Manuel's Access Initiative

 I wanted to write a post about Manuel's Climbing Area as new information has come to my attention. Trevor Harris contacted me about retro-bolting a few lines I had put up and then about Manuel's Access. I never thought of access being an issue, but Trevor noted that there has been access issues regarding Flatrock and Holyrood and it likely just a matter of time. He is interested in working with CBS municipality not just about access but possibly creating an outdoor activity area that could include climbing, hiking and camping.

I was very happy to hear about this because Jan and I have been exploring the area for new faces to develop. We have found 4 faces we are starting to develop and believe there are at least another 4 or 5 that we have not gotten to yet.

This slab promises to provide a ton of nice moderate routes. I thought that Jan and I were the first ones on this face but there is one route noted on Mountain Project. This face is a bit higher than German Face but about 4 or 5 times wider.

About 300 meters away is a smaller but dead vertical face. Both of these would use the same approach as German Face but just further in. The approach is VERY wet making rubber boots a necessity. If we were to get the blessing of CBS, it would be worth cutting in a new access trail that would be much drier. Jan and I did a lot of work in the area last fall and we were about to begin bolting when winter weather came in.

From the top of this slab, we could see more faces in the distance towards the south, towards the highway. We drove out Dunn's Hill Road to look at the valley and try to spot new cliffs. There were 4 or 5 others we could see as we kept going south. Now we were getting psyched about the possibilities.

Over the winter, I had looked at how to get to these faces without hiking all the way from CBS through marsh. There was a small dirt road close to the Fox Trap Access road that seemed to get pretty close to the most southerly face. This spring, we got out our 'gardening' gear and managed to find our way into that face...paydirt!

It is really hard to get a picture does this face justice. It is shaped like a block with 3 sides. These 2 pics show the longest face of close to 100 feet. A 60 meter rope will be required as anything shorter would not get to the ground. The upper picture shows a vertical face about 30 feet wide and 100 in height. We have not climbed on this yet. In the background (1/3 down from top and directly in the middle) you can see the top edge of another face (50-60 height, 100 wide).

The lower image is of an amazing overhang beside the vertical face (above). Those over hangs are pushing out near the top of the face. They should be real fun if I can ever get strong enough to climb them :(. 

As I had mentioned, there are several other faces in the valley. This next picture if from the top of this bluff looking north towards CBS. There are 3 distinct cliffs and in the far background is a rounded, bald hill. That hill is where German, Upper and Noobie Squeeze faces are.

Did I mention that there are lots of possible climbing areas in this valley? Who Knew.