Whoa! Website under construction

Hey, there! We're sorry if you received a phantom email celebrating the purchase of our crag...in 2014! We're constructing a new website and this blogspot site is acting a little bit jealous. Happy holidays from Western Colorado Climbers' Coalition and here's to more climbing in 2021!

Guide Services and Institutions

As of August 2020, the following guide services and educational institutions are authorized to use the Unaweep cliffs owned by Western Colorado Climbers' Coalition. These organizations are insured and have official permission to guide on our lands, and we urge folks seeking a guide to support these entities. Please report violations; unauthorized guiding puts us all at risk and is not fair to the guides who have been diligent in securing legal access. WCCC thanks them for their ongoing support of the Western Colorado Climbers' Coalition. If you feel your organization has been left off this list inadvertently, or to report violations, please contact evetallman [at] gmail.

• Jose' Iglesias, Summit Ridge Guides, 970-216-2953  
• American Mountain Guides' Association (AMGA)
• National Outdoor Leadership School,  Rocky Mountain www.nols.edu
• Colorado Mountain College
• Kris Hjelle / Colorado Alpine & Desert Adventures, LLC/Desert Crags & Cracks, LLC 970-245-8513 www.coloradoadventures.net
• Glenwood Climbing Guides www.glenwoodclimbingguides.com Contact: Mike Schneiter 970-319-0656 climb@glenwoodclimbing.com
• Peak Mountain Guides, LLC / 970-325-7342 (Peak Office) 405-388-5738 (Direct Line) www.peakguides.com
• Skyward Mountaineering www.skywardmountaineering.com

Access Fund Joint Memberships Make a Difference!

 A big THANK YOU to the 37 Access Fund members who are also joint members of the Western Colorado Climbers' Coalition. We are thrilled to accept $15 for each joint membership.  It really makes a difference to our shoestring operation and helps to pay for our Colorado state tax-exempt land ownership fees (for our Unaweep crags), our insurance and our nonprofit organization expenses. If you'd like to contribute, go to accessfund.org and donate, and specify Western Colorado Climbers' Coalition for your joint membership. We're also very happy to receive donations by clicking on the donate link here on our website.

THANKS!

Eve, Secretary of WCCC

Draft Minutes of March 4, 2020 Annual Meeting

DRAFT MINUTES

March 4, 2020 Annual Meeting

5:30 PM / Colorado Discover Ability offices

In attendance:

Board Members Eve Tallman (secretary and minutes taker), Marc Kenney, Randall Chapman, Matt Lisenby, Paul Stoner.

Also in attendance: Rich Connors, Ashton Johnston, Bradley Edwards, Jim Black, Fritz Nuffer, Kent Pease, Brian Montag, Jaime Odin.

Prior to calling the meeting to order, attendees toured the facility with Michele Rehl, CDA’s office manager.

The meeting began with introductions. Eve announced that Jesse Zacher, President, was unable to attend due to family illness.

Matt moved to approve the minutes of the February, 2019 meeting. Randall seconded the motion and the minutes were approved unanimously. Eve stated she would post the finalized minutes shortly.

Garrett Mitchell, Treasurer, was absent so there was no Treasurer’s Report. Eve estimated there are about $10,000 in the bank account and described the success of the new joint membership option with the Access Fund which was first suggested by Kim Lisenby and which nets WCCC approximately $200 per quarter. The upcoming expenses of insurance and the Department of Local Affairs tax-exempt fee were mentioned, which total $875 for the year.

Progress on the Sunday Wall footbridge was discussed and it was agreed that a joint effort with a NOLS volunteer crew in collaboration with Jesse would be planned for whenever the next NOLS crew is in town, perhaps the autumn.

Randall set the date for the next Dynamite Shacks cleanup for Saturday, May 16 and noted it was not Mothers’ Day weekend.

WCCC communications were discussed. An improved website was requested and various points of local contact were brought up. Ashton suggested Gear Junction and Rich suggested there could be a WCCC newsletter opt-in at the climbing gym during climber registration there. Brad Edwards established a WCCC Instagram account while discussion ensued. Randall described options for upgrading the web presence of WCCC with a move away from blogspot to a new custom domain. A communications committee of Ashton, Fritz and Randall was established.

Escalante access was discussed at length. Kent described some history of climbing in the canyon, including a recap of interactions with the ranch manager over the years. Ashton reported she had studied private property boundaries as delineated on GIS. The main concern expressed was increased recreational users and the low priority of climbing in the BLM’s resource management plan. Speeding vehicles was a problem for the ranch owner. Brad is an administrator on Mountain Project and he agreed to post a message about slowing down and reducing impacts on Mountain Project. Signage at the Cabin Wall was agreed to be needed. The communications committee agreed to draft signage language and Eve offered to reach out to Jesse, who has had communications with the rancher in the past, to see if signage would be acceptable to the rancher. In summary, it was estimated that 40 people per day in high season visited the three walls and that social trails, camping impacts and driving off-road were major concerns.

Access at the Sun Towers in Unaweep was discussed. Eve noted she had been working with the Access Fund and the land owner with no clear path forward at this time. No trespassing signs were reported but may have been missing.

A clean-up of the Rock Garden area in Unaweep was mentioned as a successful collaboration with the BLM.

The Monument has a new superintendent. The new head law-enforcement ranger is a climber and it was reported that Jose knows him well. Bat closures on the lower Monument slabs was brought up. As discussed last year, a climber display in the visitor center would be good. Eve offered to reach out to monument personnel to work on this and Ashton volunteered to help.

Fritz offered to head up an effort to draft signage for Escalante.

The meeting was adjourned.

Annual Meeting March 4

When: Wednesday, March 4 5:30-7 PM (5:00 pm optional tour)
Where: Colorado Discover Ability (601 Struthers Ave, Grand Junction, CO 81501)
Draft Agenda:
--Introductions
--Approval of minutes of 2/25/2019
--Treasurer's Report
--Updates on Coalition Activities (climbing events, insurance, unaweep bridge construction, and access/policy issues in Escalante, Unaweep, and the Monument, other)
--Planning for 2020
--Other Business
--Adjournment

Hope to see you there!
Eve
western_slope_climbers@hotmail.com