On June 3, 2012 thirty-five volunteers showed up at the Idyllwild Town Hall for a chance to work on the climbing trails to the Idyllwild Crags. After coffee and pastries supplied by the Idyllwild Climbers Alliance the group listened to ranger Andy Smith of the Forest Service explain the plan for the day and safety concerns. The volunteers then formed into three team under the leadership of Andy, Wendell Smith, and Rick Graham. Andy’s team tackled the trail to Suicide rocks; Rick led his group up the Lunch Rock trail; and Wendel’s team worked on the trail to the north face of Tahquitz.

When the groups returned they celebrated with lunch prepared by Les Walker and provided by the Riverside Mountain Rescue Team. While they ate they could eye the considerable amount of swag provided by supporters. The alliance would like to thank North Face, Prana, Sports Chalet, Stonemaster Press, Nomad Ventures, the American Alpine Club, the Access Fund, Café Aroma, and Rab. It was great to have Mike Graham, an original stonemaster, join us and provide two of his recent books for the raffle. After the raffle we auctioned off a California personized License plate, I CLIMB,  that an AAC member had contributed. The winning bid was $400 which goes to the AAC.

The Alliance especially wants to thank the American Alpine Club and the Access Fund for their continued support of the Idyllwild Climbers Alliance and to Andy Smith for his help with our events. Bill Odentahl is working with Andy to develop a kiosk in Humber Park that will educate the public about Tahquitz Rock. We are definitely planning on another festival next year and hope to have a work project to fix the stairs at the start of the Suicide trail.

See the full photo spread by clicking HERE.

Jim Pinter-Lucke

SWS Chair