Ethics of naming a legacy crag.

Got a response from Jim Thornburg: "Hi Tim, I’ve only climbed at those crags once, about 40 years ago! I don’t remember much, and don’t know the history. There were a few accidents, both on the boulders and the cliffs involving big loose blocks. I always assumed that’s why climbing was shut down there." 

Another dead end. Should have asked him to autograph my book though haha

Good detective work.

Two (unsolicited) thoughts.

1. Don't be in such a hurry to "find rock > develop rock > publish rock" as if that is a duty or requirement or "the way things are done."  Its not. Savor the 1st before going on to the 2nd. Don't develop for the sake of development. Let your own climbing do what ever development is needed, for you. Stop there. Wash rinse repeat. 

2. Be careful about researching in front of everyone like this. You'll get your prizes snatched, sooner than you can blink, if they are interesting to others.

Before Rockclimbing.com, Climbingboulder.com, Supertopo, etc., we all lived to see our names in Climbing Magazine. There was a section in the back that'd list new ascents and the names of who did it. It fed some desperate attention seeking. 

Then all this came along and the attention seeking fed into the rapid growth of the websites. The vanity wore off fast and we saw a huge surge of access issues. 

My ethos would be, not reporting a collection of rocks I found because increased traffic doesn't really make anything better. If I spent a few years and some $$$ building out an area I would publicize because I want to share my work because I like seeing people enjoy it. For that to happen a lot of criteria about the spot needs to fall in place though. 

My advice would be invite people, expand your friends list. Let things grow organically. 

Is there anyone on here in contact with Peter Haan?

 My guess is he would be able to shed some light on the history behind  this area. Just a guess, but a semi-educated one.

Frank Steinwrote:

True, but why change for the sake of change? Why do climbing areas have to be available at the tap of a finger tip? What is the benefit and for whom?

1.  Why change for the sake of change?      The OP is 21 years old.  He's not changing for the sake of change.  He's grown up with the internet all his life.  Your bio says your 96yrs old.  You probably grew up a little differently.  One way is not better than the other, just different.

2.  Why do climbing areas need to be available at the tap of a finger?     They don't.  However, if the OP is developing a crag, and wants to share that information, it doesn't really make sense for him to write a guidebook for the crag, find a publisher to print  150 copies, find a shop to sell those copies, and hope someone buys a copy of his guidebook of 10-15 boulder problems.  It's a lot easier for him to just post the area to a website.

3.  What is the benefit, and to whom?     The benefit is ease of transferring information about a climbing area that is on public land.   Those that benefit are the developer, because he was able to share the area with more people without having to write and sell a small guidebook.  More people climbing there can lead to him having more people to help develop and maintain the area.  OP mentioned he cleaned some poison oak out of the area.  Doesn't sound fun.  Maybe next year someone else will do it, if they had fun climbing in the area.  Sharing the information also benefits anyone that was introduced to the area, and had fun climbing there.

Tim Duongwrote:

Got a response from Jim Thornburg: "Hi Tim, I’ve only climbed at those crags once, about 40 years ago! I don’t remember much, and don’t know the history. There were a few accidents, both on the boulders and the cliffs involving big loose blocks. I always assumed that’s why climbing was shut down there." 

Another dead end. Should have asked him to autograph my book though haha

Find out more about this. There are places out there that were bolted bitd, and are now not allowed to have development. There are places where, yeah stuff gets developed, and that's okay .....but doing do quietly is sort of just ignored. Being public about it? Land managers might then feel the need to say something official. And the easiest option? No.

"Problematic" climbing access exists at almost everywhere I've climbed here in southern Idaho. 

And yeah, it doesn't all need to be advertised and easy. The places here that are supposedly "under the radar", are pretty well known, to everyone in the local climbing community. Some probably aren't. 

Obviously I don't know you're specific circumstances, but long gone are the days that climbers can just do stuff anywhere they want, yes, public lands included. 

TLDR? Consider the land managers in this, for future good relations for climbers and climbing.

Helen