RRC Archives

tpowell wrote:In my experience with folks that don't frequent the Red a couple of times a month, they leave lots of trash. Also, they don't know how to flush the toilet in Muir valley.

So you ever figure out how to flush the toilet?

The Muir restrooms are the cleanest in the Gorge - Liz sees to that.

The overwhelming majority of visitors - almost all out-of-towners - to Muir Valley are polite, respectful, decent folks. They leave virtually no trash (or the few who do have their stuff picked up by others.) They are coming in now from all over the world and huge numbers from out west. Very few of these people have even heard of this forum, nor are they remotely familiar with the "local climbing culture" down here.

Despite the indignation and outcries from the locals, the sport is exploding in popularity. Muir is trying to keep up - construction has started for two new restrooms in the Valley floor, and the parking has been expanded. But it is a real challenge - 35,000 visitors for 2012. This fall has seen record numbers for the past three weekends. Today, 155 cars; last Saturday 172.

"If you build it, they will come."

Well, Muir and the Coalition built it, and they are coming. Now, it's up to us to deal with the large numbers in a responsible manner.

Who wudda thunk this thread. Could turn into a muir parking lot car count? Didnt see that one coming....

pigsteak wrote:Who wudda thunk this thread. Could turn into a muir parking lot car count? Didnt see that one coming....

like

Obvious troll. I can almost guess who.

whoneedsfeet wrote:

tpowell wrote:In my experience with folks that don't frequent the Red a couple of times a month, they leave lots of trash. Also, they don't know how to flush the toilet in Muir valley.

So you ever figure out how to flush the toilet?

The only time I don't flush is when I leave a big ol' chocolate mud baby at Climbtime. That place deserves what I bring to the table.

Meadows wrote:Obvious troll. I can almost guess who.

Not me...

Interesting that this thread popped up... a friend and i were just talking the other day about how some locals (i think mostly the people that live seasonally in the gorge, not the people that live there year round, not lex or louisville or cinci folks (for the most part)... and i'm saying some of them... not all of them) do hate on out of towners.

I do know some people that are haters... Some people just like having something to bitch about. Some people don't like being "inconvenienced" by the crowds and they haven't learned to climb at other places when "their" crag is getting crowded. Bottom line is, if you don't wanna wait in lines or deal with crowds, then find a place that's less crowded. If you are going to climb at the crowded crags and add to the crowd, then don't bitch about it... because you are a part of the crowd!!!

Anyways, there was one thing that my friend and i agreed on in our conversation. If all of the locals (all of the folks living in the gorge, in lex, in louisville, in cinci, etc...) treated the gorge with respect and treated the visitors with respect... then in return the visitors would treat our local crag with respect. If the out of towners come in, and we treat them rudely, then they aren't going to have a good reason to treat our place with respect, and donate, etc...

So, if you are reading this... spread the love that you have for the rrg, and people will love it back... don't trash crags, pick up after yourself, and pick up any trash you come across even if it isn't yours, don't poop and pee close to the cliff... if you poop in the woods (not in trails or close to crags), bury it and don't leave your toilet paper and other products behind, donate to FOMV and RRGCC, educate visitors about our ethics, practice what you preach... and if we respect the visitors, they will respect our ethics... maybe we'll see less trash at crags, less shit and piss at crags, more donations... more donations means that we can buy more land and open up new crags and hopefully the crowds will be absorbed by the new crags that get opened in the future... yes, we'll need to maintain all of these routes... but again, if we respect the visitors, then i think we'll see visitors giving back in more ways than just donating... maybe some of them will be the ones who are helping to maintain the crags (whether it's rebolting or whatever)

oh, and 1 last thing... always pitch the new to visitors... every time i run into a visitor, i'm always polite and helpful... but before i leave them... i always throw in there, "oh hey, have you ever checked out the new river gorge?? it's amazing, you need to go there on your next climbing trip" and i'm not lying to them at all... the new is great. it doesn't see as much traffic as the red... and it's just as good (in my opinion)... so try to pitch it and get some of the visitors to spread out between the new and the red...

cheers!

God Dammitt! The New pitches US to THEIR out of towners! That's how we got so many goddamm out of towners - that and they fucked a lot twenty years ago. I say we bail Trial Tut out of jail and give him some car tools and just wait a bit.

I do not understand what your are looking to get out of posting this. If you do not want to donate, then don't. Even better, if you don't want critisism for climbing at the Red, then don't. Locals will always hold a certain grudge, whether its expressed or not, against anyone from out of town. The ratio of individuals from out-of-town that do crags harm compared to locals that do does not have to be brought to light, just common sense. I always thought we should adopt a thing or two from the underground surfing community and simply beat the **** out of anyone who does wrong. =P