Joe’s Valley Bouldering Festival Big Hit

By Patsy Stoddard

The Joe’s Valley Bouldering Festival was held Oct. 20-22 in Emery County with more than 200 climbers plus their families taking part in the event.
They bouldered all weekend and participated in workshops. They learned about making beef jerky, caramel apples and many clinics were hosted to teach bouldering skills.
You could participate in Yoga in the Park. There was a Legends and Lores lecture where Steven Jeffrey told of the history of Joe’s Valley bouldering and LaMar Guymon told some stories about Emery County. There were Cowboy games and climber games. There were a number of vendors at the park on Saturday. The climbers shared dinner that night and topped the day off with a concert in the park.
This is the third year for the bouldering festival.
Most boulderers begin when they are in their teens and continue for as long as they can. Bouldering can be a great way to meet people. You see the same people bouldering at different spots and then get to know them. Rachel Belschner from Durango, Colo. came over to the festival. She is friends with Vikki, one of the organizers of the event. On this crisp October day she was bouldering with friends Spenser Tang-Smith and Ethan Pringle. Spenser is from the California Bay Area Berkley and has been bouldering for the past 14 years. He views Joe’s Valley as one of the bigger, most awesome bouldering destination that you could go to.
He has been here six different times through the years. One trip they were here for four months. One visit they were here for six weeks. “It’s great, the camping is free, the views are awesome and you can climb most any time of year here. If it’s raining, you sometimes have to wait it out. This is an easy place to want to spend a lot of time. This time we have been here for a week.
“My girlfriend Vikki is on the board of advisors for the festival, so we have worked to help put it together. We capped the registrations at 200, but we’ve had more people show up that didn’t pre-register. There are a lot of free community events and festival activities. We also gave out free swag bags to everyone who registered. This is a great way to build community. The boulderers are here, and the festival is a great way to mingle the boulderers with the locals. I really love the bouldering here at Joe’s Valley, it’s really fun,” said Spenser.
Spenser travels around to bouldering areas and is a photographer and has done spots for magazines. He’s also involved in other bouldering festivals.
Ethan Pringle is a professional climber. He travels the world to climb and to teach climbing.
Spenser said, “The climbs here are really fun. It’s a really good climbing area. There are some amazing landscapes. I’m from the Bay Area, so I like to soak up the small town. I’ve been on the road for the past five years with climbing, producing climbing videos and organizing festivals. I am licensed to Red Bull and produce for them. I also have other short film sponsors.”
Other areas where the group likes to climb include the Red Rock near Las Vegas, Yosemite, Switzerland, Canyonlands, Big Cottonwood and Ethan has been to Greenland to boulder.
Rachel’s favorite would have to be Lost Rocks a remote solitary spot on the ocean in Northern California. It’s secluded.
For Spenser he likes the boulders around Chattanooga. It’s one of his favorites. The boulderers look at a rock and solve the problem. They determine the best route up the rock and which hand and foot holds to use.
Spenser said he’s learned many life lessons from bouldering. Bouldering gets you away from the hustle and bustle of bigger towns and places and puts you in a location where it’s just you and the boulder. “You learn to live in the moment. You approach the rock and focus. It’s a meditative time, a chance to focus on the boulder and let stresses go.
“You meet many other boulderers and friendships are formed and you’ll meet the same people at many different bouldering locations,” said Spenser.
Pringle said if you have 15 climbs in a day, it’s a good day. You may never actually get to the top but you learn something new. You approach each boulder with the attitude that you need to learn something from this boulder. What do I need? to get stronger, to focus more closely? The boulders can teach you lessons.
Rachel said boulderers are very conscious about their environment and taking care of the rocks. It’s bad etiquette to climb on wet rocks because with the sandstone rocks it can hurt the rock and erodes the rocks. Boulderers are fine in the cold. But, the spring and fall are usually the most popular bouldering seasons. You can climb when it’s really hot, but your skin is in a more fragile condition when the weather is extreme either hot or cold.
Beginners start with smaller problems and they work through those and advance to more complex boulders. All you really need are climbing shoes, a crash pad and chalk to get started.
The popularity of Joe’s Valley has spread mainly by word of mouth through the years and now it’s listed in guide books on bouldering. The guidebooks will give a description of the boulder. The boulders have names. The area where Rachel, Spenser and Ethan were climbing this day included: Nerf Boulder, Lonesome Animal. Traverse, Dyno and many others.
Spenser said he and Vikki worked at Yosemite during the summer demonstrating bouldering to tourists that came through the park. He said, “People would watch what we do and then they would ask why do you do this?”
Spenser looked around at the Joe’s Valley landscape and said, “This is why, being out here, it’s just great.” So Spenser along with his dog, Little Dude will continue to seek out the most beautiful spots and spend time there solving problems and soaking up the benefits of being outside in these scenic areas.