very well have broken glass on it, large rope tarp is a must to avoid glass shards.
Getting There
The first pull out after the Alpine Inn on the left. Park around the big oak tree, hike west up the road 10 feet, then cut left and down into to woods on a good trail. Approach takes about 5 min.
This route would be classic at any Wisconsin crag. Climb first 2 bolts to an OK rest, a couple crux lie back moves take you to the left and up on crimpers to a jug just below the anchors. The real tough guys clip off the ledge just above the anchors....[more]
Well, yah, judging from the photos, things haven't changed all that much at Witches... It's a shame, but what can you do about underage drinking? Yeast of Burden was one of my first TR projects. I actually popped a knuckle on that thing...
When I was in highschool we used to do regular glass clean ups both at Witches and Georges point, hauling out 5 gallon buckets of glass and various other party necessities. You know, dirty panties, used condems, old matresses...
For a while I maintained a garbage can at Georges, but with no releif in sight...
What can you do? I hope the routes are climbing well, and that maybe some more local highschool kids will pick up the sport and care just a little more.
The graffiti and glass sort of add to the charm. The pics I posted were in no way supposed to be a slam. I have gathered what seemed like 100's of blue plastic cups from the "firepit" before, but it was actually pretty clean yesterday. The routes here are good, though I would say not nearly as straightforward as at Meader or Adidas (for better or worse). I sandbagged us with my faulty memory-- I thought I remembered the far left route being 10a from this site, and as an onsight warmup I was like, "holy crap, 10a??? I suck!!" Anyway it's good to get sandbagged every once in a while, esp. if it turns out it's just your own senility. Also yeah, Yeast is a good route, surprisingly tricky crux section for 11+. This is a nice little area away from the main Grandad bluff.
Print a Mini-Guide - Includes Routes!
RSS Feed
