Another successful work party was hosted by TAWKROC and CASBC on Sunday, June 9th, with volunteers giving a face-lift to the Grohman Narrows canyon climbing area near Nelson.
Kudos to volunteers Shawn, Hannah, Shane, Khaled, Nadine, Brendan, Youri and Vince for getting their hands dirty and doing a ton of work before hopping on the sweet routes there.
There was a lot of work required as the trail hadn’t seen any maintenance for years and a lot of foliage had encroached on the path as well as the base of the routes.
This is what the crew accomplished throughout the day:
- Marked the trailhead with flagging tape and a large rock cairn
- Cut steps from the road down to the trail
- Brushed the trail and widened it
- Marked the trail with new flagging tape and rock cairns
- Dug out the top of Great Kootenay Corner and wedged in flat rocks to prevent dirt from leaking onto the route
- Replaced one of the bolts and hangers above Kootenay Corner
- Put in a new anchor where Great Kootenay Corner tops out accomplishing 3 things: #1. eliminating the rope drag from using the higher anchor; #2. preventing the rope from being caught in the wedge at the top of the route; and #3. allowing people to use one 60m rope to rap in. (A safety line can be attached to the upper bolts in order to protect sitting on the edge to thread a rope through the anchor at the top of the Corner, which is a fixe chain set-up with ring.)
- Scrubbed the dirt and greenery off the Great Kootenay Corner
- Cleaned up the base of Kootenay Corner and cut in rough steps leading down to the bottom of the gully
- Cut through the brush at the bottom of the gully to allow easy access to the rest of the routes
After that we still had time to get on some routes and then swill cold beer, compliments of TAWKROC. So, overall it was a successful day. A unique waterfront climbing area, which stays cool on the hottest summer days, has been revived. Please go check out all the hard work that’s been done. And remember, you can now access everything with one 30-metre rappel off the anchor where Great Kootenay Corner meets the top of the cliff and exit via the 5.8 escape route.
Grohman Narrows climbing area gets a facelift
Kudos to volunteers Shawn, Hannah, Shane, Khaled, Nadine, Brendan, Youri and Vince for getting their hands dirty and doing a ton of work before hopping on the sweet routes there.