Winter WCCC Meeting Minutes & Year-End Report
2022 Year-End Report
On Monday, December 12th, the WCCC board convened for its final meeting of 2022. We reviewed our activities for the year and will meet again in late winter to develop goals for 2023. See the meeting noted through the link below.
Our board membership has seen major changes this year. We added three new individuals to our board in the past few months: Joe Leonhard, Chris Righter and Morgan Rossway. Also, some of our founding members from 2007 have stepped out of board officer positions or have retired from the board: Jesse Zacher is now past president and Nolan Robertson is our incoming president; Eve Tallman has retired from the Secretary position and Sara Brooker is now our Secretary, Paul Stoner took over as Treasurer after Garrett Mitchell served for several years, and Matt Lisonby is now an emeritus board member. Current boardmembers also include Rich Conners and Marty Stevens. We’re psyched about the new energy and are grateful for the many years of service from the “old dads.”
Financially, WCCC is in good shape with about $18,000 in our accounts. We secured an Access Fund grant for a rebolting project (see below) and we had a couple of very successful fundraisers this year as well, including beer night mixers and a corporate matching gift. One of our expenditures this year included upgrading our organizational insurance coverage and launching our new website (westerncoloradoclimbers.org—check it out!). A special shout-out to the 11 volunteers who helped us raise $3,500 at Las Colonias!
Our Adopt-a-crag program has been a huge success! With special thanks to Marty and Nolan, our partnership with the BLM has resulted in regular and extensive cleanups of the bouldering areas in lower Unaweep as well as near the Tabeguache trailhead. If you’d like to get involved with the Adopt-a-crag program, let us know at westerncoloradoclimbing@gmail.com. Nolan reports that the “coolest” piece of trash was a motorboat that the BLM had to haul away.
With the fantastic leadership of WCCC supporter Michael Schneiter, rebolting efforts have made great progress. Thanks to an Access Fund grant (as well as exemplary volunteer efforts including Pasquale), the Grit Wall and Four Blocks crags have been retrobolted. We’ve been patiently awaiting permission to replace some anchors in Colorado National Monument but we have accepted that the bureaucratic wheels turn very slowly indeed. If you know of particular bolts in the Monument (or Bangs Canyon or Unaweep) that need to be replaced, please reach out to us. Jesse and Chris are working on bolting guidelines for the community.
Jesse has been working this year with Masumi to develop a new logo for WCCC; stay tuned! We hope to get new t-shirts and other swag in production.
Other projects we have been working on this year include a bridge across the intermittent creek at the Sunday Wall trailhead, wag bag dispensers, expansion of the Mothers Wall parking lot and improved signage. As a reminder, please do not park in the highway right-of-way to rock climb. If Mothers Buttress parking lot is full, please consider climbing elsewhere. We have new neighbors who share our Mothers Buttress driveway, so please do not block their access.
As many of you know, Xcel energy proposed a large scale hydroelectric project in the upper Unaweep canyon that would have disastrous impacts on our crags and their neighboring residents. Thanks to diligent WCCC members and the skillful intervention by Access Fund leadership, we have learned the project has ended. If folks hear of any new hints at this development being reignited, please let us and/or Access Fund know.
Joe Leonhard will take over Eve’s duty of serving as our liaison with guide services and institutional users at our Unaweep properties. All organized use at the properties we own require a written agreement and insurance. More information about this is on our website at westerncoloradoclimbers.org/guiding.
We’re looking forward to the upcoming year! Watch for climber meet-ups at a local watering hole. Our next one will be on January 17th at Trail Life Brewing - join us from 5-9 PM to meet other climbers from the community. Beyond our Western Colorado scope, we encourage you to find out about crucial comment periods regarding management of Indian Creek (Bears Ears National Monument). Follow management progress at www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/utah/bears-ears-national-monument.
To join our mailing list for occasional email updates, or to opt out, write to us at westerncoloradoclimbing@gmail.com.
Happy New Year and Happy Climbing!
