Busy Day on the Cedar Boulder

Had a good time with some friends on the Cedar Boulder. It would suck if we're counting down the days until Mr. Rosenbaum cuts off access. A rant follows the photo - you have been warned.


Finally got out to Carver yesterday. It had been almost three weeks since the last time I was out. But I've heard some stories from the land owner, Mr. Rosenbaum, via other friends who've been going out regularly.

He isn't very psyched with climbers right now. It feels like an unfair amount of the criticism is being leveled on the boulderers, some of it rightly so, but some of it is being shoveled our way because of some ingrained local politics.

Here are three events that Mr. Rosenbaum brought up to me yesterday or to some friends last weekend:

1. Group of boulderers hanging in the parking lot drink beers and passing the marijuana around after a session. (He is running a family restaurant and plenty of the Twilighters are kids as well. The group is lucky he didn't call the sheriff. The OLCC could also come down hard on his business.)

2. Couple of rope climbers pull up last Sunday while he is roaming the parking lot asking if people are members of the Carver Climbing and checking IDs. They tell him they are not members. He explains that this is private property and they won't be able to climb. They then cop an attitude and tell him they've been climbing out there for years and have never been members. (That kind of entitled attitude from climbers is one of the main reasons he is unhappy. We have to police this area ourselves. Ask people if they are members; if they are not they have to leave. Mr. Rosenbaum is not enjoying spending his weekends finding out if someone is a member.)

3. Climbers should to be out of the parking lot by 9:00pm. There have now been at least 2 instances where the restaurant staff are trying to leave, which includes locking the gate down at the road, only to have climbers' cars left in the parking lot. On one occasion the night manager had to call some employees back to help her check the woods for climbers. (That is money out of Mr. Rosenbaum's pocket to pay his employees to come look for your sorry ass.) I think that time involved some rope climbers up at the cliff. The staff told the climbers to leave so the gate could be locked (it was after 10pm already) and the climbers told the staff they weren't done yet. Quit being jackasses people. You'd hate it if someone came to your job and was just hanging around refusing to leave once you were ready to go home.

So I heard a rumor that the Carver Climbing Club met last week and changed the dog rule to be, "Don't bring dogs out to Carver anymore." Also, "No Drugs. No Alcohol."

If you want a beer, go have one in the restaurant (it is cheaper than losing a climbing area).

Hopefully the Carver Climbing Club will use its new website to:

* Advertise when the club meetings are so their members could actually attend and find out what the club is doing to keep climbing open at Carver.

* List a complete set of rules, especially ones that have changed recently.

* Organize some clean-up/trail maintenance days

- and maybe correct the spelling of the Stone Cliff Inn on the "Attention Climbers" signs that have been recently posted at a couple of the trail heads on the property.

You can email the Carver Climbing Club to let them know you boulder, you're a member and you want to know what's going on to preserve access. Be nice.

Spencer out

A Bit of Carver Climbing History

So a friend of mine had some old Carver Climbing Club stuff he loaned me to photograph. The first is the button you would get to put on your climbing pack to show you were a member of the club. I joined in 1999 and these were no longer in existence. This is the first one I've ever seen. You?


These next few images are of the pamphlet that was created to to inform climbers (this was before people really bouldered) about the rope climbing at the Carver Bridge Cliff.












Yep, the date on the cover of the pamphlet reads 5/14/91. Not too much has changed since then. You still need to be respectful to the landowner, Mr. Rosenbaum, and now also the Stone Cliff Inn Staff. And you still need to treat the land better than your own.

Access and Guidebook Update

So, I said the Carver Bouldering Guide was a couple of weeks away and it was, but not now.

The guide is hopefully only on a temporary hold as the land owner decides the access fate of his property. He is holding off judgment until the end of the summer to see how climbers behave for the next several weeks.

So access is now up to all of us. We need to be low impact, low key and amazingly polite and respectful to everyone.

Here is a list of rules from the land owner:

- THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY;
- You must be a signed member to climb or boulder on Stone Cliff property and/or property owned by Mike and Sherie Rosenbaum;
- You may bring guests who are 18 years of age and older, but they may not boulder or climb if they are not a signed member. They may only observe, which does not include handling any rope or other equipment;
- Only canned beverages are allowed. No glass of any kind;
- Dogs are permitted only if they do not stray from the owner and the owner picks up after the dog;
- Each climber or boulderer is responsible for picking up their own garbage or garbage left by others. This is a joint effort;
- No new trails or paths or routes will be allowed. Only those which are already in place;
- People must stay on the trails at all times. People walking off the trails can damage flora and fauna;
- Each person, whether a member or a guest, must have picture id on their person at all times and present it to anyone acting on behalf of Stone Cliff Inn to verify membership and/or identity;
- The Stone Cliff Inn parking lot may be used all days except holidays, and Friday and Saturday evenings (from 5:00 p.m. on). During holidays, or Friday and Saturday evenings, members may park at the intersection of Hattan and Gronlund Roads and come in through that trail, which starts on Stone Cliff Lane;
- Radios or other music players are not allowed;
- No rock wall climbing is allowed unless you are an experienced climber with skills suitable to the rock terrain;
- No removal of rock, moss, wood, or any other item from this site unless it has already been removed for climbing purposes;
- Be respectful of the property and others. You are here at the discretion of the owners. Your right to boulder or climb here is subject to revocation at any time; and
- Everyone must be off the hill and rocks, and in their car by 9:00 pm in the fall, spring, and summertime and 6:00 pm in the wintertime.

The Carver Climbing Club, after years of being low key themselves, appear to be creating more of a presence for the community. They are creating a space on the interwebs here.

Good luck and safe climbing,

Spencer out

The Boulders Behind the Cedar Boulder at Carver and a Heads-Up

Heads-Up! Please be very respectful to everyone you encounter out at Carver, especially Twilighters and restaurant patrons.

- Stay on trails

- Clean-up any trash you find in the woods (even if its not yours)

- Don't park here to go to the river

- No one under 18 is allowed to climb here

Keegan F. hanging on for the full 8 seconds on Go Cart V2 (as listed in the guide, but after reworking it with a group, probably solid V3). Go Cart is in that constant 65 degree corridor behind the Cedar Boulder that I mentioned in the Carver Guide Book post.

Carver Bouldering Has a Guidebook...Almost

So the proof copy was on my doorstep Thursday after work. I made a couple of tweaks and switched out two photos and sent it back to the printer. So it looks like two weeks before the Carver Bouldering Guide is available around Portland.

In the interim, if you are looking for a nice place to climb and still beat the heat, try the problems in the corridor behind the Cedar Boulder. There are a handful of problems back there along with a spot that stays around 65 degrees.

I bouldered there with my buddy Mark on Wednesday after work when it was 105. I was almost chilly in pants and a t-shirt.

So good luck and safe climbing.

Spencer out