Dishman clean up 9/26/04

[Dane]

A dozen folks showed up yesterday for the Dishman cleanup that was scheduled two months ago at a public meeting with the majority involved present.

 

We hauled out a couple of old wrecked cars with a donated bobcat first. Then put a barrier in the old roadway to help slow the garbage dumping and hauled out

a little over 2000#s of garbage by measured weight in a donated flat bed truck. That took most of the day with people representing The Spokane Mountaineers, Mountain

Goat, Mountain Gear, Omega Pacific and the The Dishman Hills Natural Area joining in.

 

None of those involved with the original chipping, retro bolting or adding gym holds to the wall cared to show up for the agreed cleanup date.

 

Unplanned, but not unexpected, the group present yesterday, as a whole, made their suggestions on how the climbing wall portion of the cleanup should be done,

route by route.

 

A general consensus was formed and the offending sections cleaned up. The result was three artifical holds or their left overs were removed, a half dozen plus obviously chipped/drilled pockets/hand holds were filled

with mortar and total of 16 bolts were removed. 9 of those in three different protectable cracks, first climbed over 20 years ago.

 

What was left were two or three of the most recent routes (from many) are unclimbable at their past grade because artifical holds were filled or removed.

 

Bolt chopping tally reads this:

Three bolts were removed from previously established 20

year old sport climbs. 9 bolts were removed from easily protectable cracks. 4 additional bolts

that could be clipped from arm's reach on the ground were removed.

 

Conversation with the land manager clearly indicated they were not happy with the recent poliferation of new bolts and the artificial holds. Chipping is not condoned by the land owner or manager. Our welcome on this property is not unlimited if these trends continue further.

 

Hopefully we (the entire climbing community) will be able to continue working with the current manager and land owner to eliminate garbage dumping and protect the resources at Dishman.

 

A good step in that direction would be to now leave the Dishman rock "as is" and continue a real effort to police the garabage until, we as a group of interested climbers, can negotiate a land use agreement with the owner of the property.

[JosephH]

Congrats to all, I'm glad to hear about Dishman getting a little respect after all that abuse. It looks to be a nice little climbing area. My wife is from Spokane and the next time we're through the area I'm definitely going to stop by and give it a whirl. Again, good job all!

[willstrickland]

Thanks for your work Dane.

[Dane]

thanks will but i was only a part of this. thanks to all involved. it is a start however.

[klotzy]

Well done! Hope to check out the area next time I pass through Spokane. Will make a point of picking up some trash.

[Off_White]

Do you have any photos of the filled in holds? I'm curious how it turned out.

 

If the folks who put in those bolts and added holds had showed up to argue passionately for their projects, would it have changed the outcome? I agree it's disappointing that they didn't turn out, either for the clean up or the dialogue.

 

Is this private property, and you're negotiating with an individual, or is it some government related agency?

 

Anyway, I'm curious about the whole process, and I'd love to hear more details. Stewardship is a good thing.

[cracked]

 

While in general I don't give a rat's ass about the bolting 'discussions' on this board, this was one example where responsible group action such as this seemed necessary.

[Dane]

Off White, yes the dialog and what got done on the wall "might" have changed if both sides would have showed. It also might have eliminated some of the undeserved hard feelings between the different sides of the debate. I knew from talking to the the leading sport activists what their ideas were on what had happened at Dishman and how it could be fixed. There really wasn't much disagreement from either side on how to fix it. Sadly the two most responsible for the majority of damage, by all accounts, refused to be part of the discussion or cleanup.

 

The mortar came out very clean and almost undetectable in old bolt holes and chipped/drilled holds. You can buy it by the tube in the hardware stores and use a caulking gun to apply it. Some of the other damage was cleaned up with a cutting torch and O/A tanks.

 

 

I just spoke with Marty a minute ago and I think we agree this is a win/win for all involved with more cooperation to come on Dishman in the land use issue. The rocks are currently private property.

 

 

It is only a garbage pit if we allow it.

[Off_White]

excellent effort, to all involved.

[Dane]

Ya, it was. Too bad they replaced all the bolts on Thursday and further destroyed the rock for their own vanity.

[catbirdseat]

That sucks.