Giving Back

As rock climbers the core of what we do is extremely selfish.  To spend do much time, energy, and money just to go climb some rocks for our own enjoyment is about as selfish as it gets.  But one of the things I do to help justify this to myself is to volunteer with the Arkansas Climbers Coalition.  The ARCC is a nonprofit that is dedicated to taking care of the climbing areas is Arkansas.  And one of the biggest  projects lately has been bolt and anchor replacement.  This past week we organized a day bringing together over 20 people to replace 150 bolts.

We met at Sam's Throne and divided into teams with specific job assignments on our routes to fix.  I went out with a David, another experienced bolter, and Judith, who was new to this and eager to learn.  We quickly found our first route and formulated a plan to get the work done while we trained Judith on drilling, glueing, and removing bolts.

Getting the work done is always the main goal, but hanging out with friends and getting a little climbing in is a great bonus.  But knowing that we were doing work that will contribute to the climbing community as a whole is a good feeling.  And being able to train the next generation to take over makes the experience even more worthwhile.