Climbing
Conservancy of
Central Pennsylvania

Hi all,

The Penn State Outing Club is bringing the new climbing movie, CORE, to Penn State on April 20th. Come on out to see a great video and mix it up with the Penn State and State College climbing crowd. Please see details below!
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From the director of PURE…

CORE goes to the heart of climbing. Join an international cast of the sport’s most dedicated athletes as they stick it when it matters most. Shot in 35mm Ultra High Definition, get ready to see every detail of some of the nastiest pieces of rock ever climbed.

A close examination of each character offers perspective beyond just their achievements on the stone. From Helsinki to Hueco, Africa to Italy, the enclosed forests of Tuscany to the vast open space of the American West, this film is a study in the landscapes and lifestyles that define our sport.

Be there, in the moment, as a 5.14 traditional route gets its first ascent. See the mind-bending footage from Livin Large, Nalle Hukkataival’s monster 8C. Watch as Fred Nicole polishes off his multi-year project in Switzerland ñ his hardest ever. All these achievements and more are brought to you here in Chuck Fryberger’s followup to the hit bouldering flick PURE. These are the moments and the athletes that define our sport, documented here with a unique style that invites the viewer to be part of the experience.

Featured Athletes:
Nalle Hukkataival
Matt Wilder
Fred Nicole
Kilian Fischhuber
Kevin Jorgeson
BJ Tilden
Lucas Preti
Cody Roth
Michele Caminati
Jamie Emerson
Sarah and Steph Marvez
Berni Fiedler
And Many More.

On Location in:
Lander, Wyoming
Colorado, USA
Hueco Tanks, USA
Helsinki Finland
Switzerland
Tuscany, Italy
Rocklands, South Africa

A FULL HD SHOWING WILL BE ON APRIL 20th at 9PM, IN THE HUB AUDITORIUM (PSU CAMPUS)

See the trailer HERE: http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/outing/CORE.html

Tickets are $10 and are now available at Appalachian Outdoors (ask at the register)

Any questions can be directed to Nick Clabbers (nmc5051@psu.edu) or event coordinator Ryan Mullins (ryanmullins@psu.edu)

Hi all,

We’re thinking of having another informal get together at Hunters’ on Sunday April the 11th at 2:30pm. We will be performing trail and area cleanup and climbing in the legal portions of Hunters Rocks. If time permits, we may also travel over to the Powercut climbing area nearby. If you are not familiar with the climbing areas, we will happily show you which boulders are best for climbing. If you wish to meet other climbers from the area, this is a perfect venue. Even if you do not climb but wish to help clean up an area, this event is appropriate for you.

You should bring rock climbing shoes, a chalk bag, and a crashpad if you intend on climbing. Dress appropriately for the weather. Even if the weather is not suitable for climbing, we will still work on cleaning up the area. If you have it you can bring shovels and gardening rakes for cleaning up the trail, work gloves, and garbage bags.

Meet at the group campsite off of Frew Road across from the new trail to Hunters Rocks. For those not familiar and needing further directions, email ieva@c3pa.wpengine.com, scott@c3pa.wpengine.com or tom@c3pa.wpengine.com or reference the link in the post below.

What

Hunter’s Rocks (Public Portion) Adopt-a-Crag clean-up and trail maintenance.

When

October 18th. Noon to Four-ish

Where

We’ll meet at the group campsite off of Frew Road, across from the access to the new trail. Here are directions from State College to the parking area.

Come hang out with us and show some love to the public portion of Hunter’s Rocks!
We’ll congregate at the group campsite at noon, disperse to do some work, climb until we’re tired, and then hang out and drink some beer back at the group campsite. If you’re not familiar with this section of Hunter’s, this will be a great opportunity to meet some locals and get acquainted some of the classic problems in this area.
It’s hunting season, so fashionable CHUMP 2009 attendees should wear some blaze orange.

Drop us an email if you have any questions at all. Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you chumps on October 18th.

DCNR has just adopted an official climbing management plan for the entire state. The plan was put together with feedback from several local climbing activists, C3PA, and the Access Fund. This effectively formalizes the relationship between climbers and the state agencies.

Here is the full text of the Pennsylvania climbing management plan.

For the most part, we’re pleased with the outcome. There are some aspects of the plan that are more restrictive than we would have liked to have seen, but we believe that this is a very workable solution for the long term.

Here are the major points:

• Climbing is permitted on state forest land, unless specifically prohibited due to significant ecological, environmental, geological, archaeological or historic impact.
• Climbing is only allowed in state parks where it has been approved.
• Bolts require approval before being placed, and must be high-quality stainless steel hardware.
• There is a specific process for resolving conflicts.
• The local climbing organizations and/or the Access Fund should be notified and involved if a closure is necessary.
• (Ice climbing) dry tooling is not permitted unless the area has been approved for it.

What follows are some of the biggest questions and concerns that we had about the policy.

Why would we want a climbing management plan?

DCNR saw a need for a climbing management plan to help them solidify their position and policies on climbing as an activity on their land. This can be good for climbers as well since it’s a two-way street — yes, there are some restrictions that are placed on climbers. But it also lays out what is permitted, which is important for the long-term viability of climbing as a sport in this state. In particular, it goes a long way towards ensuring that climbing will be permitted in most public areas now and in the future.

