McDowell Sonoran Preserve Meeting 1/26 @ 7pm

[Suz]

Rock Climbers Meeting
McDowell Sonoran Preserve
North Access Area – South of Dynamite Boulevard/Rio Verde Drive

There will be a meeting on January 26th at 7:00 p.m. at the Phoenix Country Day School for the purpose of receiving comments from the members of the rock climbing community on the City of Scottsdale plans for the North Access Area. This meeting will be held in conjunction with the Arizona Mountaineering Club’s January Member meeting, part of the program of which is the annual photo competition. If you are interested in hearing about the climber access and overall climbing management, please plan to attend. No AMC membership is required. You will have opportunity to give your feedback to the City representatives.

During the Spring of 2009 the North Access Area of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve will be initiated by the formal opening of the Tom’s Thumb trail. That activity will constitute the official opening of that section of the Preserve to the public. Because rock climbing is one of the recognized and legitimate recreational activities in the Preserve, the City wants educate the climbing community about its plans and to receive feedback. The North Access Area serves the north end of the McDowell Mountains that are south of Dynamite Boulevard/Rio Verde Drive.

A core component of the mission of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve is to protect the sensitive environment of the Sonoran Desert. It is therefore highly important to manage human impacts. Indeed, most activity within the Preserve will be limited to the official Trail system. Because of those sensitivities climbers will be required to use the main trail system as the primary approaches to rock crags. There will be limited and defined climber access paths leading from the main trail system to the rock crags. Further, rock climbing will be limited to the existing and historical rock climbing crags. The City of Scottsdale worked out the successful model for this system at Pinnacle Peak.

The rock crags for which access will be provided include (from west to east): Half and Half Wall, Fort McDowell, Lost Wall, the Rist, Lost in the Air, Tom’s Thumb, Glass Dome, Gardeners Wall, Crossover Wall, East End, Goat Hill, Hog Heaven, Morrells Wall, Morrells Parking Area, Girlie Man, Sven Towers I, II and III, Sven Slab, Trundle Pinnacle, Rosetta Stone and Granite Ballroom.

The Presentation will include maps of the North Access Area layout and climber access paths. It will be followed by a question and answer session as well as comment cards. Input is also available by sending emails to the contact person listed below.

For questions or to send comments, please contact Erik Filsinger, the Climber Liaison to City of Scottsdale staff at smorefil@aol.com, or Scott Hamilton, City of Scottsdale Trails Planner at SHamilton@scottsdaleaz.gov

The Address for the Meeting is:
Auditorium (next to the main parking lot off of Stanford)
Phoenix Country Day School
3901 E. Stanford Drive
Paradise Valley, 85253

Thinking we could meet to eat before the meeting (5:30ish)if there is an interest.

[Suz]

Mark and I will be attending this meeting this evening. I'm sort of hoping to enter the photo contest and use the prize winnings to offset the cost of my dues this year.

Anyone else going?

[Suz]

Congratulations to Ambika!!!!---she won second place in the Landscape category for one of her beautiful Grand Canyon shots. Her prize was a gift certificate to the Hiking Shack that just about covered her dues for the year!

There were some amazing entries......now I know what "good" climbing photos look like.

We heard exciting news about the McDowell Preserve Area for hikers, climbers, mountain bikers and horse folks....significant gains with trail construction coming in the next month. (volunteers will be needed)

[desertgirl]

This took second place. The image is from our Grand Canyon: New Hance-Tonto-Grandview Loop from Jan 06

I took this as we were climbing back out from Cottonwood Creek Campground! If you want to reminise ( I did)
http://www.arizonahikers.com/forum/modules.php?set_albumName=albvf45&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php
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Photos: http://www.pbase.com/desertgirl/galleries
Life is but a dream ...there is no end to what you can dream!