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akaijen
Mar 1, 2004, 5:21 PM
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Ok, so according to the Horst guide, there are over 200 bolted sport routes at Hidden Valley. It is rumored to be as good as the New in terms of quality, but obviously way less crowded.
Also according to Horst, the landowner is a climber and helped to develop the area by contributing funds for bolts. And yet, no one is allowed to post online or publish any info or beta about the area.
So, my question(s) are: What's the story? Is the place closed, or would the owner just rather there not be a lot of traffic on the land? If it's closed, why? Any chance of it being re-opened? Why would anyone develop 200+ sport routes and then not let anyone at it? It's like Michael Jackon building his own amusement park.
Thanks!
Jen
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braaaaaaaadley
Mar 16, 2004, 4:17 AM
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I drove up there to climb in early feb. There were no trespassing signs and no climbing was underlined. I left with a frown on my face. I don't know why it was closed. Rumor has it that Komo has been threatening it's closure for a long time. I would guess that its closure had something to do with people violating the posted rules. It is also rumored that someone started bringing groups commercially there... which if correct propably influenced the closure. To make matters worse, some a$$hole destroyed the message board in the parkinglot with his car i'd assume. Komo, if you are out there pm me. I would be glad to do some work to be granted access. I am sick and tired of climbing out at backbone... it's just not the same!!!! If it is reopened in the future, I hope people respect the land better b/c afterall hv is a unique area and should be treated with the respect it deserves.
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toddr
Mar 16, 2004, 1:04 PM
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There's a posting on carolinaclimbers.org with some details about the closure. It basically says people disregarded the posted rules for the area and now its closed.
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bumblie
Mar 16, 2004, 1:31 PM
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Here is the post from carolinaclimbers.org
In reply to: Reposted email from a friend: Hidden Valley, near Abingdon, Virginia has recently been posted "No Trespassing." Hidden Valley is now closed to all climbing. The owner (Jeanean Dillard) and Shuichi Komaba ("Koma") cite that numerous visitors disregarded their requests to leave dogs (and their waste) at home. Trash (including human waste) was also left- regularly- on or near the trails. Soon after Koma posted "No Trespassing" there was vandalism to the trail itself. There were a few, simple rules that we were asked to follow. We have all lost access due to a few, careless individuals. Please respect this closure. Jeanean has been very generous with her property over the past ten years. This closure applies to everyone. Even long-term, local visitors- friends of Jeanean and Koma- have been told that they are no longer welcome. This information was relayed to me by Ed Craig - a former climbing partner of mine, and Koma's employer for the past six years in Abingdon. Thank you for your attention to this. Don Wright |
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darkstar
Mar 16, 2004, 1:56 PM
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Well i think hidden valley is a great area if you live near it ..But, if you are traveling it would be way better to go on to the new or the red anyway . Or come even further south to tennessee . Hidden Valley is mosty very short . The rock is good ,but you have to climb many routes to just to get in 50 metres . I used to visit the area with kumo and gus and franky i cant understand why kumo would close it,,, unless it had gotton way out of hand in other words been subject to vandalism.They are the original bolters and developers and id say maybe they went to far attracting visitors . Now they go and buy the place ; :oops: only to close it ???? Of course climbers didnt follow every rule ,climbers hardy ever do ... But they were ones who used to hang toy godzillas and even a toliet lid on the actual climbs . What did they expect ? Bacially if you are not a local Hidden Valley is not good anyway . Dark
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braaaaaaaadley
Mar 16, 2004, 3:23 PM
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But if you are a local... there's no where else to go... not within 2 hours at least... i might as well go back to freekin norfolk!!!! :cry:
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brianinslc
Mar 16, 2004, 4:06 PM
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In reply to: But if you are a local... there's no where else to go... not within 2 hours at least... i might as well go back to freekin norfolk!!!! :cry:
I heard there was good fishing there...I wonder if that's ok to do?
Did I hear they used non stainless hardware for the fixed anchors there? How's that stuff holding up? If there are really 200 routes, that's a huge rebolting effort. Maybe the local community, as an olive branch, can help with maybe some rebolting as a means of helping secure access.
Shame that a nice resource like that is off limits. Perhaps the local Access Fund rep can help? You hate to have to pick up after careless others, but, sometimes if that's what it takes to keep an area open, then forming a local climbing club/coalition can help organize clean up days too.
Good luck.
Brian in SLC
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darkstar
Mar 16, 2004, 9:45 PM
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if you are a local then you must very much want to climb there ... hey have you been to the saw tooth looking crags westand north of hidden valley ? there are some good looking areas near hidden valley maybe you will find them .... if i were you id go see kumo ...he was always very cool to me maybe he might let you climb there especially if you are local .............dark
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braaaaaaaadley
Mar 16, 2004, 9:50 PM
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Nope, never made it to those crags. Attempted to go once, but the road that goes up along the ridge towards the weather station sucks and we were never able to get there even with 4wd. I've also had my eye on the crags off 19 next to douglas wayside... they look pretty good, but there's no place to park.
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darkstar
Mar 18, 2004, 3:39 PM
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well sounds like its just a matterof time till youget o those areas ...my friend went to one near you that actually has a hole drilled through it ...you can apprently drive a car through the hole ...he said he did a couple of swesome routes there .... i hope you find some more good rock if kumo wont let u climb at h.v. ...i know there are some other areas you will find keep looking ..... also u could drive to obed but its still a long way ..... i think there is more rock to be had near abington ...GOOD LUCK :?
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braaaaaaaadley
Mar 19, 2004, 1:21 AM
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Darkstar... the place with the hole drilled is backbone. It is very short, there are no anchors and it's all tr which sux. There are no harder routes there... at least not that I have seen. I really dont like the place b/c the rock is very dirty(covered in silt, and always wet) and setting up the tr's are a bear b/c there are no anchors in many places. Some climbs require near 100' of webbing to set up a redundant tr. Hv was a lot better! If you know of any more climbing areas around abingdon then i'm all ears, but Backbone and Hv are the olnly places I know of that are close. Of course there's Boone an hour away, the new... two hours and then seneca... hmmmm seneca.... 6 hours :cry: . Hopefully it will open back up soon... till that time i'm gonna remain optamistic.
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braaaaaaaadley
May 26, 2004, 1:31 PM
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Anyone know of any recent developments about hv re-opening?
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cammaniac
Jun 7, 2004, 8:46 PM
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So, I've heard about the problems with Hidden Valley and the reasons it was closed, mainly disrespectful rednecks and their dogs!!!
I was wondering if anyone has approached Koma from the Access Fund to assist in working up a plan to try to reopen the area. I know that climbing parks are taking hold, like horsepens in AL and some others in Texas.
If people could only go if they paid, then you would figure that you would get rid of the deviants.
I have climbed there a few times before I got away from clipping bolts, but now I'm back and would love to visit Hidden Valley again.
Koma, if you're listening, we really want to help get HV reopened, What can we do to help???
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braaaaaaaadley
Aug 5, 2004, 5:31 PM
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http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=823985#823985
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mb25976
Feb 24, 2012, 9:42 PM
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The Valley is still very much closed and Koma is not looking to sell his land as far as I know.
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