Soloing Banned at Summersville

When it comes to access, it seems rock climbers just can’t catch a break-especially when one of the most established crags in the Southeast is closed without notice. That’s what happened in late spring when warning signs started popping up around the cliffs of West Virginia’s Summersville Lake.

On May 25 the Huntington, West Virginia District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) banned cliff jumping and diving on all district-managed recreational property. Failure to obey the warning could result in a penalty of up to $5,000 or even federal imprisonment. The stunningly scenic Summersville Lake, located in the central gorge country of the Mountain State, falls within the outline of the district. According to the USACE, there have been 69 water-related deaths in the Huntington District since 1993 and seven deaths in 2006. No fatalities have occurred at Summersville Lake.

While rock climbing was not specifically mentioned in the ban, it says no one can “enter the water from a height greater than your own.” This restriction by definition restricts deep water soloing, a popular type of free climbing that involves scaling rocks without rope above a body of water for protection in case of a fall. Climbers can fall or jump at any stage of their climb into the waters below. The pure style of climbing started in Europe, where it is popular along the cliffs of the Mediterranean. Abroad the sport is known as Psicobloc.

The type of climbing is limited in the States, but the cliffs around Summersville Lake have long been celebrated as one of the only legitimate spots to water solo in North America. The sudden closure gave climbers no time to plead their case, and many feel the hasty decision was unfair, especially since no climbing deaths have occurred at Summersville. Many climbers believe they are being made to suffer because of the irresponsible actions of drunk motorized boaters, who account for most of water-related deaths in the district.

Said one miffed climber on the message board of Rockclimbing.com, “I’d imagine the majority of those deaths involve people that are on [motorized] boats and are too drunk to swim. The fact that the Army Corps of Engineers is using it as a reason is pretty weak.”

The USACE says the decision was all about safety. Water risks are a particular personal concern of Colonel Dana R. Hurst, commander of the Huntington District, who ultimately made the decision to ban jumping.

“The commander is adamant about cliff diving being a risky behavior, specifically because our lakes are manmade and the depths of the water change,” says Peggy A. Noel, the Huntington District’s public affairs officer. “He didn’t just do this rashly. He took a lot of things into consideration and talked to a lot of people. He is very in tune with water safety, and he is very committed to reducing the number of fatalities we have.”

When asked if climbing was considered in the decision, Noel says it was determined to be “just as risky as any other type of jumping from a cliff.”

But the closure also affected some local businesses. New River Mountain Guides, based in Fayetteville, W.Va., offered a professional guided deep water soloing trip that took up to eight climbers in a pontoon boat to Summersville’s best cliffs. The service has obviously been suspended until further notice.

“It’s always one bad apple in the bunch that ruins it for everyone else,” says Elaina Smith of New River Mountain Guides. “Climbers are used to taking responsibility for their own actions, where the U.S. public at large isn’t. It’s unfortunate that this has come down to infringing our freedom to go out and climb where we want.”

Losing crags is certainly nothing new to climbers. It’s the reason they have the Access Fund, a national non-profit organization dedicated to keeping climbing areas open that works with federal, state, and local officials on climbing policy. Gene Kistler, regional coordinator for The Access Fund in West Virginia, says now is the time for grassroots action to begin. He’s encouraging climbers to start writing letters to the USACE, as well as West Virginia congressman Nick Rahall, in an effort to get some answers as to why the public was given no chance to express opinion on the impact of the new law.

“There’s no science behind this rule,” says Kistler. “There was no public comment or draft policy put out there. For guide services this is economic. There have been no problems at all, and it has zero impact to the resource. Climbers come here, spend money, and have a great time. It’s part of our tourism.”

Chad Heddleston, of Sperryville, Va., who’s been deep water soloing at Summersville for the past seven years, posted a letter he sent to the USACE on the All Climbing Blog. He and 17 friends went to Summersville to climb earlier in the summer but quickly had their plans changed by the ban.

“For the last seven years I have fallen in love with the place while safely falling from many of its cliffs,” Heddleston wrote in the letter. “You might imagine my heartbreak when I received a notice that I would be risking $5,000 and six months imprisonment to do something I love and have done safely for so long. I felt my freedom had been ripped away.” •

by jedd ferris