SLCA Fall Update

Adopt-a-Crag Day
Ferguson Canyon

On September 26 the Salt Lake Climbers' Alliance hosted the Ferguson Canyon Adopt-A-Crag and the outpouring of support for this project was tremendous. During the day over 100 volunteers accomplished much needed trail maintenance, trail erosion control, social trail elimination, graffiti removal, clean-up of trash, and the creation of belay platforms. All participants enjoyed a tasty lunch from Sage's Cafe, walked away with some amazing raffle giveaways, and most importantly, made a difference for the climbing community and other recreation users in Ferguson Canyon.

Coordinating and hosting the annual Adopt-a-Crag would not be possible without the generous support of our non-profit and land management partners; industry and local sponsors; and certain individuals.

Thanks to our Lead Sponsors: Black Diamond, Liberty Mountain, The Front Climbing Club, Momentum, Rockreation

Thanks to all our other Sponsors: American Alpine Club-Northern Rockies Section, Backcountry.com, Bell Organic Gardens, Beans and Brews, Clif Bar, DMM Climbing, Evolv, IME, Patagonia, Petzl, REI, Redpoint Nutrition, Red Chili, Restop, Rock and Ice, Sage's Cafe, Sterling Rope, Utah Mountain Adventures, Wild Country

Special Thanks to our Partners: Access Fund, American Alpine Club, ASCA, Cottonwood Canyons Foundation, HERA Foundation, US Forest Service, The Wasatch Mountain Club

We would also like to thank Tommy Chandler, John Evans and Nathan Smith for photos and Jansen Gunderson for providing the photo and design/layout of our flyer. Thanks to Steve Greene and the Oakley School and Boy Scout Troop 820 from Riverton for their hard work and support, and finally thank you to Chris Budge, Amy Collins and Nita Kofchock for staffing the tent.

Most of all, to our amazing participants, without the generous donation of your time and effort, our projects would not be possible - THANK YOU!

Mini Crag Day
Graffiti removal at the Beer Can Cave

A small group of Salt Lake Climbers Alliance Board members, Liaisons, and climbers tackled the imposing job of removing the notorious graffiti plaguing the Beer Can Cave Boulder in Little Cottonwood Canyon on September 19.

After hauling up hoses, sand, and the blaster, the group removed all of the graffiti that was located on top of the boulder. A small section of graffiti was removed around the actual cave; however the sand ran out before it could be finished. This situation was unavoidable and the group felt that the work, accomplished after eight hours, was acceptable. Unfortunately, the prospect of a clean canvas of rock was too much to pass up for some individual and in less than two days the top of the boulder was re-tagged.

Undaunted, the SLCA will continue working on removing graffiti within LCC and other Salt Lake Valley climbing areas. If you see new graffiti in the canyons you can post the location and pictures on the SLCA Projects Forum and if you see taggers you can contact the Salt Lake County Sheriff at 801-743-7000.

AAC/SLCA Craggin' Classic

Despite the cold temps and a bit of snow, the Craggin' Classic went off without a hitch. The AAC has done a great job summing up the event, so we won't go into great detail here (and there's a report on Black Diamond's site on the International Climbers' Meet) . There is also a short video that shows a little more about what went down over the weekend. It was awesome to see the local old schoolers and hardmen come out for Brian Smoot's historical slideshow of climbing in the Wasatch. Andrew Burr's slideshow brought us in to the present with inspiring images of the people and places we all know and love. Nathan Smith has put together a slideshow of portraits he made during the infamous night of live music with Use As Is and the Tolchok Trio. Thanks to the American Alpine Club (including Brittany Griffiths and Dana Richardson) for bringing the event to Salt Lake and giving us a reason to celebrate and show-off our local climbing resources. Additionally thanks to all the sponsors that supported the event and the SLCA.

But there are some SLCA volunteers, without whom the event would have surely been a fizzle, and we wanted to take a moment to recognize them. First off, Cynthia Levinthal spent long hours planning, organizing and re-organizing for the event. Without her help, there might have been no venue, no alcohol, no food, no fun... Agnes Chiao once again really helped us by organizing the crack team SLCA volunteers that did everything from serve booze to man the doors. And thanks to the rest of the SLCA volunteers (you know who you are), including the local specialists who took visiting climbers out for a taste of Wasatch stone! Finally, on Sunday we able to complete most of the work at Ferguson we began the week earlier. That's huge! Thanks to everyone who moved stones, broke rocks and constructed nice comfy belay platforms - including two guys who drove all the way out from Colorado.