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Cape Ann climbing renaissance

mnatti · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 305

We know that routes have been getting scrubbed, sent, re-scrubbed, re-sent, forgotten, explored, climbed again, lost etc, etc..... one of the major goals I have is to get a handle on all the history! Some of the worlds best climbers have played on North Shore granite and I want to have some documentation of all of that! Keep the goods coming.

mnatti · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 305

Oh.... and a group of us are definitely meeting at the Cape Ann Brewery this Sunday at 7pm to discuss IF we want to do a coalition and if so, what the goals of said coalition should be.

john strand · · southern colo · Joined May 2008 · Points: 1,640

mnatti-- sent the stuff today

jim.dangle · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 5,882

I think the idea of forming a Northshore or Cape Ann Climber's Coalition is a good one. I won't be able to make it tonight but I'll be interested in how it turns out and hope you guys will post a report up here.

I would also suggest that two important but quite different issues have gotten a little confused and intertwined in this single “thread”. One is debate among climbers regarding ethics and tradition, and the other is more of a discussion that should be happening between climbers and others regarding access. In the redevelopment and publication of routes these issues tend to become conflated but it is worth working to keep them apart as much as possible.

Jim

mnatti · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 305

The first meeting was a great success. 14 people showed up in all. We ate good food, drank good beer and talked climbing. In the end, we decided to start small and work just with in Cape Ann for now. In fact, to keep it simple, we are focusing all energy on the Red Rocks area for now (this includes Pink Floyd, Down Under, South Wall, Masters, etc). Goals for this year, so far, involve creating a website for the the group, confirming ownership of land that cliffs/ boulders in the Red Rocks area are on, partnering with the Access Fund and we are shooting for a publicized clean-up at Red Rocks around mid May. Bolting anything in the Red Rocks area will be put on hold until permission to climb from land owners has been granted. It would appear that scrubbing off routes is not an issue... so scrub away but please try to keep pruning and other forms of aggressive gardening as low key as possible.

John Braun · · Hendersonville, NC · Joined Feb 2011 · Points: 1

Some friends and I were climbing at Red Rocks today. We were approached by a lady who eventually asked us if we knew who had scrubbed the lichen off the DU wall or if we knew that people had cut a bunch of brush off at the base of climbs. She ended up going on to say stuff about the sheriff maybe being called to find out who's been removing the lichen... A couple times she mentioned cops taking pictures of license plates in the parking lot to catch the perpetrators of the brush and lichen removal... ?! She seemed to be a bit rambling... eccentric might be the word.

I'll save any discussion of ethics later, I just wanted to pass on that we had contact with the aforementioned lady and that she seemed pretty concerned.

DFrench · · Cape Ann · Joined Apr 2007 · Points: 465

I've been fearing that this woman would become involved after all of the recent activity at Down Under.

If my suspicions are correct this is the woman that lives in the brown house that is right next to the vet hospital and is within 50 yards of DU. She is beyond eccentric and is a royal PITA. She will most likely cause a massive stink with the police that will undoubtedly have negative impacts for climbers at this crag. Best to avoid disturbing her any further even though it is not her land.

Also, what's up with the large grey trash can that has been left around the base of DU?! Things aren't looking too good right now in this area...

jim.dangle · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 5,882

Thanks for posting that. Its good to get the word out so we can all be on the same page.

My two cents: Obviously I wouldn't do anything to antagonize this woman (or any of the landowners in the area) but I don't think it is worth getting too worried about either. In my experience, when citizens (especially those of the elderly persuasion) invoke the police over pretty minor things it usually means the police are definitely NOT involved. The idea that Gloucester cops are going are to investigate potential lichen removal seems a bit rich to me. The first things the cops would do is tell climbers to stop (not open up a surveillance operation).

Also, its worth pointing that climbers are not the only ones doing things up there that may be vaguely illicit: kids camp and drink, people have dogs off the leash, mountain bikers trespass in the reservoir, people swim, and there is this strange smoke wafting down from the ledges sometimes. In short, I don't think the cops are going to want to get involved in patrolling Mt. Ann. Climbers are the least of their worries.

