No Time Like The Present

While I understand that we are all somewhat overwhelmed by current world events, there's still no time like the present to plan for the future.

With that in mind, I offer the following:

Over the last four or five years, there's been some discussion in the MD/DC/VA climbing community focused on organizing a smaller version of the New River Rendezvous/AAC Craggin' Classic at Reed Creek; bringing together gyms, regional chapters, affiliates and outing clubs in the same way that advocates, affiliates and regional climbing groups will come together at NRG again this year. 

An event like this would be a major economic boost for Franklin and Pendleton County, an opportunity for regional climbing groups and organizations which have traditionally focused on Seneca Rocks to participate in stewardship in the Canyon, and a great way to introduce a new generation of climbers to even more of the incredible recreational potential of the area.

Obviously, a lot of practical and logistical background work will need to happen before even a small-scale climbing event. and that's where the Friends of Smoke Hole sees many opportunities for the entire community, climbers and residents alike.

The Monongahela National Forest will also have to sign off on any such activity, and this would be an opportunity for them to bring the entire community of shareholders up to date on the long-overdue Climbing Management Plan and workshops, the NFS personnel and other organizations involved, and their future plans for public input and involvement.

Combining the knowledge and resources of the Monongahela National Forest, Pendleton County Commission, the Town of Franklin, the Friends of Smoke Hole, the Friends of Seneca, the DC and Richmond Chapters of the AAC, and the Access Fund's Conservation Team and local affiliates, the community can move forward with planning and preparation; strengthening trails and belay areas, working with local authorities to create a plan, obtain permits and promote the event as part of the Mon Forest Towns Initiative and to explore access to nearby parking at the industrial park, coordinating with local law and EMS for traffic and crowd control and climber safety, rescue and first aid considerations.

As climbers, stewards of the land and residents of Pendleton County, we believe that the goal should not simply be to create an event, but to see that the entire community has an opportunity to join in, creating new connections in the area, encouraging conversations between climbers and residents; increasing opportunities for local youth to experience climbing, for residents to better understand climbing and the diverse community of climbers, for visiting climbers to better understand the diverse local community, and for local entrepreneurs and small area businesses to become invested in long term benefits from the recreation economy, creating a synergy ensuring the sustainability of our recreational resources and the culture around them.

To keep events as positive and conflict free as possible, I will not be directly involved in organizing or administration, beyond answering any questions and sharing any tools, knowledge or insight I can to assist the effort. If I am there, it will be as a volunteer, local climber and excited spectator.

I've asked one of Rakkup's publishers, Rob Price, who is also President of the Access Fund's Board of Directors, to explore grants and Conservation Team support and reach out to the NFS and various affiliates. I wouldn't be surprised to see Tyrel Johnson or my wife Cindy in attendance, representing Friends of Smoke Hole. Friends of SH will also promote the event and reach out to volunteers from our trail and clean up days.

I'm inviting you to consider joining any effort the AAC DC, PATC-MS, MAC, DC Outing Club, Shenandoah Valley, Richmond or Charlottesville climbers might organize, and to encourage any of those groups to which you belong to do so if they have not.

Thanks for your time.

Climb on,

Mike Gray

Halloween- Trail Daze #10

Thanks so very much to Tyler Hall and Gray C, Shane and Chris Egress,Josiah Weeks, Scott Drummond, Nicholas Kurland and Cindy Gray for braving temperatures in the 30's, overcast skies, cold winds and drizzle to make Saturday another in a series of incredible Trail Daze events.

In a matter of hours, this crew built a new switchback to reduce impact on a beautiful old oak tree, removed all traces of the older trail, and did an amazing job of shoring up the trail and stabilizing the belay below Superman.

Strategy session

(L to R) Scott Drummond, Nick Kurland and Chris Egress dig in.

Josiah sez: No gluten or dairy, just CAFFEINE!!!

When the work was done, the rock wranglers descended to inhale chicken pasta salad, power gels and chocolate, then, despite the occasional shower of rain, they dragged out packs and headed back up their freshly-laid trail to tear up some routes.

Nick Kurland and friend Eric worked their way methodically across the wall, dispatching my routes Still Laughing (5.10) and Reaching Conclusions (5.10). After several hangs and combinations of moves, they sent Ryan Eubank's Golden Horseshoe (5.10+) and fought through Fisher's Hunter's Moon (5.10+).  Josiah Weeks, fresh back from the Red River Gorge, warmed up on the great moderate Second Rule with mountain bike madman Scott Drummond on belay , while Tyler Hall and Chris Egress battled the powerful, hard-to-read start of Mike Fisher's La Machina.  

