Show Your Love - Empty the Crags

We love our climbing partners and our community. Show this love and #flattenthecurve both nationally and locally. We implore you to empty the crags.

In the meantime, let’s continue to take some deep breathes outside and share our collective stories from our homes.
 
Many have already responsibly chosen not to take spring climbing trips with considerations towards stressing rural communities and their resources. Indoor climbing gyms voluntarily closed. Your fellow climbers in the medical field are risking their health on the front lines and don’t need to be stressed more with rescues or climbing related injuries. Show your love for this community and let’s do everything we absolutely can to limit the spread for the greater good.
  
There are simply too many of us to all take to the crags and expect to socially distance. This has become apparent in the crowds at local climbing areas the past few days. Even the “No Star Tuesday” routes are busy. The shared surfaces of climbing (from holds to ropes and more) are a way that we, as climbers, can potentially spread the virus. 
 
As your local climbing advocacy and stewardship organization, we have paused trail maintenance and fixed anchor replacement. We’ve postponed our annual fundraiser in the Black Diamond parking lot until further notice – (but we sure look forward to a time when we can gather again to celebrate Wasatch climbing!). We are at home – on conference calls with our land agencies and governments offering our assistance. Emptying the crags is what we as individual climbers can do right now to curb the spread of the virus. We are resilient, and with collective action, more lives will be saved and we will all be back out at the crags sooner.
 
Since our ability to collectively enjoy the outdoors is on pause for the moment, let us hear from you with your home inspirations and antics. Thank you being an upstanding member of the Wasatch Climbing Community. I look forward to a time I can see you at the crag!

Respectfully Yours,

Julia Geisler

Executive Director

Salt Lake Climbers Alliance

March 19, 2020 

Photo by Louis Arevalo of the Salt Lake Climbing Festival