Critical Ice Climbing Info

Submitted by JoJo on Mon, 12/18/2006 - 14:12
Hello Ice Climbers, If you are interested in ice climbing and care about access to Hyalite Canyon near Bozeman this is one meeting you do not want to miss. [b]In light of the recent decisions regarding the Gallatin National Forest travel plan, the South West Montana Climbers Coalition (SMCC) is holding an open education and planning meeting at SPIRE CLIMBING CENTER in Bozeman Thursday December 21 at 7:00 pm. This meeting is free and open to the public and is highly encouraged that you come and please ask everyone you know interested in climbing to attend. Tom Kalakay, Bill Dockins and I (Joe Josephson) will be giving a brief overview of the realities of the proposed winter access plans for Hyalite and exactly how it directly concerns ice climbers and XC skiers. We will also leave significant time for your input, to answer any questions, and solicit for your help, if needed, in moving forward.[/b] The proposed plan has proven to be confusing if not outright obscuring the reality of what it does for winter access. If nothing else, you need to come to this gathering so that all ice climbers understand our options and can be on the same page. Please join the rest of the ice climbing community at SPIRE ROCK GYM this Thursday at 7:00 pm . [b]I can not stress enough just how important your attendance and input will be at this meeting. Please tell all your partners and friends.[/b] If you can't make it Thursday, please email me directly with any questions or comments. joe@firstascentpress.com Regards, Joe Josephson [b]Spire Climbing Center[/b] is located roughly a mile and a half southwest of Montana State University. From I-90 head south on 19th. Just past the intersection at Kagy Blvd. take a right onto Stucky Rd. Head west on Stucky Rd. about 1/4 mile; the gym is located on your left, on the corner of Stucky Rd. and Enterprise Blvd. If the parking lot is full after 5:00 pm, additional parking is available across the street in the RightNow Technologies parking lot.

Thanks to all involved in putting together this information and rallying the community to figure this out. We have the momentum of the new decision, so it seems like we should get this sorted out as soon as possible. I appreciate your work.

Thanks for pulling this together. Communication in climbing is paramount. May we extend it to working with the Forest Service team. For those of us with munchkins to feed how long will this meeting last? Conrad

I'm hoping we can keep the education part of the meeting (ie. explaining the plan and the meaning) to an hour or less. After that I hope to leave the meeting open to comments and questions, followed by some sort of summary and next steps based on the feedback. Thus, if you are on a schedule it would be good to get your comments or questions then you can leave when ever you have too. I'll post a tentative agenda here soon. Regards, Joe Josephson

JoJo, Bill, Tom & fellow climbers- Thanks for alerting the Chronicle and working with Ben Pierce for the great coverage. The Sunday article (24 Dec 06) does a great service to climbers and will help buttress our postion. Do climbers have the opportunity to appeal? As a group ice climbers submitted a fair amount of feedback. Judging from the aricle it seems as if we will have a chance to submit an appeal by the first of February. The Access Fund will be helping our community with this task. If you are not a member of the SWMCC or the AF and you like ice climbing this might be good time to sign up. If you are a member - speak up and let your voice be heard. Happy Holidays, Conrad

Thanks, Mountain Man, and John Frieh, You guys have lent a measure to this campaign, which apparently, we need: national climber interest. WE had thought that the FS "got the memo." Apparently not. Even in the final decision, Becki Heath claims to have understood that hyalite was a world-class ice climbing destination. Yet, this final decision removes ice climbers from Hyalite Canyon beginnning Jan 1 each year. I hadn't read the Christmas eve bozeman chronicle articles til now- but I'm glad to see iceclimber discontent with the plan aired this way. Lets hope it has an effect on Those Who Decide. Join Now: http://www.firstascentpress.com/buy-now.php?item_id=4

On Sunday I attempted to find the Moser creek route that is supposed to allow Ice climbers who are lucky enough to own sleds access after Jan 1 next year. I was was lead by a long time local snowmobiler who had some familiarity with the area. Long story short after 45 min we found ourselves shunted back to the the road before the bridge. As some of you may know the proposed "access trail" is really a linkage of old logging roads that are in no way continuous. There is essentially a "maze" of potential routes all of which confront you with fairly difficult snowmobiling terrain. It is safe to say that two climbers double on even a fairly powerful sled would have an extremely difficult time negotiating this terrain. Since I am not a serious sledder I would not dare attempt this route with at least another sled to bail me out should there be a problem. I intend to try and find someone who can actually find the proposed route so I can try and fully appreciate the proposed route. please post input if you know anything.

Also Jamie - i plan on posting some pics of Hyalite on NEIce to get those yankees salivating. *And everyone else make sure you spread the word to any local orgs you may know of or be associated with...

Toby ~ Awesome effort. Your report is exactly what we need. It turns speculation into fact: the proposed snowmobile trail is illogical. Thanks for burning your Sunday on this. Et

Thanks for the effort Tobias. I've talked with very experienced snowmobilers recently and there are at least three major concerns with the proposed snowmobile route - these are their concerns not ours. The bridge on Moser Creek is constantly drifting in a way where many times you have to gun it across the bridge without your skids actually on the snow. The wife of one sledder I talked to won't even ride the sled when they cross. She walks. Another serious concern is the high ground between Moser and Lick Creeks. It is unclear where exactly the proposed route goes but the entire area in general tends to be blown clear of any significant snow and has considerable objective hazard with logs and rocks. This same concern applies to the "Sleeping Giant Pass" between the Palisades Parking Lot and the Main Hyalite Road. In a nutshell, more exploration is required but at the end of the day, it may be fair to declare the proposed snowmobile route to be borderline dangerous. Stay posted...

JoJo and others - Ran into some old timer ice fishermen today, and casually mentioned the new travel plan while helping them get back into the ruts. They also seemed against the new plan saying increased access for them meant less fish/more competition. Don't know how it would help our cause, but maybe MSU could create a "general" survey for all Hyalite users. The thought being any other user groups that share our position would only give us more pull...

The ice fishermen I've talked to are more worried about snowmobile access than competition on the ice. Contrary to what many of might think, many ice fishermen prefer to drive up the road on a snowmobile and or ride out on the ice hauling their huts and gear. I don't know if or how we could find any unified voice that would truly help our cause. Plus, our concern is very simple and focused. No gate and vehicle access past the dam all winter. In terms of talking to other user groups we are in ongoing conversations with motorized users, BSF, BWAGs, and GYC. And as far as another survey goes, I can't do it. MSU has been very helpful with reviewing and structuring the questions and they will be critical in analyzing the numbers. Otherwise, I've personally been doing all the heavy lifting getting it out there. I'm psyched on the current survey and the number of responses so far but I don't have the ability (read: cash) nor the time nor the energy to do another one.

Thanks again for the work on this. I have linked your thread on Supertopo to a couple of other boards urging people who ice climb to take the time and fill it out.
Spray