Salt Lake Climbers Alliance launches photo petition to ‘save Little Cottonwood Canyon climbing’

Photo: Little Cottonwood Canyon Bouldering – photo: Jeremiah Watt

UTAH —  Salt Lake Climbers Alliance launched a photo petition campaign on September 26 to protest UDOT’s plans to construct a gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The petition calls on Utah climbers to send in a photo of themselves holding a whiteboard containing their “thoughts or feelings” about how the proposed gondola will impact their climbing experience in the canyon.

Julia Geisler, Executive Director of Salt Lake Climbers Alliance spoke with TownLift and commented the following about the petition:

“I hope that the petition will encourage climbers specifically and people in general to envision what the canyon would like with a gondola and how that will impact their experience there, Not only during construction phases, but after. We need to let policy makers know what we want for the canyon, and encourage people to bring forward a better solution.”

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Geisler commented that they have already received over 200 photo submissions, all of which will be available for public viewing in a Facebook photo album to be created at a later date. Here are some of the early submissions.

As part of the petition, Salt Lake Climbers Alliance is also calling on climbers and other concerned citizens to submit comments on the UDOT Final Environmental Impact Statement before October 17, the effective deadline for the protest against the gondola plan. The Alliance also encourages people to reach out to their Utah legislative representatives and donate to Salt Lake Climbers Alliance to help fund future advocacy.

The Salt Lake Climbers Alliance website reads that the gondola would threaten “iconic roadside bouldering resources, access to the crags during years of construction, destruction of vegetation, and a negative impact on the overall historic climbing experience in Little Cottonwood Canyon.”