This page is organized in reverse chronological order to keep the most recent activity at the top.

11th Trail Project at Reimers North Shore

10th Trail Project at Reimers North Shore

9th Trail Project at Reimers North Shore

8th Trail Project at Reimers North Shore

For this trail project, we finalized the main trail past the first wall. There were 5 volunteers for this outing, contributing 15 man-hours of work.

Trail projects will continue every Saturday until the work is complete, but we will skip the weekend after Thanksgivng for the holiday.
Contact Gary Ellis for more information.

7th Trail Project at Reimers North Shore

A group of volunteers from Texas A&M University at Commerce, TX helped us for this portion of the trail project, including working on the final spur to the first wall as well as improving the first water crossing on the trail. There were 21 volunteers for this outing, contributing 63 man-hours of work.

Trail projects will continue every Saturday until the work is complete, but we will skip the weekend after Thanksgivng for the holiday.
Contact Gary Ellis for more information.

6th Trail Project at Reimers North Shore

We continued work at the first wall, improving the staging areas and pulling down poison ivy. There were 7 volunteers for this outing, contributing 42 man-hours of work.

Trail projects will continue every Saturday until the work is complete.
Contact Gary Ellis for more information.

5th Trail Project at Reimers North Shore

For this trail project, volunteers did some trundling near Myrick’s 5.12. They also pulled poison ivy and noted some bolt counts for the guidebook. John Hogge cleaned and tested a route. The 4 volunteers worked a total of 24 man-hours and included:

Applications & Hardware
Mike Brewster approved all six applications.

Hardware has not arrived; it is being sent to the ranger’s station. When it comes in, Mike wants us to supply a list of approved bolters to check out hardware.

Bad Anchors on 2005 era routes
Karl discovered an anchor with a bolt not all the way in, and possibly a single-ring anchor.

Trail projects will continue every Saturday until the work is complete.
Contact Gary Ellis for more information.

4th Trail Project at Reimers North Shore

More clean-up at the first climbing wall. The 4 volunteers worked a total of 24 man-hours and included:

Trail projects will continue every Saturday until the work is complete.
Contact Gary Ellis for more information.

3rd Trail Project at Reimers North Shore

CTM continued the trail work into the new North Shore area of Reimers, working on the final stretch of trails into the new climbing walls. For this segment, we worked on the water crossing just beyond the goat fence and the first spur trail up to the first climbing wall. At the wall, we trundled loose rock from the top and cleared staging areas at the base of the wall. There were 7 volunteers for this outing, contributing 42 man-hours of work.

Trail projects will continue every Saturday until the work is complete.
Contact Gary Ellis for more information.

Water crossing after the goat fence.

Spur trail up to the first climbing wall.

Meeting with Travis County Parks

Attending: Dan Perry – Travis County
Crystal Funke- Travis County
John Hogge – RRCC
Tommy Blackwell- RRCC

We met at Satellite 3 offices on Hamilton Pool Rd.

Trail work at North Shore is now scheduled every Saturday until further notice. This work will soon progress from walking trails and trundling to bolting. Recreational access is not open yet; however please review this summary of R2C2’s meeting with Travis County parks for the whole story.

Master Plan Update:

Dan Perry is Mike Brewster's supervisor and Mike could not attend the meeting. Dan presented the plans as they stood at this time.

He explained that the county has requested that frivolous extras, like a half mile long stone wall, be removed from the plan and add in extra parking for the climbers, totaling 80 cars. An expensive rangers' building was downsized and other smart savings were made that do not affect the climbers. Money is being spent more wisely; for instance to attack oak wilt, to stabilize the road down to the fishing area, and to provide climbers a separate bathroom and more parking. The new plan has a lot of overflow (dirt) parking near the normal parking.

The plan is considered to be at 30% of the level of detail to put out bids. They will have the 60% plans soon and after that the 90%. Once they have the 90% plans, they will submit them for bids and 6-8 weeks after that construction will begin. Dan says that could be spring next year.

What we have in the plan now is the climbers access to the canyon with close by parking and flush restrooms. In conjunction with the restrooms is a covered pavilion similar to the group structure at E Rock, that Dan said we can use for the annual Limestoner. It would not be ready for 2009, but maybe by 2010.

