From Tony:

The Wellington Trust recently called a meeting of climbers to talk about parking issues and track clearance and maintenance, given a rapid increase in use of the area.

In a nutshell, they have come up with a plan to improve the parking, without going overboard, and have advised that they would prefer it if climbers would use as few tracks up to the cliffs as possible, to minimise bush cutting and erosion.

They are also willing to help with some track stabilisation where necessary. They are not talking about "improving" the tracks to a higher standard or encouraging non-climbers to use them.

The Trust would welcome comment and has asked climbers to discuss which tracks should be used and which need some remediation. Check out the suggestions and minutes (below) and share your thoughts so we can put forward a good cross-section of views at the next meeting - and any suggestions as to how we might celebrate 50 years of climbing on the Pipes... Cheers

Tony McKenny

  File Modified
Microsoft Word 97 Document ClimbersCarparkDesignNotes080715.doc Carpark improvement design notes Jul 20, 2008 by Jon Nermut
PDF File ClimbersCarparkImprovementDesign080704.pdf Carpark improvement design Jul 20, 2008 by Jon Nermut
PDF File RockClimbingMeetingNotes0805261.pdf Meeting notes 26/5/2008 Jul 20, 2008 by Jon Nermut
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3 Comments

  1. Doug Bruce

    I may have missed something Tony. However, a quick squiz at the notes from the meeting does not reveal a suggestion of "using as few tracks as possible to access the crags". While this was one suggestion made at the meeting, I don't believe this was resolved. Other suggestions were canvassed, including a track up to each major buttress and a track along the base of the cliffs to facilitate moving between buttresses.

  2. tony mckenny

    Hi Doug, It isn't too clear in the minutes, the way they are written, I guess, and I am probably wrong in the way I wrote it(warning) but in the "actions" it says:

    "small group (Roger, Tony, Al, Doug) to mark up a map showing all existing tracks - including Pinnacle area and Lost world - and recommend a preferred network"

    In subsequent emails from Micheal Easton he has asked that climbers do decide which tracks they want : they need to know before they move on. I think that after Al went up there with them to look around that they were comfortable with the version you referr to - any other opinions out there? Tony

  3. Al Adams

    Yeah Doug,

    Nothing definitive in the minutes. Yet lindsay has a detailed map of the tracks now after our trip up there. There is a need to review existing tracks to Flange from the OP track and reduce it to say one central track. This is likely to be discusses at our next meeting

    Al