Gate Buttress, LCC Trail Work Re-cap - Spring 2023

ABOUT

The Gate Buttress Project is designed to address 60 years of recreational impact on a 140-acre parcel of land owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, located in lower Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. With the signing of a recreational lease in 2017, the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance was named active stewards of the Gate Buttress parcel. The Gate Buttress Parcel contains approximately 588 rock climbing routes and 138 boulder problems, spread over 35 climbing areas. The long-term stewardship goal for the property is to create sustainable recreation infrastructure, protect Salt Lake City’s watershed, and deepen the relationship and sense of caring for nature through volunteerism within the climbing community and supporting outdoor industry. The climbing community is grateful to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for continuing to allow climbing on their private land.

The Gate Buttress is located within the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, whose visitation numbers are higher than all five of Utah’s national parks combined. As outdoor recreation and rock climbing specifically continues to grow in popularity, overcrowding is stressing outdoor landscapes beyond their ability to recover naturally. Soil erosion and compaction along with degradation of vegetation create run off and dirties waterways, hence negatively impacting the watershed health. The area’s spider web of social trails hinders search and rescue operations. Fixed anchors that were installed in the late 60s and 70s need to be replaced and our anchor maintenance program has been active in this area for years. Stewardship of this property is a multi year project that prioritizes high trafficked climbing areas and routes.

2023 Trail Work Re-cap

Over five weeks in the spring of 2023, the SLCA continued the climbing access trail network we have been working on since 2017. This year’s focus was to stabilize trail access to the East Gate climbing area as well as maintenance of other areas where we have stabilized the trails. Work was done by hand using technical stone masonry skills and tools. User created social trails were rehabilitated and staging areas at the base of the climbing routes were built. The Salt Lake Climbers Alliance hired the Access Fund’s Conservation Team, national experts in climbing access trail work, as well as Cottonwood Canyons Foundation, a local non-profit trail crew, to complete the following. We are super proud of this effort to stabilize the approach to the East Gate climbing area and are thankful for our funding supporters and the many hands and backs that contributed.

16 staircases with 90 steps

Approximately 160 tons of rock moved

6 switchbacks installed

30 retaining structures

2 staging areas (at the base of a climb) restored

300 ft new trail

1000 ft trail maintained

190 ft trail closed/restored

1000 ft of trail brushed

4 volunteer Adopt a Crag events

FUNDING SUPPORTERS