Carolina Climbers Coalition

2019 Annual Report www.carolinaclimbers.org [email protected]

The Carolina Climbers Coalition 2 new climbing areas opened passed its 24th birthday this year as a nonprofit, and we rung it in with numerous successes thanks to partners like you! This our first year with an Executive Director, and we hope you have noticed volunteers organized to take a large uptick in our impact. We 692 have tallied a few numbers from care of our crags and boulders our efforts at climbing areas in NC, SC, and VA this year. We could not conduct this access and stewardship work without your help. Thank you for an incredible 4,000 volunteer hours dedicated year! If you are one of our 650 to on-the-ground stewardship annual members, a volunteer, access supporter, or a financial supporter of the CCC, thank you! This report is a snapshot of what 531 old bolts replaced, 1:1 your contribution has helped replacement, often reusing the same create in 2019. hole - one of the largest replacement efforts in the US

2.15 miles of new sustainable trail built, 6.75 miles of trail maintained

385 pounds of trash removed 81 graffiti sites removed

26 community events HWY 221 Boulders graffiti removal project Business and Grant Partners:

$10,000+ Trango eGrips REI NC Recreational Trails Program

$5,000+ American Alpine Club Access Fund National Forest Foundation

$1,000+ Inner Peaks, Beanstalk Builders, Coastal Climbing, Ground Up Publishing, Second Gear, Tanawha Adventures, Black Dome Mountain Sports, Climb@Blue Ridge, Transylvania County Department of Tourism , ReGear Outdoors, Triangle Rock Club, Duke Energy, Bank of America Above: Volunteers at our Looking Glass Rock, Nose Area rehabilitation project 2019 CCC Board of Directors: $500+ Climbstuff.com, Joey Henson Art, Tom Caldwell, President DD Bullwinkel’s Outdoors, Thrifty Wade Parker, Vice President Adventures, Climbmax Climbing, Bryan Miller, Secretary Rock Box Bouldering, Misty Mountain Will Goodson, Treasurer Threadworks, Center 45 Climbing Mike Trew, North Mountains Rep AJ Jackson, Northern Piedmont Rep $250+ or in-kind Kristi Cooke, Southern Piedmont Rep Booneshine, Petzl, Rab, Scarpa, Nick Adam Johnson, SC Rep Colquitt Art, Fiction Addiction, Outdoor Shannon Millsaps, Southern Mountains Sports Provisions, Wild Craft Eatery, (Bald, Brevard) Black Diamond, Metolius, Fixed Line Matt Chrestman, Southern Mountains Media, Millsaps Creative, MAST (Cashiers Valley) Lauren Streifel, At-Large Carter Smith, At-Large 2019 Protectors:

$1500: Andy Thorsell & Lauren Mitchell, 2019 CCC Staff: in Memory of John William Hudson $1000: David Gilbert, anonymous, Mike Reardon, Executive Director Ashton Drew $500: John White, Mike & Bethany Above: The newly opened Melrose Claes, Mark Peele Mountain Climbing Area in Tryon, NC 2019 Individual Donors:

Boots-on-the-ground We had several individual donors this year. Thank you all! Whether it stewardship support from: was $500 or $5000, you helped us protect and expand Carolina climbing! Conserving Carolina, Explore Brevard, We decided to keep your donation American Alpine Club, Naturaland Trust, anonymous. Please contact us if you Access Fund, Asheville School, French wish otherwise. Broad River Academy, Wild South, Appalachian State, Climbmax Mountain 2019 Financials: Guides, Fox Mountain Guides, Western Carolina University, B.R.A.G., Pisgah 2019 Expenses: $111,524 Conservancy, REI, Merrell, Ground Up 2019 Revenue: $153,985 Collective, On the Road and Off, ReGear Debts: Buckeye Knob Loan $34,000

Left: The newly opened Pumpkintown Wall in Table Rock State Park, SC Project Highlights from 2019: F Moores Wall: Cliff base and trail FF Rumbling Bald: Began restoration FF Pumpkintown: Now opened to erosion mitigation work in boulders, many bolts replaced climbing as of 2019! F Pilot Mountain State Park: Trail F Crowders Mountain State Park: Cliff FF Melrose Mountain: Now opened to re-route to benefit climbers in base and trail erosion mitigation has climbing as of 2019! coordination with State Park begun in the David’s Castle Area

FF Big Rock: Paid $5,000 towards an FF Sauratown: $5,000 lease paid and F Linville: Monitored peregrine eyries expanded land holding, major trail re- open seasonally to climbing, many old with USFW and rare plants with WS route complete. bolts replaced F Pisgah/ Nantahala National Forest FF Buckeye Knob: Paid $20,000 off on F Asheboro Boulders: Access has been Planning: On going work to have the the loan, built 1.2 miles of trail, conducted maintained for this year national forests adopt a fixed anchor a biological study to see the species we policy and trail maintenance policy saved in our purchase F Looking Glass Rock: Began in the upcoming National Forest Plan rehabilitation of all 4 approach trails Revision. F Hwy 221 Area Bouldering: Over 75 graffiti tags cleaned FF Eagle Rock: Completed Tunnel Trail, F Blue Ridge Parkway Planning: On replaced 70 old bolts going work with Blue Ridge Parkway F Rocky Fork State Park: Conducted officials for fixed anchor replacement cliff bio assessment, trail work, and cliff FF Hidden Valley: Replaced over 400 needs and stewardship. assessment to explore the potential of old bolts this year open permissible climbing FF Laurel Knob: Collected peregrine Carolina Climbers Coalitionspecimens from nest site for USFW Impact Map, 2019

Abingdon VA

NC TN Johnson City Boone

Knoxville Raleigh Asheville Winston-Salem

Brevard Charlotte

Greenville

SC

Wilmington CCC purchased these areas Columbia and opened them to climbing: Laurel Knob, Rumbling Bald West Boulders, Hidden Valley, VA, Buckeye Knob Atlanta CCC worked with land managers to open these areas GA to climbing: Big Rock, SC, Table Rock, SC, Pumpkintown, Melrose, Little Bearwallow Falls, Eagle Rock, Bu alo Creek, Greenway Boulders, Barn Boulders, Sauratown, Asheboro Boulders

Charleston Current CCC access projects: Rocky Fork State Park, TN, Clover Boulders, SC, Hickory Nut Gorge, Crowders Boulders and Unemployment Wall, Morrow Mountain State Park, Whiteside Boulders Active CCC stewardship project areas. Stewardship projects include trail maintenance, trail building, erosion mitigation, gra ti removal, rare species inventories, and bolt replacement: Hidden Valley, Buckeye and Barn Boulders, Rocky Fork State Park, TN, Pilot, Moores, Sauratown, Linville, Whiteside, Laurel, Big Rock, SC, Table Rock State Park, SC, Rumbling Bald, Eagle Rock, Crowders, Looking Glass Rock, 221 and the Dump,