What about state parks being closed to climbing by default?

This is actually the same as their current policy, so while it’s not as permissive as we would like to see, it’s not a step backwards either. We will be working with DCNR to ensure that the climbing areas that do lie within state parks are evaluated and listed as open to climbing. To the best of our knowledge, there are not many climbing areas in PA state parks that are not already open to climbing.

What about requiring permission to place bolts?

Again, this is an area where we would have liked the plan to be more permissive. Our current impression is that the current land managers are quite reasonable and pragmatic about the need for bolts to be used in certain situations. We would like to go through the approval process with a couple pilot crags to solidify the entire procedure. Our understanding is that DCNR is looking ahead and wants to prevent wholesale unnecessary bolting of a limited resource. Their primary concern is conservation. That said, we’ve discussed the need for bolts in places where cracks are unavailable, and they seemed to be understanding. This is probably one of the biggest question marks about the plan so far, so we’re looking forward to working with DCNR early on to try to establish a good working relationship on this issue. We don’t want to see overbolting any more than they do, and hopefully we’ll see that climbers are able to secure permission to bolt when it makes sense to do so. If you have an area that you think is a good candidate for bolting, please let us know and we would be happy to help with the approval process.

A few months back, Ieva gave a great presentation to the Bureau of Forestry on climbing and bouldering in Pennsylvania. We got to talk to the land managers for almost all of the major Pennsylvania forests. The presentation was very well received. Not many of the land managers had experience with climbing, but they were overall very supportive of the sport. Many of them had no idea that there were so many potential bouldering areas. Several of them told us that they had boulders on their land that we should come out and explore. This was a group of people that definitely cared about both the conservation and recreation opportunities on public land. We were very impressed and encouraged. If this is representative of the group of people that we’ll be working with for climbing issues on public lands, then I’m glad that we’re creating some policy and precedent now.

Again, here is the full text of the PA climbing management plan. It’s a fairly quick read, and all Pennsylvania climbers should familiarize themselves with it.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about the plan. We want to hear from you, and will do our best to answer any questions and work with DCNR for climbers’ long-term interests.

Just a reminder: Spring gobbler season starts tomorrow morning, so hunters will be out in force. It’s best if you can wait until after 1pm on Saturday to go out to climb, since that’s the cutoff time for hunters to be out of the woods. There’s no hunting on Sunday all day. If you do go out in the morning, make sure you and your pets are wearing plenty of orange.

Hunters will be out at their cabins all weekend, so please make sure that you’re not blocking any driveways when you park to go bouldering, and please stay off of private land.

Have a great, safe weekend out there.

The Banff Film Festival is going to be showing two sets of films this Sunday and Monday evenings. There are at least three good climbing films there this year! Here’s the trailer:

Sunday, April 26, 2009 & Monday, April 27, 2009 (different films each night)

State College High School South Auditorium

Doors Open at 6 p.m.
Films begin at 7 p.m.

The Sierra Club Moshannon Group is hosting the event. Here is their page with all of the event details, including which films are being shown.

C3PA will have a booth there again. Stop by to meet some of the staff, talk about climbing, and get the scoop on what’s been going on with access in the area.

See you there!

Thank you to all of the people who came out and volunteered for some hard labor this weekend. More than 30 people from the local climbing community and the Standing Stone Trail Club came out on Saturday. In one day, everyone cut more than 1000 feet of new trail, which was just enough to connect to the Standard American Accent boulder. Sunday was spent closing the old trail.

This is a great accomplishment for a number of reasons:

1. The new trail stays entirely in Rothrock State Forest. It’s finally possible to get to the rocks that are on public land without trespassing.
2. The old trail was an erosion disaster. The new one drains properly and shouldn’t require much maintenance.
3. The new trail is a heck of a lot easier to hike up with a crash pad and cooler.

Finally, a huge thank you to the Standing Stone Trail Club. They’re the ones that handled all of the paperwork involved with building a new trail in Rothrock State Forest, and they provided all of the planning, instruction, and tools.

One last issue: parking. It turns out that it’s faster and easier to park at a small pullout across from the group camp site that’s about 1000ft before the end of the road (the usual parking area). From there you can cross the stream and pick up the new trail after a few feet. If you use this small pullout, please make sure your car is completely off the road. We’re going to check with DCNR to see if climbers are allowed to park at the group camp site during the day.

Here’s a really rough sketch of the new trail and the parking options.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival is coming to State College this Sunday the 27th and Monday the 28th. This is a collection of fantastic outdoor movies that spans two nights (different movies each night). If you haven’t been to see it before, it’s really worth checking out. Here is the trailer for this year’s tour:

The movies are usually pretty diverse; some are primarily cultural, some are conservation oriented, and some are all action. All of them are usually excellent.

The Sierra Club Moshannon Group has more details on their site, including a PDF of the films that will be showing. In terms of climbing movies, there’s a section from “King Lines” on Sunday with Chris Sharma deep-water soloing in Mallorca, Spain. On Monday there’s a film about climbing photography, and a film with Will Gadd climbing ice in underground mines in Sweden (!).