Nick Kurland snaps for the ledge on Golden Horseshoe, one of the great 5.10s to be found at The Reach, Reed's Creek

Tyler Hall rolls through the lower cruxes of Hunter's Moon

Chris Egress cranks through the roof on La Machina

Leaving the youngsters to shred, I collected my wife, relaxing with some friends who actually live above the crag, and we headed off to prepare for a night at Thorn Springs Campground.

We chowed pizza and Halloween candy, talked over issues of the day and assorted trivia of global importance, sipped tasty adult carbohydrate replacement beverages and handed out T-shirts to all our volunteers.

The day's work and play finally caught up with us all around 10 p.m. Good nights were made and we hit the racks.

Cindy rose early to begin frying bacon and making mounds of oatmeal pancakes, and I eyed snow pellets falling from rolling skies as I summoned the survivors to breakfast.

Crispy bacon, pancakes, Sunny D and French press coffee: the Trail Daze crew relaxes post breakfast (courtesy of PHAR/UP and Cindy Gray) in Cabin 51, Thorn Spring Campground

Shane Egress: a force of nature

The South Branch of the Potomac glitters and shines in the autumn sun.

Interesting fact- we have now held EIGHT more local trail work events than the corporate-funded Access Fund, and almost all of our events were funded out-of-pocket or by donations fromsmall companies and local climbers... as opposed to shilling the only automobile without a hybrid or cams made in China.

Outside of Seneca, the two local events in which the Access Fund did (belatedly) participate were created, organized and seen to completion by a non-member.... can you guess who?

PHAR/UP: local climbers making a real difference. 

Being part of the solution, instead of the problem, for over a decade.

Contact us today for information on Trail Daze, local crags and the Smoke Hole Shuttle Service: (304) 668-2856; via email: phar.up.2014@gmail.com

Double Standard, Anyone?

The following is a post from the Mid-Atlantic Climbers' Coalition webpage, regarding access at the Catoctin Mountain Park, which was recently closed to bouldering:

“We are asking that climbers observe these restrictions to aid in our efforts. Demonstrating responsibility as a climbing community at this time will help make our case as we work to open up access in the future.”

How is it that these same principles of respect and responsibility do not seem to apply to the private property and crags of Franklin in WV, MACC?  You know, where you and your members have been climbing on private property without permission for years and where you continue to walk right past NEW, signed “No TRESPASSING” signs?

Double standard, anyone?

Was any portion of the recent Seneca Rocks Chilifest used to alert and inform climbers regarding this access issue?

How about Bridge (or, as I like to call it, "Let's all go shit in the woods at New River") Day?  Any round-table discussions there, between draining brews, updating your Facebook pages and slacklining, after spending your day trying to find parking and convincing yourself that you are actually observing LNT principles?

If so, there is no word of that on any of your websites.

If the Access Fund can't get the job done with the people it has in place, maybe it's time to replace those people with candidates who are both motivated and competent.

And maybe it's time for all those Access Fund members to start admitting that they really don't give a damn.

After all, they pay good money every year to be told what they should care about, and what isn't important.

Poison Fruit

Got to Franklin today to find three new, signed "NO Hunting or TRESPASSING" signs.

They haven't put up a new sign in the last decade, but after five years of no action from the AF/MACC- voila! Not only new signs, but signs with the name of a corporation, not a family, on them.  

Deja vu, anyone?

Congratulations, Access Fund and Mid-Atlantic Climbers Coalition- your policy of "don't ask, don't tell, don't stop climbing there but don't work on the trails" seems to be bearing the poison fruit I predicted.

You mothers must be very proud.... 

Start all the educational programs you want (with a company that makes its cams in China), partner with macho Jeep (the only car manufacturer that doesn't have a successful hybrid), do your best to spin control this... your people are pissing away more access than even you can buy, every hour of every day.

Save the DATE! Hallowe'en weekend Trail Daze: Reed's Creek

Make your plans now to join the Potomac Highlands Anchor Replacement/Upgrade Program (PHAR/UP) on Hallowe'en weekend, Friday, October 31st through Sunday, November 2nd, 2014, a weekend of community, trail work, clean-up and climbing.

Limit 20 people, so sign up now!

