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The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (who built many of the man made lakes in this country) has banned cliff jumping and diving on all of its managed recreation property in the Huntington District in West Virginia. This area includes the popular Summersville Lake climbing area. Apparently, at least one climber called the office listed below and confirmed that the ban includes deep water soloing.
The rule that specifically bans deep water soloing is “Entering the lake from a height greater than one’s own is always prohibited.”
Here’s the full press release:
Effective immediately, the Huntington District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is banning cliff jumping/diving on all district managed recreational property.
Cliff jumping/diving is a reckless and potentially very dangerous activity that has always been strongly discouraged on USACE recreational projects. Recent water-related accidents and fatalities have prompted Huntington District to take the lead in prohibiting this activity.
Overall, there have been 69 water-related deaths in the Huntington District since 1993; there were seven deaths in 2006.
Warnings will be posted at district projects alerting users of the dangers associated with cliff jumping/diving and advising them of the ban. Warnings will be issued by park rangers explaining the dangers associated with the activity.
Failure to heed warnings may result in citation under Title 36, which may result in a penalty of up to $5,000 or even federal imprisonment.
District lakes where the ban is now in effect include: Alum Creek, Deer Creek, Delaware, Dillon, North Branch of Kokosing and Paint Creek Lakes in Ohio; Beech Fork, Bluestone, Burnsville, East Lynn, R.D. Bailey, Summersville, and Sutton Lakes in West Virginia; Dewey, Fishtrap, Grayson, Paintsville and Yatesville Lakes in Kentucky; and John W. Flannagan in Virginia.
For more information, please contact the Public Affairs office at (304) 399-5353.
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Man that sucks, we were going to be going up there this summer.
http://www.rock-climbing-for-life.com/climbing-news-blog.html
“Entering the lake from a height greater than one’s own is always prohibited.”
Soo… as long as I don’t FALL, I’m not breaking the law, right?
@ewtotel true, if you don’t fall I guess you’re not breaking the law. They’d probably still try to nail you with reckless endangerment though just to make a point!
A bunch of Bureaucrats making up rules about something that they don’t understand. What a Bunch of Bull. Something like 70 people died from ATV accidents but there always around the lake. What about the trash at the lake. Thats Ok! We keep making laws protecting us from ourselves. We need to be responsible for our own actions. I feel for the families of those that died but it was a choice that person made. Oh well. Tough. What’s next banning all climbing because a few people died doing something they love!!
Here’s a letter I sent to the Corp of Engineers the ones who posted the restriction.
This Memorial Day weekend 17 friends and I went on a vacation trek from Virginia, and Maryland to visit a place we love. We came to the beautiful, wild and wonderful, Summersville Lake. For the last seven years I have fallen in love with the place while safely falling from many of its cliffs. Over these past years I have spent many of my vacations here rock climbing. This year my friends and I came to do my favorite thing in the world, deep water soloing.
Deep water soloing is one of the purest, and to me most rewarding, forms of rock climbing where a climber ascends a rock overhanging deep water sans any gear. It is the most complete feeling of freedom I have ever experienced.
You might imagine my heart break when I received a notice that cliff jumping / diving is now prohibited on all Huntington District Lakes and 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 me freedom had been ripped away.
I am an adventure sport educator, licensed climbing guide, wilderness EMT, and high angle rescue technician and I would like to tell you about an experience I had several weeks ago while guiding a rock climbing trip in Maryland. While at the rocks a group of high school / college age young adults showed up to free solo all the climbs in the area. The climbers were not climbing above water, but instead the jagged rock and hillside below. Had one of them fallen he or she would have been seriously injured or killed. I had a talk with them and told them what they already knew, that what they were doing was stupid. We talked some about the joys of climbing and I was able to offer a great alternative to the risks they were taking, deep water soloing at Summersville Lake. I explained that falling into water from height hurts, sometimes badly, but the key was that you don’t die. Risking it all for a rock climb is not worth it, risking a red backside is. Please don’t take this outlet away from us.
When you are standing on top of a cliff or in route on a deep water solo and you look down, it is very obvious that the choices you make in life have consequences. This is a lesson we must all learn and one that is taught well through reflection during a deep water solo or a cliff jump.
The beauty of the lake remains, but I hate to see the wild and wonderful slip away.
Chad Heddleston
Sperryville, Va.
Does anyone know if this is being enforced?
please sign our petition to get cliff jumping legal again.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/summersvillecj/index.html
what is stupid about the whole thang is that if pepole cant jump from well known jumping
places then there going to go futher out were so they wont get got.but there is no pepole incase somthing did happen which it woulnt
and if you look at it this way if 60 some pepole really did die (R.I.P for those who did) just think about the millons and millons of jumps that
pepole havnt died anyway if you have expreinenced a good jump your going do do it agian no matter what you well find a way theres no other way to look at it but ive jumped im alive and IM GOING TO JUMP AGIAN PLAN AND SIMPEL. i was up there today and those umm!@###@$$@#$$#@%$ pepole siad no jumping
above six feet. i siad ok i wont that !$##^&$**&& went around the corner boom rite back to jumping anyway ive only jumped in copel diffrent spaces in summersvile a it was really fun and i plan to do it agian and agian
and find bigger and better places. and if i had a cule how to sign that petition i would but ill say yes fom here.
P.S those park rangers or whatevr there called
probablay go out when nobodys whatn jump jump and jump because i meen who cant rezist the thrill.
SDL NAW MEEN
Its Nature!!!!! If you do this, you know the risk! The ultimate risk being death, and you take this into consideration. So it shouldn’t be banned!
I was up there this summer and was water bouldering. A ranger saw me jump from 40 feet and came over to have a chat with me. He told me everything I already knew, but I played the dumb card like I had no idea. But I asked him about water bouldering and he said that if we fall and do not jump it is not illegal. A fall is something that just happens, you cant plan for it, but you can plan a jump and so I find this new law a complete joke and dont see it as a long term thing. I would much rather be ready for an impact from 40 feet than having a fall and landing on my back, because I didnt want to get a $5,000 dollar fine or imprisoned. Im working on a survey about all this and am going to distribute them this summer there. This law is plain stupid!
@Evan - Very interesting. I’ll have to keep that in mind for next summer!
Evan makes a good point, and also has given me an idea of how to weasel around it:
From the ranger’s words, it sounds like “falling” (which happens more or less without intention…as opposed to jumping) is legal because it is TECHNICALLY an “accident” since you did not intend to fall.
Thus, it would seem to me that they technically cannot fine you for deep water soloing as long as you do not purposely jump. For all anybody knows, your well meaning intention is to climb the damn cliff face and you dont want to fall. But if your muscles give out, or you miss a hold….oops the water saved ya.
Hi ! ^_^
I am Piter Kokoniz. Just want to tell, that your blog is really cool
And want to ask you: what was the reasson for you to start this blog?
Sorry for my bad english:)
Thank you!
Piter Kokoniz, from Latvia
I was planning on try to DWS in summersville this summer…has anyone been up there recently and tried to climb? has anyone gotten any static from the rangers, etc?
If you go during the week there is not as much pressure from DNR.The weekends are when they patrol the lake the most.I haven’t seen any tickets issued this year .