These nights are also a lot of fun because it brings together so many people in the local outdoor community. It’s a great place to meet people and see old friends. Oh, and there are some great door prizes too. Buy your tickets in advance from one of the places below to save a few bucks.

C3PA will have a booth there both nights. Stop by and say hi!

Here are the details:

When:

7pm on both Sunday, April 27th and Monday, April 28th

Where:

State College High School, North Auditorium on the first night, South Auditorium on the second night.

Tickets:

• Appalachian Ski & Outdoors: 123 South Allen Street, State College, (814) 234-3000
• Mt. Nittany Wheelworks: 106 Village Drive, State College, (814) 235-6220
• Rothrock Outfitters: 418 Penn Street, Huntingdon, (814) 643-7226
• Tussey Mountain Outfitters: 304 West Linn Street, Bellefonte, (814) 355-5690

What

C3PA and the Standing Stone Trail Club are building a new approach trail to Hunter’s Rocks. We need your help!

When

This weekend!

Saturday, April 26th from 9:00am – 3:30pm
Sunday, April 27th from 9:00am – 12:00pm

Where

Park at the usual parking area for Hunter’s Rocks. Here are the directions from State College.

The whole story

It turns out that the Standing Stone Trail Club is going to relocate the old Link Trail (renamed to the Standing Stone Trail) to the ridge line that includes Hunter’s Rocks. Coincidentally, this new trail follows the exact same route that we were picking out for a new approach trail to the rocks. As a result, C3PA and the Standing Stone Trail Club have teamed up to construct this portion of the trail.

Why we need a new trail

Basically, the current approach “trail” is a total disaster. Not only is it quite steep and extremely prone to erosion, but it also leads climbers directly to the privately owned portion of the rocks, which is currently closed.

In the past, the landowner has been displeased by climbers using the existing trail to access the public portion of Hunter’s Rocks. We anticipate that the new trail will help to avoid the trespassing issues that were hurting climber relations with the landowner.

Where the new trail will go

The Standing Stone Trail crosses the same parking lot that we use to access Hunter’s Rocks. It will diagonal up and right across the stream, following the old Standing Stone Trail. It will then switch back left and continue up hill to arrive at the Incredarete / Standard American Accent boulder, about 100 yards to the right of the end of the current approach trail. From there, the Standing Stone Trail continues to the right along the ridge line towards the power cut boulders.

Who should come

Anyone who can do some manual labor! You don’t need to know anything about trail building, since the Standing Stone Trail Club will be providing instruction.

What to bring

• Lunch
• Water
• Bug repellant
• Sunscreen
• Long pants
• Closed-toe shoes
• Rain gear (just in case)
• Stuff for climbing afterwards!

We’ll have some extra water there, but it wouldn’t hurt to bring some of your own. There shouldn’t be a need to bring any tools – the Standing Stone Trail Club will be graciously providing everything that we need.

RSVP

We need to know how many people will be coming so that we can give the Standing Stone Trail Club an idea of how many tools to bring. However, you don’t need to RSVP to go (but it would be nice), and you don’t need to commit to a certain amount of time – just come along for as much time as you can spare.

Simply drop us an email to let us know that you’re coming. Please include:

• Your phone number
• How many people will be coming with you
• Whether you can provide transportation for other people

Getting there

Hunter’s Rocks is about 25 miles away from State College, on the way to Huntingdon. Here are directions from State College to the parking lot.

Let us know what your ride situation is; whether you can fit extra people in your car, or whether you need a ride. We’ll try to get everyone connected.

What about the private land?

A large portion of Hunter’s Rocks is on private land, and the landowner does not allow trespassing. As you go up the current approach trail, you cross into the private land about halfway up the hill.

The new trail stays well away from the private land, and it leads directly to the best boulders that are on public land, in Rothrock State Forest.

Reply, then show up

Drop us an email to let us know that you’re coming, and we’ll see you this weekend, on Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th!

C3PA has an exhibit table at the Pennsylvania Land Conservation Conference, which starts today at the Penn Stater. This conference brings almost all of the land conservation groups from Pennsylvania together. This is a great way for C3PA to tap into the resources that we’ll need to open access to our local climbing areas, and raise awareness about climbing access.

The exhibit will be on Friday and Saturday, May 11th – 12th, at the Penn Stater Conference Hotel, just north-east of Beaver Stadium. Here are directions, if you’re not familiar with the State College area.

Stop by our table if you have a chance! It’s a great way for us to meet up, hear about what you’d like us to be working on, and for you to catch up on the nitty-gritty details of what’s been going on with the local climbing areas.

Otherwise, we’ll post another update when we have more specific information about the individual climbing areas. We’ve started emailing out the first of our regular newsletters to keep you up to date on what’s going on.

If you sent in your contact information, or if you sent in a donation, and we didn’t get back to you immediately, we apologize. It’s been a very busy few months, and it’s only with the help of our newest volunteer, Tara Leas, that we’ve started to get caught up on these things. Thank you, Tara!

Don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or suggestions. Thanks for your continued support, and your patience while we’ve been getting things off the ground here.