Discover

Field Journal
Powered by Rock/Creek & Uncle Dan's

Hidden Valley Climbing Area Reopens

Category: Climbing, Trail Work, Access & Environment, Triple Crown Bouldering Series

By

If you’re an Access Fund member, you might have seen the email below in your email inbox this week. We’re excited here at Rock/Creek that another amazing climbing area has been secured and reopened by the dedicated folks at the Access Fund. Hidden Valley is a fun area with a variety of climbing on high-quality sandstone. Congrats to those who made this possible.

In fact, you may not know, but we donate office space to our local representative from Access Fund, so we get to hear about all the cool work they’re doing every day. Congrats to Zach, the Carolina Climbers Coalition, and all the awesome donors and members of Access Fund. If you haven’t already joined or renewed your gifting for this year, now’s a great time to do it! CCC needs our support to pay off the remaining loan balance on Hidden Valley.

 

 

We are thrilled to announce the acquisition of a large portion of the Hidden Valley climbing area in southwest Virginia!

The privately owned Hidden Valley features hundreds of single-pitch sport, mixed, and traditional climbs on unique, high-quality sandstone. Though it was a popular southeastern and mid-Atlantic climbing destination in the late 90s and early 2000s, it has been closed since 2004 due to vandalism and management concerns. In April of last year, landowners approached the Access Fund with an interest in selling a portion of the property that would provide public access to nearly one mile of cliffline that abuts their land. After kicking off discussions with the landowners, Access Fund reached out to nearby local climbing organizations to see if one of them would be willing to acquire and hold the property for long-term management and conservation. Carolina Climbers Coalition (CCC) was immediately interested.

Access Fund southeastern staff has been working in partnership with the CCC for the past year and a half to complete the initial survey, due diligence, and finalize negotiations with the landowners. The Access Fund Land Conservation Campaign provided a loan to CCC for $30,000 to bridge the gap between available funds and the $45,000 price tag. The CCC closed on the 21-acre property last week, putting down $15,000 of its own funds and covering the due diligence and transaction costs necessary to secure access to almost half of the Hidden Valley climbing area. CCC now needs your support to pay off the remaining portion of the loan and steward this climbing area for generations to come.

This acquisition reopens access to almost half of the routes at the Hidden Valley climbing area. It also ensures that climbers have a permanent entry point to the entire area from Hidden Valley Road. Access Fund, CCC, and nearby Southwest Virginia Climbers Coalition are continuing to work together to secure access to the remaining portion of Hidden Valley’s cliff line.

Get more details on this exciting acquisition, here. To donate to the project and learn more about upcoming work days and ways you can help visit www.carolinaclimbers.org.

Sincerely,

Your Friends at the Access Fund &
Carolina Climbers Coalition

[Tweet “CCC now needs your support to pay off the remaining portion of the loan and steward Hidden Valley”]

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.