Justin on the boulder.
This past weekend Justin (Volcanic Rock Gym) organized a beach cleanup at Waimea. Just as surfers take care of the sand and sea, climbers take care of the rock and surrounding area. At Waimea though, it’s not really the climbers you have to worry about when it comes to trash, it’s the folks that drink and barbeque and let’s face it, the crack-heads and homeless. But while it’s not our responsibility to clean up after them, we want to take care of this beautiful place and make it a safer climbing environment. As an added bonus, the beach looks cleaner and the trash won’t blow into the ocean. It’s a win-win situation for all. Even for the crack-heads.
A good crowd showed up. We picked up a bunch of rubbish and then hit the rock. It was a productive morning.
We started early. I showed up at 8:30am and Justin and some folks were already filling up bags.
Being that this is such a popular spot for beach BBQs and gets heavy tourist traffic, there’s a lot of litter.
People like to hang out on the rocks next to the main boulder and they just toss their garbage between the rocks.
Picking up litter is like a sociology study. In my cursory survey, I found that those the most commonly littered items are instant ramen packaging and Pringles. Just another tidbit of knowledge for ya.
We ended up with several full trash bags that Dennis was nice enough to haul away in his truck.
And now we rest for a few minutes.
But then, it’s time to climb. Here’s Joe warming up.
Dennis climbing in the rain. And sporting a new Volcanic Rock Gym tattoo.
Phil powers up the boulder and tops out.
My attempt. This problem is still just out of my reach.
This is Roxy, one of the coolest looking dogs I’ve ever seen. Kind of a bitch though. (Just kidding.)
So, this was the second Waimea clean up that Justin has organized (first one was in June). I’ve climbed the Waimea boulder a few times before so it felt good to come out and help take care of it.
See also:
- Follow Volcanic Rock Gym on Facebook if you want get updates on the next event
- More photos and info on Waimea Bay bouldering