Depending on the weather, PHAR/UP will reserve a Smoke Hole campsite, or two cabins at Thorn Springs 4-H Camp just south of Franklin, for the use of our volunteers. We will be supplying hot grub and cold refreshments while handing out Smoke Hole T-shirts, Owlfeather jewelry and other prizes to those who attend.

We'll also raffle off a new guidebook, to be delivered to your door when they come back from the publisher in December.

Respond in the comments section of this post or email wvmgray@gmail.com to reserve your spot.

In The Beginning

March 2nd, 2007: The Punishers begin construction of the current high-speed trail to replace the eroded otter slide everyone was using to reach the cliffs of Franklin. 

At that point, the crag had existed for just over 17 years, about as long as another popular idea, the Access Fund, which, despite the grassroots, working-class image sold to the public, was actually a spin-off of the American Alpine Club, an international organization with a vast web of contacts and resources.

After years of reading press releases and watching as work seemed to go on at every other crag in the nation, two local climbers who were not members of the club had finally had enough.  Tools were gathered, food stores and supplies laid in, and two guys who actually are working class folks took time off from their carpentry jobs, stocked up on PowRBars and gels, tuna and pasta, then gave up a month of weekends to build trail for a climbing community comprised, for the most part, of Access Fund members who apparently hadn't noticed or cared to acknowledge the need for action.

Working from Friday nights through Monday mornings for most of the month of March, we laid in rails, stacked stone, and did what two people could to shore up a game trail and address the impact of hundreds of feet. 

We often climbed at night, by headlamp, so we could work during the day, although Fisher could crank off a hard line or three and then build trail all day, coffee by his side, before grabbing a snack and a nap and sending again in the twilight.

Mike Fisher takes a break from building trail to enjoy a rare moment of daylight climbing on Potential Energy.

The Master, in his element.

B.P.- Before the arrival of the Punishers, this is what the trail to "Raised by Sasquatch" looked like.

The base of Castaways, possibly the most popular and obviously the most impacted climb at Franklin.  Despite three different groups covering the adjacent area with mulch, side rails, plants, even marking tape, climbers have reduced the belay area and trail to this state once again...

Although we built in steps and rails, mulched and planted, there is almost no sign of our efforts today.

We did what we could: built the trails, made friends with the landowners, supported the little store at the end of the road, put up quality routes and replaced substandard gear.

Now, the torch passes to the next generation.

But this is how it was, in the beginning.

One Minute Trail Workshop

Lost Worlds

If a picture is worth a thousand words, here is an encyclopedia of the back corners of Smoke Hole Canyon and the surrounding region.

Free solo, anyone?  Privately-owned Eagle Rock, last pitch of Karma Cracks.

Macdaddy Mike Stewart cranking into the sketchy section of Cherry Lane, Darkside.

Take a Stand for Arizona

The amazing formations of Apache Leap, just outside Superior, Arizona.  All of this could be destroyed if the proposed land swap with Resolution Copper goes ahead.

Yo, CLIMBERS and other lovers of America and our outdoors-

Arizona climbers need your help!

There is a vote scheduled for this Thursday, September 19th in the US House of Representatives on legislation that would trade away the popular Oak Flat climbing area in Arizona to Resolution Copper Mining, a foreign owned mining company.

All 435 members of the House of Representatives will have the opportunity to cast a vote on this legislation, yet many of them know little or nothing about the bill except what the bill sponsors have told them.

If this bill (HR 687) should become law, it will result in the largest loss of a climbing resource in the history of the United States. The bill also poses major environmental and Native American concerns. HR 687 is an example of bad, special interest legislation and passage could establish a terrible precedent.

Your Congressional representative will have the opportunity to cast a vote on this legislation, and we need your help to let him/her know of the many valid reasons to vote "NO" on HR 687.

Please take a moment and call or email your Congressman or Congresswoman today.

Visit our Action Center to send a letter through our easy-to-use advocacy tool (
http://www.accessfund.org/c.tmL5KhNWLrH/b.5208267/k.8C84/Action_Center/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=tmL5KhNWLrH&b=5208267&aid=520296)
that will automatically identify your Representative. 

Spring Send-a-thon: No Free T-Shirts Required

Trail work and trash clean-up, new climbers on new lines, no dogs, no national press coverage, and no free T-shirts required.

One from the Back of the Rack

A new website for natural stone and handcrafted jewelry lovers-

Check out Owl Feather Productions' new Facebook page, and look for the blogspot coming soon!