Jim

mnatti · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 305

I have a meeting with a few of the folks from town hall on Wednesday to discuss a crag clean-up, climbers taking over stewardship of the Red Rocks area(s) and I have a feeling that this issue may be brought up as well. Wish me luck!

Chris McNeil · · Anchorage, AK · Joined Nov 2011 · Points: 2,935

Also, what's up with the large grey trash can that has been left around the base of DU?! Things aren't looking too good right now in this area...
That trash can is the home owners. She admittidily is leaving it there and using it to collect chucks of dirt and place them on the rock

John Braun · · Hendersonville, NC · Joined Feb 2011 · Points: 1
Chris McNeil wrote:That trash can is the home owners. She admittidily is leaving it there and using it to collect chucks of dirt and place them on the rock
...wait what?! Like putting dirt on routes? Is the owner of the trash can the lichen lady?

Yeah, she was pretty concerned about the lichen. She kept asking us if we knew how long it would take to grow back, etc.

Also, I'm not sure I feel about people chopping branches at the base of crags. I was looking around at the base of Down Under, and if I recall correctly, some of the stuff was cut flush to the ground. It already looks like erosion is going to be a problem if more people climb at DU.
mnatti · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 305

I feel that pruning branches around crags, especially using proper arboricultural technique (no stubs), is fine. As far as cutting trees down, I think the general Con-Com rule of leaving anything over 2" in diameter is probably a sound policy to follow for now. Also, IF any trees are being removed anywhere (which I don't think is such a hot idea until the dust settles a bit), cut them FLUSH to the ground and drag the evidence WAY far away for goodness sake!

Chris McNeil · · Anchorage, AK · Joined Nov 2011 · Points: 2,935

Yes Placing chunks of dirt on the routes ( what she can reach)

John Braun · · Hendersonville, NC · Joined Feb 2011 · Points: 1
Chris McNeil wrote:Yes Placing chunks of dirt on the routes ( what she can reach)
Is the trash can homeowner the same as the lichen lady, or are these two different homeowners?
Chris McNeil · · Anchorage, AK · Joined Nov 2011 · Points: 2,935

Same

mnatti · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 305

I had a long meeting about climbing in Gloucester with two Gloucester officials (Con-Com and Watershed Management) on Wednesday on behalf of the Cape Ann Climbing Coalition. It went way better than expected. The city is actually already working on a large scale management plan for the open spaces and it seems public access is a very high priority. They are working on forming a self policing board of local outdoor enthusiasts. So far they have representatives from the trail runners, a birding group, mountain bikers, Mass Mudders and now rock climbers are involved. The city's idea is very similar to CACC's goal, to allow the various user groups to steward the areas that most important to them.
The two big things we got from the meeting-
CACC can hold a Red Rocks clean-up, so put Saturday May 12 on your calendar and get ready to pick up some trash! We will have a dumpster at the end of the storage area and will be picking up litter from 10am until 2pm (obviously, you can keep picking up stuff as long as you feel like doing it, but we needed to set a time frame).
Climbing at Down Under is legal. It is city land and it does not have any recreational restrictions on it. That being said, CACC is waiting on replacing the top anchors (removed by the neighbor to "save the rock", by the way) until a bit more of a decisive concept of just what we can and can not do as far as resource management goes. Also, for the sake of keeping up our image there should be no more trail construction or route clearing around Down Under. If any scrubbing happens elsewhere.... be discrete! The angry neighbor is out there and will continue to lodge a case against ANYONE being in the woods, so let's not give her any ammunition.
Also, the next CACC meeting will be sticking to our schedule of the first Sunday of every month, 7pm at the Cape Ann Brewery in down town Gloucester. See you on May 6th!

mnatti · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 305

Thanks to Chris McNeil, the Cape Ann Climbing Coalition now has a Facebook page. Anyone who is interested can go to FB and search Cape Ann Climbing Coalition and "BAM!" there we are! Cool. Hope to see a few of you at the clean-up this Saturday, May 12 at Red Rocks.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Northeastern States
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