Folks,

Tuesday evening was a pretty sad day because of the loss of some of our area's classic climbing. Fortunately however, there was no loss of life, which in all honesty could have been a real and scary development. I met with the park and began the conversation of what the climbing community can do and what they expect from us. Below are my findings:

1: The South side of Reimers Proper is closed for the foreseeable future. All of the climbing and hiking on that side is closed. Yes, Shortcake Wall and other stuff in that area is included.

2: The damage is unfortunately extensive. Basically, the tops of climbs from Grinch to where 8 Flake was, and then the whole wall is gone all the way to Tree Route on Mai Tai. The rock fall is massive. I know you all want to see the damage, but please respect the closure from the park for now. There are discussions with the park service about doing guided hikes to the area once a week until the area is open.

3: Unfortunately, the memorial boulder and plaque for Trip Lucas are both gone. I'm sure the park service will allow us to replace it since we went through the proper channels the first time. For many who don't know there was a memorial plaque to Trip above Prototype which was one of his favorite areas and climbs.

4: TCC will be doing trail work to re-establish a trail through this area. We think this project will be doable, as there is a natural line through the debris. However we won't be doing this work for some time. There are a few steps that the Travis County Parks folks want before we will be allowed to work or hike below. Please keep an eye out as we send more information about a cool trail project.

5: Finally, a Prototype Wall memorial. We won't be able to do this at Reimers but we will discuss dates and potential locations.

Thanks everyone for your cooperation.

Adam Mitchell,
Executive Director
Texas Climbers Coalition