Northern Rockies Section

Publication Year: 2007.

Northern Rockies Section. In March, Access Fund Policy Director Jason Keith asked the Section to rally a letter writing campaign in support of re-opening the Twin Sisters at Idaho’s City of Rocks for climbing. Thanks are due to all who responded. The revised City of Rocks Climbing Management Plan is in draft, and there should be a further comment period sometime in 2007. For those who may not know, the Access Fund logo is based on the outline of the Twin Sisters.

On September 30 members pitched in with the Salt Lake City Climbers’ Alliance and the Access Fund for Adopt-a-Crag day at the Salt Lake Slips in Big Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City. The Slips climbing area needed a better access trail and more stable staging areas. A large turnout of hard workers pitched in to insure a successful day. Particular thanks were extended by the Natural Resource Manager of the Wasatch Cache National Forest.

The annual Moondance at City of Rocks National Reserve, hosted by the Section, was held on the first full-moon weekend in October, which landed on the weekend of October 7. Despite cold weather and rain at the start, 32 people showed up to be rewarded by a surprise appearance of the full moon itself. Doug Colwell donated a fully functional barbeque for the gala party, at which folks ate and reveled around the campfire until the wee hours of the night. AAC members journeyed from Boise, Missoula, Sun Valley/Ketchum, Salt City City, and elsewhere in the area to share the mountaineering camaraderie.

Our former Chair, Doug Colwell, was awarded the Access Fund’s Sharp End Award in recognition of his longtime activism for the climbing community and countless hours spent promoting climbers’ interests at Twin Sisters at City of Rocks, Castle Rock State Park, and, in Arizona, at the Oak Flat/Queen Creek climbing area.

Local Organizations/Web sites of interest of interest to climbers in our territory: http://www.boiseclimbers.org, http://www.saltlakeclimbers.org; http://montanaclimbers.org, http://seracclub.org, http://www.wasatchmountainclub.org.

Brian Cabe, Chair