Joe’s Valley Bouldering Festival Thur.-Sun.

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

The Emery County Business Chamber hosted its Lunch and Learn for September. Bouldering was the subject for the luncheon. The second annual Joe’s Valley bouldering festival will run Oct. 6-9 in Castle Dale and Orangeville.
Jared Anderson welcomed everyone out and said bouldering is a love of his. The chamber was involved in the Summer Sidewalk Jamboree which was a festival to get people down to Main Street during the Castle Valley Pageant. Everyone had a good time and the event was a success. Anderson read all the new business members for the chamber. “The chamber is continuing to grow,” said Anderson.
He presented a check to the Children’s Justice Center from the business chamber. The chamber conducted a silent auction fundraiser for the Children’s Justice Center. Shelly Wright accepted the donation and expressed her appreciation. “Every little bit helps as we help the children in the communities. Money goes for medical exams and other needs to keep the centers open,” said Wright.
Emery Telcom was named the business of the month. They are busy now putting fiber in all the communities.
Drew LeRoy and Food Ranch was the business spotlight and caterer for the event. LeRoy said, “We love our climbers. We want to attract people to our communities. These climbers are the best you could find. Twenty years ago when they were young college kids, maybe all we could sell them was ramen noodles. Joe’s Valley is the best bouldering in the world. People from all over the world come here. They are here in the spring and in the fall. Now they are bringing their families. They have motor homes instead of pup tents. I would like to see our county be to the boulders as Moab is to jeeps. These boulderers tend their areas and keep them clean. They even do service projects with the BLM and the forest service. They keep their sites clean and the only thing they leave are footprints. Emery County needs to get ahold of bouldering. They need to provide some parking and some camp sites. They love to camp out in the rocks. If Emery County can come together, it can just get bigger and bigger. They use an area that no one else wants. To us they are just rocks. It can become a great business for us, we need to help out with giving these guys what they need.”
Anderson said he grew up along the Wasatch Front. He worked for a large telecommunications company up there. He started climbing routes in 1999. He also did some traditional climbing. But, it involves a lot of equipment. “The beauty of bouldering is you don’t need much equipment. A crash pad, a pair of climbing shoes and some chalk that’s all you need to get started. All the rocks are named and graded for difficulty. That’s how I found out where to go and that’s why I’m here in Emery County. My kids boulder and we’ve taken out other people. Bouldering is a sport you have to be introduced to, you usually don’t pick it up on your own. Visitors are low impact. The climbers also organize clean-ups to the climbing areas. It’s a blast, a great activity. Tourism is one piece of the economic puzzle. We need to do what we can to accommodate and capitalize on it.
“The rock is solid and there’s a density of rocks in a small area. There’s not many places with this set-up. Joe’s Valley is unique,” said Anderson.
Steven Jeffery was the main speaker. He owns Momentum Climbing gym. He sets up problems for people to solve. (A problem is figuring out the way to climb the boulder.)
He started climbing at age 9. He sets up climbs for competitions. He’s working on the second edition of the Joe’s Valley Bouldering guidebook. He is one of the founders of the Joe’s Valley Bouldering Festival.
Jeffery said he was born and raised in Salt Lake. He was a rowdy child. He liked trying anything different. He lived in proximity to a lot of canyons with rocks for climbing. In 1989, he started climbing granite. He needed something new to climb and one of his friends brought him down to try Joe’s Valley. The stones here have amazing color, texture and movement.
He’s been all over the world. He never dreamed his climbing would take him to Turkey, Spain and other places to seek out rocks. “It’s exciting and nerdy. The climbs in Joe’s Valley are unusual, it provides angles and roofs. The original climbers were renegade hippies and have become world famous climbers. They used to come up in beat up cars and sleep on the ground. Now, they sleep in vans or motels. They’ve upgraded. Climbers like the outdoors and the sense of escape.”
Jeffery said he’s been able to take climbing from the outside and move it into a gym. He has three climbing gyms in Salt Lake and is expanding across the United States. “It’s unbelievable how many climbers there are in Salt Lake. It’s hard to grasp how much money goes into it. One percent of the population is climbing. The industry is growing. Crash pads run you about $150 and shoes $100 and accessories, $100. Climbers are super wimpy, they lay out all their crash pads so they don’t get hurt. They are spending their time and money to climb a silly rock.
“In Bishop, Calif. there’s a gas stop that draws climbers. Climbers like to have places to hang out. They aren’t climbing all the time. In Orangeville, they hang out at the Food Ranch. I was 16 years old when I first went to Joe’s Valley. We went to the Food Ranch. Climbers like to stay hidden. There are access issues in some areas. Climbers are minimum impact. Some areas give climbers a bad rap. Food Ranch is a legendary place. I have taken people from England there. He wanted me to stop while he took pictures of tumbleweeds, because they don’t have them in England.
“I took him into Food Ranch and the cashier noticed his accent. She asked why he was here. He told her to climb rocks. The people are always friendly at the Food Ranch. They’ve made their store inviting to the climbers. The climbers wanted the internet so they can brag online about their climbs. After the aquatics center was opened then word went out that there’s a place to shower. R Pizza Place has a huge pizza you can order and a few people go in on it. Climbers love pizza and coffee. Climbers don’t need a ton of entertainment.
“Climbers have started going out into the community more. They want to be proactive. They don’t want to have access issues. They will even brush off the chalk marks with little brushes.
The Keithly family wanted to bring their kids out and show them climbing but also the ethics of cleaning up and giving back to an area. Clean-up an area and also watch where you put the crash pads. That was the missing piece in climbing, not going out and getting involved in the community you visit to climb.
“One day we saw a flyer that said community clean-up. We helped clean-out gutters, but originally they thought we were just there to eat their food. It was then we realized there was a real disconnect between the climbers and the community. Making that connection was the right step.
From there the idea of the Joe’s Valley Bouldering Festival came. Amanda Leonard called and asked if we could get something going.
I knew I had to get involved with it so I jumped on board.
The festival provides a place for climbers to come and the locals. Locals want to try climbing and the climbers have tried some of the local events like the rodeo. “The festival is to educate what everyone is all about. The biggest goal is education for all of us.
The major base of climbers come out of Salt Lake. Some from Colorado come here. Some climbers travel around and are on the road for months climbing.
“My friend when he comes here now he sleeps at the Village Inn. He wants a bed now, he’s found he climbs better when he’s well rested. We don’t need much, maybe some bathrooms and camping spots.
“We’re not here to destroy. We want the climbers to come down to town, to support the communities.
In 2020, climbing will be added to the Olympic sports. We’re the visitors here, we want to appreciate the local and not knock what the people here are doing.
“Activities for the bouldering festival begin on Oct. 6 and continue through Oct. 9. Everyone is welcome to attend.