Big changes are afoot for rock climbers who frequent the crags and boulders in lower Little Cottonwood Canyon. A new rock climbing access plan is proposed by the U.S. Forest Service that involves a new trailhead, removal of the old Grit Mill, a parking lot, climbing access trails, and stabilization of belay and crash pads.
Up until now, the trails that access popular climbing routes like Bong Eater Buttress, The Egg, The Sail, and Crescent Crack have been unsustainable, eroded foot paths that spiderweb through scrub brush. Under this new plan, the Forest Service will construct 1.4 miles of new trail segments in areas without existing routes to provide sustainable access to climbing features and other existing access routes. The new trail segments, combined with the existing segments would provide a “core loop trail system and provide multi-use access to and from the Grit Mill and LCC Park and Ride trailheads.”
In addition to the new trails, they will maintain existing core routes by upgrading approximately 0.7 miles of existing trails to be consistent with Forest Service trail standards. Trail upgrades would include brushing and retreading to meet width and drainage standards. They will also close non-sustainable routes, and rehabilitate approximately 0.9 miles of existing access routes that are not sustainable. According to the Forest Service, these routes generally are very steep, run up and down the fall-line, are often redundant, and are highly erodible.
Perhaps one of the biggest changes to the area is that they will close all roadside parking between the Grit Mill and the Little Cottonwood Canyon Park and Ride. The SLRD will coordinate with the Utah Dept. of Transportation and Unified Police Department to develop a roadside parking signing and enforcement plan. In place of roadside parking, the Grit Mill will be demolished and removed, and the site will be converted into a climbing access trail parking lot. The lot will accommodate around 35 vehicles and will have restrooms and an interpretive site.
This proposal has been on the table since early 2013, but we’re getting closer to seeing it become reality as the Draft Decision Notice has proposed to authorize the Proposed Action Alternative that includes the removal of the Grit Mill structures, development of a parking area, climbing access trail development, and roadside parking management, near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon.
You can read the entire Grit Mill/Little Cottonwood Canyon climbing plan here.