SLCA Improves Fin Approach at the Gate Buttress with Professional Trail Work

This spring, the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance (SLCA) hired the Access Fund Conservation Team—a nationally recognized professional trail crew—to lead a major reconstruction project at the Fin Approach in the Gate Buttress area in Little Cottonwood Canyon (LCC). As part of SLCA’s ongoing commitment to sustainable climbing access in LCC, this initiative brought expert trail-building capacity to the Church property to help maintain climbing access to this private parcel.

 

This project was made possible thanks to funding from the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation and the Recreational Trails Program grant, along with matching contributions from generous SLCA donors and sponsors.

Over five weeks in the field, the Access Fund crew, alongside SLCA staff and volunteers, built a new, sustainable alignment that reroutes users away from the Church Vault and minimizes erosion. Despite losing a crew member early in the season, spring storms, and a distant rock source, the team completed a high-quality transformation of the trail. The trail will see more work soon.

Project Highlights:

  • 297 feet of new trail

  • 66 hand-set stone steps across 5 staircases

  • 14 retaining walls totaling 113 feet

  • 3 new switchbacks

  • 2,035 tons of stone moved

  • 294 volunteer hours contributed by 49 community members

Volunteers played a key role in supporting the effort, including teams from Black Diamond and SLAQC, who joined SLCA for a total of 13 volunteer days. Before the work began, the approach to the Fin was steep, eroded, and poorly defined. Today, the trail is reinforced with stone, clearly marked, and built to endure the demands of Wasatch climbing.

This project is a testament to the power of collaboration between professional trail crews, local nonprofits, public agencies, and the climbing community.

📩 Help us continue this work. Support SLCA’s stewardship fund here and stay tuned to volunteer at future Adopt a Crag stewardship days.

📸 Photos courtesy of the Access Fund Conservation Team and SLCA.

Julia Geisler