Trail Work on the North Shore:

We then expressed our desire to get back to the trail development for the North Shore. We told Dan that we thought the agreement was that we ( RRCC) could have access to the North Shore to develop both horizontal as well as vertical trails.

He said that was the agreement.

We said that we wanted to develop the trail from the " goat fence" to the first climbing wall and then develop the climbs on that wall. When we finished that section, we would them move to the next section, being certain not to create spider web trails, but spine and spur trails.

He said that was acceptable.

They expressed concern about the need to trundle cliffs both at North Shore and within the Reimers ranch for public safety, supporting our desire to finish trundling North Shore. We said we wanted to begin trail work this weekend on Saturday at 9am and continue every Saturday until we have completed the trail work.

Again he agreed.

We also said that we thought the county could provide the hardware for the vertical trails and again he agreed. We will submit hardware that is Powers 5 piece ½ inch by 3 and ¾ inch plated bolts, fixe ½ inch plated hangers, Fixe quick links and Fixe Sport anchors.

Our next Trail day is Oct 4th at 9am at the main parking area!

Please remember that only authorized "trail days" coordinated by the RRCC and the county is what is happening. Recreational access is closed for now; anything else threatens access.

Finally, Dan said they "might" allow us to open for climbing North Shore prior to construction. The way he said it suggested this is a "will allow", and certain changes to the construction plans eliminated concerns Charles Bergh had for letting us in early. He was not prompted for this; he volunteered it. We predict a good chance of public access after phase 1 (first third of the cliff) bolting is far along. Time to load up those bolt bags and charge up the drill batteries!

Climbing Hardware List for Reimers Ranch North Shore Area 10/03/2008 submitted to Travis County Parks Note: It's important that everything is plated steel (not stainless) since mixing metals can cause early corrosion. I've listed cat # as well as web-pages to ensure that you have the exact items. The bolts may be purchased locally from Brannen's 512-458-4011 512-454-7358 fax 2627 Buell Avenue Austin, TX 78757 350 Powers plated steel 5-piece hex head bolts 1/2" X 3-3/4" (13mm X 95mm) - cat # 6932 The remaining hardware may be purchased directly from Fixe Kevin (760) 873-7505 sales@fixehardware.com 250 Fixe plated steel bolt hangers - cat # 013B (http://www.fixeusa.com/hangers-013.htm) 100 Fixe plated steel Draco carabiners - cat # 661 (http://www.fixeusa.com/steel_carabiners_draco.htm) 100 Fixe plated steel long oval screw links - cat # 508-10-AZ-PS (http://www.fixeusa.com/screw_links_long.htm)

Trundled Boulder at Guide's Wall,
Gus Fruh

The precariously hanging boulder on the right side of Guide's Wall at Gus Fruh was reported to be moving a bit. Gary Ellis of CTM joined John Cook and Matt Scales of the Austin Parks and Recreation Department to investigate the boulder's integrity and deemed it dangerous. The rock was dislodged and sent down the wall and that area of the wall was cleared of any remaining loose choss.

2nd Trail Project at Reimers North Shore

The Central Texas Mountaineers continued working on the trial into the new North Shore area of Reimers. We had 27 volunteers for this second stage of the trail project, which covered the second 1/3 of the trail back to the goat fence. This work included building the transition from the bike trail down to the existing game trail for foot traffic back into the new climbing area. Further, we also walked the game trail and marked the trail with rock carins and temporary flags (which will be removed when the trail opens to traffic and is worn in). Finally, we added a few more stairs to the stone staircase up to The Dugout bouldering area. Thanks to John Myrick and Team ARG for providing most of the volunteers for this work day. Volunteers included:

The next trail project for the next stage of this trail work will be in July.
Contact Gary Ellis for more information.

Moving the big rocks for a level trail crossing.

Filling in the stonework with gravel.

Added to the stonework at this spring crossing.

