Hey Chris U, I'm sure the police are way too busy enforcing your brand new restraining order to deal with that. How many is that now? And when is the trial again? I was thinking of getting a crew together and renting a van. We can get together and have beers and laugh about it when its done, however big the fine is.

Dear kent:
If you dont approve of the GCC either join and have a say, or form your own damn group. You clearly have PLENTY of time on your hands. How about doing something useful with it? You think you are being productive stirring the pot and singling people out on a lame message board that the majority of gunks climbers will never read?

As GCC Chair you were deeply disrespectful of landowners and therefore share responsibility for land closures that were a response to that disrespect.

Your post here on gunks.com about how you supported the Gardiner zoning law because it was coercive and that "this is one of the ways these things are done", along with your post on the GCC FB page to "Access all areas" both had a direct impact on the decision of landowners to close their land.

Additionally, as GCC Chair, your steadfast refusal, for years, to talk with any private landowners in the Nears, Bayards, or at Millbrook was another substantive sign of disrespect.

As a consequence of your words and inaction, legal climbing access has been lost in a portion of the Nears and Bayards and will probably be lost for years to come. And additional closures may yet come to pass.

YAR, one can't join the GCC as they no longer have a membership model. If they had a membership model, one that relied on the payment of annual dues from happy members, it's likely they would have behaved much differently over the last few years.

As for time spent stirring the pot, I write here, occasionally on other discussion boards, and in the local newspaper. I also speak frequently with many neighbors, climbers, and members of the Gardiner Town Board. The ideas I articulate: the burden of protecting the ridge should be shared, respect for private property fosters our sense of community, and the Mohonk Preserve's adversarial land acquisition tactics degrade our sense of community, have all gained considerable traction over the years.

So it's worth the little time it takes.

Just for the record the GCCs mission statement is clearly stated in the links provided. Considering how popular bouldering has become, it's interest and support does not seem inconsistent to me.


"Our Mission

The Gunks Climbers Coalition, established in the fall of 2002, is an advocacy group dedicated to creating and maintaining sustainable opportunities for responsible climbing along the Shawangunk Ridge and surrounding areas."

Oh for F***'s sake. The link SPECIFICALLY says what systems are in place to do the best possible to respect neighboring boundaries. It SPECIFICALLY asks those going out there to respect the boundaries. And someone is saying that's not good enough? What should the GCC be doing? Installing motion-sensor cameras?

That "the GCC didn't contact" someone IN THE PAST has NOTHING to do with this announcement.



That said - If my van gets me back east in spring and still runs once I get there...I will definitely go the the WWorks.