As climbers, it is important for us to recognize the impacts that we have on the areas that we visit and enjoy. For that reason, we want to highlight some things that you may not think about when you are out enjoying your day at the crag!

𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦? It is probably hard to quantify!! For this reason it may seem apparent that when we are utilizing the land that we are so fortunate to have, we are also slowly damaging it over time.

So… what can you do to help reduce your impact?

-𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝘀.

-𝗔𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗱 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀! 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗰𝘂𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵.

-𝗕𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗱𝘀, 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀, 𝗴𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝗲𝘁𝗰!! 𝗔𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗱 𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝗲𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁.
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We hope you enjoyed our first Episode of climber impacts, look out for more to come!
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This week we're introducing you to Bill, who is one-half of the Climber Stewards Team. Throughout the Summer and beginning of Fall, make sure to catch them in the mornings for climber coffee chats! Here's where they will be:

NRAC, the New River National Park Service, and the Summersville Lake US Army Corps of Engineers have teamed up with the Access Fund to bring two stewards, Ryan and Bill, to the New River Gorge area for the 2022 season. The program launched the weekend of May 6-8th and since then, the stewards have been busy holding climbing coffees and crag chats.

This week, we're introducing you to Ryan!

NRAC: Why did you want to become a Climber Steward here at the New?

Ryan: I heard about this opportunity and got excited about the prospect of being a voice for this place that is so dear to my heart. I hope to get others to care about this area and start thinking about what impacts their actions have. I've traveled all over the US climbing and I've seen the impacts that more and more climbers can have on these unique ecosystems and I got excited about the prospect of being able to help this area.

NRAC: What's something you hope to be able to educate climbers through the Climber Steward Program this year?

Ryan: I hope to get others to care about this area and start thinking about what impacts their actions have. I'd love to get people to take responsibility and ownership for their actions and the conditions and health of our climbing spaces. 

NRAC: What's your favorite climb here at the New?

Ryan: Puppy chow. What a wild and unique pitch that is one of the best anywhere. I'll take a lap on this mega pitch anytime I'm at the lower meadow. 

NRAC: What's your favorite crag snack?

Ryan: Gummy bears all day, every day. Cold pizza is a close second.

Thanks Ryan!
​[Edited for length and clarity]

TL;DR (A summary):
The route climbing and bouldering along the section of Meadow River and Glade Creek, often called “the Southside,” is owned and managed by three entities: The Heartwood Forest Land Group (TFG), Nuttall LLC (Nuttalls), and Fayette County.
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Climbers have never had explicit permission to climb on either TFG or Nuttall land. After ATV accidents along the Meadow River rail grade near the Southside in the early summer of 2021, and with continued trespassing by climbers, the landowners have formally asked that climbers and other recreationists cease further use of this land.

NRAC is actively communicating with landowners to gain formalized access to the climbing on both sides of the Meadow, stretching from Nallen to US Route 19, including the Southside climbing areas. NRAC asks climbers to NOT climb any routes or boulders in this area. We also ask that climbers avoid the use of the rail grade from Nallen to Glade Creek. While this is public land managed by Fayette County, it is surrounded by private property, does not access any currently open cliffs or boulders, and motorized vehicles are prohibited.


Background:
The New River Gorge is lined with cliffs and littered with boulders, however it is not the only river corridor with these gifts. This region includes two other rivers: the Gauley River and the Meadow River.

​While established climbing along the Gauley is sporadic below the Summersville Dam, the Meadow River holds several large, well-established crags and boulder clusters. The route climbing guide book for the region documents much of the established roped climbing, including the highly popular Lower Meadow as well as the currently closed Southside areas, while the bouldering guide showcases the high concentration Meadow Top boulders. Unfortunately, while much of the climbing in the New River Gorge is on public land, the tracts along the Meadow River are almost entirely privately owned. Climbers have historically been a small, low-impact user group to the area, but this is no longer the case and the climbing community has to respectfully navigate private land owners and their wishes.

Another growing outdoor recreation user group is motorized off-roaders. The Meadow River rail grade through the Southside gained popularity for riders over the last few years as it provided miles of scenic, uninterrupted, and previously unregulated access to the Meadow and Gauley rivers. In the early summer of 2021, there were multiple off-road motorized vehicle accidents, including fatalities. This prompted a meeting of the primary land owners through this area of rail grade. To avoid further trespassing and potential accidents with associated liability, the land owners formally closed their land to all user groups. To be clear, climbers never had permission to use most of the Southside and have always been trespassing. Now that climbing access to the Southside has closed, NRAC and the Access Fund are pursuing formal agreements to allow future use.

For the time being, please do not climb at any of the Meadow River South Side crags downstream of Glade Creek. And please do not drive on the rail grade at all, regardless of location. You can still access the rail trail upstream of Glade Creek, but NOT by motorized vehicle.

Access to the South Side of the Meadow River has been tenuous at best for some time. For years now, climbers have occasionally faced locked gates and adamant land managers, but access has always opened back up, often for long periods of uninterrupted time. Nevertheless, access has never been entirely legal; regulations have only been unenforced. Now, land owners, the NPS and WVDNR have made decisions to shut down access due to the irresponsible actions of a small number of ATV riders. To be clear, this is not just a prohibition on driving the rail trail. The South Side of the Meadow downstream of Glade Creek is closed to all recreation. We recognize that the vast majority of off-roaders on the rail trail have been responsible resource users. This is a case of a few bad actors tipping a formerly balanced scale. We applaud efforts to shut down the erratic, occasionally violent, behavior of a few irresponsible people—but we want to draw a distinction between them and the rest of us.

For more than a year, NRAC and the Access Fund have been engaged in dialogue with the owners and managers of the land on which Glade Creek and many of the South Side crags lie. We were pretty optimistic about the future of access there, but we are unsure what that looks like right now. Our hope is to eventually regain legal access to these cliffs via Propps Ridge Rd. and the Glade Creek rail trail. We hope to also secure land near the bottom of the trail for a parking area, but we are doubtful that it will ever again be acceptable to drive on the riverside rail trail.

Discussions like those underway between climbers and land managers tend to be long and delicate. Adding further confusion to the situation is the involvement of multiple agencies. Please be patient while we try to work this out. We’ll try to keep you updated on the regular.

We are all stewards of land once explored and occupied by Moneton and Tutelo tribes, as well as many others now long lost to history. Respect for them must be present in everything we do. ​

We have awarded our first ever Diversity in Guiding Grants to Andre Hoyos (@and_hoyos) and Maria Nuñèz-Olivér (@the_minotaur_). We wish you two the best!

In partnership with Kai and Connie Lightner's Climbing for Change, Appalachian Mountain Guides and New River Mountain Guides, we created this grant to help BIPOC climbers into leadership positions in the climbing community. Our board of directors unanimously approved funding for this initiative near the end of 2020, applications closed on June June 1, and now it’s a reality. The grant covers travel expenses, a small amount of gear and all necessary AMGA membership fees for two recipients. Appalachian Mountain Guides generously donated two slots in its SPI course and test. Both Appalachian Mountain Guides AND New River Mountain Guides also donated two follow/training days to help awardees practice for the exam.

We are all stewards of land once explored and occupied by Moneton and Tutelo tribes, as well as many others now long lost to history. Respect for them must be present in everything we do.