SonoraPassClimbing.com

Hi all,
Katie here from Access Fund. As Don has stated we are aware of the situation at GW. We and many local climbers have been working with the land owner for many years to manage this area. The recent "closed" sign is a fiberglass stake placed by the Bureau of Reclamation this past weekend while they were out doing trail maintenance work on the popular hiking trail on their property that goes up the hill from the outhouse to the top of Table Mountain. It was not placed by the owner. That trail had several points where people could end up on the private property owned by the GW owner.

The land owner is concerned about hikers wandering onto his property, liability, fires, noise, and more. He expressed concern to us about climbers climbing at night (he says he has seen headlamps), and has expressed concerns about fires, noise, and his potential liability. In the short term, we will be encouraging climbers to avoid climbing at the GW until we have a chance to sit down with him and talk through several issues. The issues that we have stressed before are if anything only more important now:

1) No yelling. He is often on top of the cliff, and doesn't want to hear climbers.
2) No fires or any open flame
3) No camping, on his property or anywhere on Shell Road (it's illegal on this federal land)
 4) No littering.
5)No night climbing or activity, please leave at dusk.
Please climb responsibly to try to ensure this private property is not closed by the owner. We will share more info as this evolving situation develops in the days ahead.
Please share this with others. Let’s do our best to be a respectful user group as we work on a long term solution. Please contact me directly at katie@accessfund.org with any questions.