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hemp22
Oct 19, 2005, 10:09 AM
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I read or heard somewhere recently that the south side of Elephant rock (columbian crack) is open for climbing (since August).
I was wondering if anyone local to the area can confirm or deny this.
Thanks.
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chew_griffey
Oct 19, 2005, 10:20 AM
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I was there the day it offically "opened" sometime in August. A Ranger pulled up and walked over to the Columbian Crack area as some friends were climbing it. I thought for sure they were going to get busted. Instead, the ranger told them that it had offically opened that morning. The ranger then proceeded over to the Gallstone and bolted a mixed route.
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atpeaceinbozeman
Oct 19, 2005, 10:31 AM
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In reply to: I was there the day it offically "opened" sometime in August. A Ranger pulled up and walked over to the Columbian Crack area as some friends were climbing it. I thought for sure they were going to get busted. Instead, the ranger told them that it had offically opened that morning. The ranger then proceeded over to the Gallstone and bolted a mixed route.
This is good news. I was there not too long ago, and the fence was up, so I figured it was still off-limits. Next time I guess.
Tom
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tarzan420
Oct 19, 2005, 11:06 AM
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Wow, I didn't even realize that negotiations were underway. Cool though.
I assume this means you can now (without trespassing) walk off? (IIRC the guidebook says you can walk off on that side)
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kpinwalla2
Oct 19, 2005, 9:32 PM
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This summer, the NPS purchased a pretty big chunk of land that includes Register rock, the back side of Elephant Rock, and the Gallstone and other rocks near it. They also got 80 acres in the Big Cove near Castle Rocks as part of the deal. A local guy named Bill Loughmiller has owned it for the last several years and had been trying to leverage the park service into buying the land at an inflated price by threatening to develop it as a RV park or (!) rock quarry. Since by law the park cannot pay more than appraised value, they were not able to work a deal and thank goodness the existing land-use laws prevented Loughmiller from developing or destroying anything. I climbed Conceptual Reality on the Gallstone this weekend. I was pleasantly suprised to learn that Brad Shilling, the climbing ranger, had replaced the hodgepodge of bolts of dubious quality with bomber camoflaged stainless steel bolts. I established that route in 1988 or so and used some button head bolts with leeper hangers. I've been wanting to get back and replace them, but didn't want to trespass to do it (the pre-Loughmiller owner didn't mind climbers). Brad beat me to it. That explains the "mixed route" route on the Gallstone that the ranger was bolting. Now you know the rest of the story.......
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lewisiarediviva
Nov 8, 2005, 5:42 PM
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same as below.
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lewisiarediviva
Nov 8, 2005, 5:44 PM
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Just so you are all aware, Register Rock will probably be off limits for the same reason as The Sisters. (Because it's a national monument thingy-ma-jigger.)
http://www.nps.gov/...newsdetail19824.html
But we spoke with the Ranger later because we could not understand the acreage math and how Elephant Rock fit into this purchase. We ended up pulling out the map with one of the Ranger's only to verify that ELEPHANT ROCK WAS NOT A PART OF THIS PURCHASE. Believe me the specific Ranger we spoke with had no clue. (He was not Brad.) The purchase acerage is all south and east of the intersection.
We talked with Brad last summer about bolting at The Ranch and The City. He told us about all the regulation differences between the one, being State, and the other being Federal- Their should be no bolting in the newly purchased area at all- because their is a ton of paperwork.
I will tell you though that a Ranger did tell us the back of Elephant Rock was open. But he didn't look to happy after discussing the map with us. I think he may have some explaining to do, to a lot of people.
Edit to add: But don't take my word for it. I just found out that I am somewhat wrong. The opening of a portion of Elephant Rock is posted at the Bath Rock parking lot. (7/7/06)
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