Loss of Ghost Valley Climbing Access

[martha]

Felllow climbers,

Some of you may know of and even climbed in this magnificent area of the Rockies. This area holds some of the finest rock and ice climbs in the Canadian Rockies and the potential for new high quality routes both rock and ice is enormous.

Despite being an international destination for climbers, the Alberta Government is imposing access restrictions to the Ghost Valley outside Canmore. These will leave approaches up to 20 kilometers from the base of many climbs. Details here.

Please SIGN THE PETITION. The end of public comment is THIS Friday (Sept 30th).

http://www.calgarymountainclub.com/petition.htm

Thank you for your support in this matter,

[granite_grrl]

What's the reason for the closure?? Is it for a worthwhile reason?? Sorry to play Devil's Advocate, but the link you provided didn't give much in the way of details

I clicked on the link on RC.com
http://www.rockclimbing.com/topic/97904
It didn't really clear any thing up, but the second post did seem to indicate that one of the reasons is that it was under estimated how many people (climbers) access this area in the winter. Does anyone else have more info?

Rebecca

[mathieu]

Rebecca,

They are trying to close the ghost for motor vehicle access past a certain point. The critical thing here is that we used to ford the river with 4WD and then follow the gravel stream bed for another 5 to 10 km to whatever climb you wished to do. Now forcing us to cross the river in winter in a stream that is 3 ft deep and 20ft across is 'unpleasant' to say the least. Also most of the climbs themselves are very far and if you had to walk the river valley AND then the approach then suddenly your jumping from a commitment II climb to a IV.

The reason people are upset about this is that if you go to any other 'multi use recreational area' then the trails are ripped up by 4WD mud boggers. It is just baffling that the gov't decides to close this area where the impact is concentrated on one river crossing.

Also they are using the guise of "environmental conservation". They are saying that precious fish habitat is being disturbed by this. Their points are somewhat hypocritical for a few reasons namely:
1) Its ALBERTA when did conservation become an issue.
2) The river has been reversed to help increase the water in Lake Minnewanka so that it could provide Hydro to the town of Banff.

Anyways check http://www.live-the-vision.com for a few post on the subject.

Cheers

Mathieu

[martha]

there is more information posted at the above link now. including maps and other items.

They've gotten over 1500 signatures! woot!

[The Mitt]

Why not just build a bridge over the river. Sounds pretty simple, have someone like the access fund pay for it.

Mitt

[mathieu]

The river is a huge gravel bed that is constantly under change. The area where we cross has one side on "firm" ground but the other side is really just a pile of gravel that changes year to year with spring flooding. That's their excuse anyways (they being the Alberta govermnt)