Climbers Banding Together To Clean Up 'Sugar Loaf'
WINONA, Minn. (WCCO/AP) -- To some it's a lump of rock, but to others it's a sweet outdoor treat gone sadly sour.
A group of enthusiasts plans to clean up piles of trash and other blights on parts of Sugar Loaf, an 80-foot rock that overlooks Winona.
The cleanup is set to take place on Saturday. Event organizers report the rock is in rough shape, with piles of trash, invasive buckthorn, graffiti and old industrial junk found at the popular outdoor recreation spot.
The effort to clean Sugar Loaf is part of a growing partnership between climbers and the city of Winona, which owns the rock and surrounding land. The Winona State Outdoor Education and Recreation Center has hosted climbing at Sugar Loaf since 2012.
"With the help from members of the MCA, the future vision for the Sugar loaf is to be an example of how we as a user group can help manage an underutilized resource and transform it into one of the best places for new climbers to learn a multitude of skills from learning to lead, multiple pitch transitions, anchor building, top managed belay systems and many other useful techniques," wrote organizers on the Minnesota Climbers Association's Facebook event page.
Winona community services director Chad Ubl said city crews were recently at the site as part of cleanup efforts.
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