Trail Project at Reimers North Shore

The Central Texas Mountaineers held the first trail project for defining a trial into the new North Shore area of Reimers. We had 19 volunteers for this first stage of the trail project, which covered about 1/3 of the trail from the boat launch trailhead back into the new area. The work included building a stone staircase up to The Dugout bouldering area. The trail then follows the existing bike path, where we reinforced a foot/bike bridge with cedar 2X4s. Another small wooden bridge at a spring crossing was replaced completely with stonework. Thanks to Neil Higa, Tommy Blackwell, Luke Bowman, John Hogge, Karl Vochatzer, Lydia Pyne, Peter, Katherine & Patrick Dyson, Blaine Burris, Shelley Stortz, Eric Quiat, Brent Minchew, Sarah Tanner, Evan Jackson, Dane & Kita Bass, Louie Grahm, and Gary Ellis.

The next trail project for the next stage of this trail work will be Saturday, June 28th and will be hosted by the Austin Youth Climbing Team. All volunteers are welcome to help the climbing team with this next 1/3 of the trail. Contact John Myrick or Gary Ellis for more information.

Start of the trail, with a new stone staircase up to The Dugout.

Filling in the gaps on the bike bridge to accomodate foot traffic.

This bridge was completely replaced with stone work.

19 volunteers of all ages helped out.

American YouthWorks Trail Project & Climbing Day

The Central Texas Mountaineers hosted a cooperational project with American YouthWorks to continue work on the retaining wall on Barton Creek (see below). Students from AYW added a protective berm next to the retaining wall to keep the initial in rush water down Barton Creek from damaging the base of the retaining wall. We spent a few hours hauling and piling rocks to form the berm and then took some time to reflect on the work done. After a pizza lunch, the AYW students then enjoyed some top-rope climbing at Seismic Wall. For many, this was their first experince with climbing and we all had a great time.

It was a successful and rewarding event for all involved and we plan to have another similar event with AYW again in the Fall.

AYW students help with a Barton Creek trail project and then enjoy some climbing afterwards.

CTM Builds a Retaining Wall by Seismic Wall for It's My Park Day

The Central Texas Mountaineers are a member organization under the Austin Parks Foundation and participate in APF's It's My Park Day each year. This year, we built a retaining wall down at Seismic Wall along Barton Creek to help reduce erosion. With a half dozen climbers and a half dozen other APF volunteers, we hauled big and small rocks to layer a solid foundation for the retaining wall, and then filled-in with gravel and dirt. John Cook of Austin Parks and Recreation was instrumental in helping us plan for this project, as well as providing park tools and wheel barrows at the work day.

Building the retaining wall at Seismic Wall.

CTM Joins KAB for Clean Sweep Day at 360 Bridge

CTM joined forces once again this year with Keep Austin Beautiful for our second annual clean-up of the 360 bridge as a KAB Clean Sweep Day project. About a dozen climbers showed up to rappel down the cliff next to the 360 bridge and pick-up bottles, cans, and other trash. We did this last year and we were very surprised to see so much trash on the cliff again this year. With such a great group of volunteers, we managed to clean-up all the trash from the cliffside, while more KAB volunteers picked-up trash along the cliff base.

Afterwards, KAB threw a great party at Waterloo Park, with free food and live music, for all the volunteers who helped clean-up dozens of Austin area parks that day.

Some of the bags full of trash from the 360 bridge cliffside.

CTM Joins KAB to Help Clean-up Mt. Bonnell

Thanks to all who helped out with this clean-up! With over a dozen climbers from CTM and more than a dozen non-climbers from Keep Austin Beautiful pitching in to pick up trash, Mt. Bonnell is now in much better shape than when we found it. We cleaned up all visible trash along the mountain top itself, which is what the City of Austin's Parks and Recreation Department was most concerned with. With that taken care of, a number of volunteers decended down into the woods at the base of the cliff to clean up some of the more visible litter there, as well.

We also received a lot of press coverage from three local television stations, so our efforts were very visible and well-advertised.

• News 8
• Fox 7
• KXAN 36

There's still a lot to do at the base of the mountain, so hopefully we'll get an even bigger turnout next year.

New Wall Celebrates 20th Birthday

On New Year's Day, 1988, the first routes on New Wall were developed. To commemorate this memorable occasion, the Central Texas Mountaineers sponsored a birthday celebration down at New Wall on Jan. 1st, 2008. Some of the original route developers were there, including Greg Brooks, Scott Harris, and Dave Cardosa. We had a birthday cake, free T-shirts, and, as always, lots of fun climbing and camaraderie.