A big thank you to everyone who came out for the Roaring Fork Climbers Coalition event last night. We had somewhere between 60-70 climbers, which was awesome! Also, thanks to Nelson at Dos Gringos for hosting the event, and all the sponsors that generously hooked us up with gear to giveaway. (Backbone Media, Climbing, Prana, Rock & Ice, Summit Canyon Mountaineering) Lots of people went home last night with something.

Most importantly, we got the word out about Thompson Creek. Be sure to send in your comments to the BLM by May 2nd!

We’ve been doing some work recently out at Thompson Creek to comply with the new agreement that will allow climbing to continue out there. Both times, I’ve been belaying and caught falls caused by the climber snapping off a loose hold. I had a helmet on and was using a Gri Gri, and neither occurrence was an issue. Take away either of those safety elements, however, and you start to open the door for bad things to happen.

My wife and I got to talking about this stuff on the way to Moab this weekend, and I mentioned how I often don’t feel comfortable being belayed by someone without an auto locking device, especially at newly developed crags. What if I pulled off some loose rock, fell and it hit them? Tracy told me a story from Boise where a couple was out climbing, and the husband pulled off a block, which hit his wife in the head. She died instantly and he plummeted 50 feet to the talus as the rope zipped through her device. A helmet may or may not have saved her life, but had she been using a Gri Gri, the husband could have escaped the tragic event without physical harm. Obviously auto locking devices aren’t failsafe, and accidents do happen, but I will always feel better knowing worst case scenario my belayer can get knocked out and I wont hit the deck.

And while we’re on the subject, why not wear a helmet while belaying? At most of the new crags around here, if the line has been bolted, the developer has probably made sure that nothing big will come off, but it often takes many ascents for a route to clean up completely. A good friend took a chunk of choss to the head in Rifle last summer walking under the Project Wall, and that place sees tons of traffic. He was lucky the rock was crap and it broke apart instead of going straight through his head, but it still messed him up. Oh wait, I forgot, it’s not cool to wear helmets at Rifle, my bad.

But seriously, climbing can be a safe endeavor, so why not take the extra steps to make it that much safer? You probably wear your seatbelt even though you have an airbag in your car.

Have fun out there, and climb safe.

Great video from the good folks Petzl of Chris Sharma climbing the third ascent of La Rambla, 5.15a, in Siurana, Spain. Sharma redpointed the route after less than 20 tries in December of 2006.

Arches National Park is now seeking public comments regarding the development of a Climbing Management Plan. In 2006, unusual climbing activities (Dean Potter being a jackass) raised public interest and concern about issues associated with technical rock climbing. I don’t have a problem with the fact that he climbed the thing, but the style was piss poor. Did you really need a film crew on hand? Doesn’t sound like a “soul” experience to me.

“We’ve decided to take a new look at our climbing policies, “commented Laura Joss, superintendent of the park. “We’re asking for suggestions from the public about options regarding climbing activities in the park, as well as issues to be addressed.”

A climbing management planning effort will consider a full range of alternatives to protect resources, visitors and visitor experience. It’s been suggested that climbing could be banned altogether in the park, which is all the more reason why climbers need to get involved.

The scoping phase of the process will continue until May 4, 2007. After that an environmental assessment will be developed, which will then be available for public review and comment.

Scoping comments may be submitted over the internet or by mail to Superintendent, Arches National Park, PO Box 907, Moab, UT 84532.

You can check out the official press release online here.

I’m a huge fan of Google maps. I’ve spent a good bit of time scouring the satellite images of our area, looking for potential new crags. Sometimes you can actually get some pretty good leads too! Lots of people have come up with customized applications, but Gmap Pedometer is one of the coolest I’ve seen. It lets you plot points on the map and find out the distance, elevation change, and even how many calories you would burn! It’s definitely worth checking out, who knows, maybe people will start using it to plan trips into the backcountry!