Climbers chase adventure at Willow River State Park but access restrictions impose limits.

As the water from Willow River Falls rushes below, a climber tackles the steep cliffs rising from the water. The sound of the current and the sunlight reflecting off the rising mist disorient him as he pulls at a sandy rock 35 feet above the flowing water.

The climber throws his hand toward the next hold — a small opening in the jagged surface that will enable him to move upward. As he clings to the underside of an aggressive 45-degree roof, he goes for a second big movement to jut himself farther out over the water. He’s moved higher and higher above his last piece of protection, a rope snaking through a metal bolt in the rock.

Suddenly, the rock beneath his right hand gives way. He falls swiftly and smoothly, taking a large piece of dolomite limestone with him.

Now dangling from his rope, Erick Kopff swings in the harsh shadows of the midafternoon sun. The shadows and the feeling of frustration and defeat cloud his face as his climbing equipment is reduced to a giant tire swing. After being safely lowered to the ground, the clock strikes noon. Climbing is now prohibited in the park.

Any climber will tell you that rock climbing changes people. It is the ultimate way to build a personal bond with nature, while simultaneously challenging you to become the strongest versions of yourself, physically and mentally. At Willow River State Park, climbing access is limited, and the question becomes a gray area; which change is more important: the climbers or the rock?

I accompanied Kopff and Sarah Heffley, two avid climbers and UW-Madison students, to Willow River State Park on a mission for some of the hardest climbing routes across the state of Wisconsin. The three of us crammed into a silver Nissan and began the four-hour drive from Madison to rural Hudson on the St. Croix River, by the Minnesota border.

Kopff started climbing in western Massachusetts and upstate New York near his hometown of Albany, New York. He prefers bouldering, a climbing style focusing on short, powerful climbing rather than long ascents. Six years of climbing has taught him the sport has more to offer than just getting to the top.

Kopff enjoys the social aspect of climbing and says many fellow climbers act as his mentors. Interacting with fellow climbers is what brings people back to climbing. It’s a very difficult sport, and encouragement is a requirement to succeed.

But under it all, the real reason Kopff loves climbing is because it gets him outside.“It gets me out in nature when a lot of other sports restrict you to a playing field or a facility,” he says. “Climbing really gets [you] out into fresh air and lets you see some really beautiful things.”

While climbing, you don’t just look at nature. You become a part of it. At Willow River, we met local climber Craig Kleeberger.

“[Climbing] has this unique, intimate connection with nature that I think a lot of people don’t get to have,” Kleeberger says. “You’re physically on the rock face, getting to know it in a unique fashion. It’s not just getting to look at a wall of rock and appreciating how cool it looks, but you’re experiencing it in a totally different way.”

Willow River Falls carves an impressive collection of rock. The plethora of terraced waterfalls spew a roaring gush of water.

The slow crescendo of the waterfall and the colorful foliage of the willow trees add to the scene, but the falls are a centerpiece between two rock faces, the Wet and the Dry Music Cliff. The Dry Music Cliff is a symphony of shades of color, ranging from sandy blonde to dark, muddy tones. The top of the cliff is peppered with green and yellow willow trees.

“Willow is just absolutely fantastic. There’s not a lot of areas that have that type of aesthetic allure that Willow does. It’s just phenomenal,” Kleeberger says. “It’s a really therapeutic area to be in, let alone climb in.”

While some athletes would try to rest before a big event, Kopff was cracking jokes while having his face crammed into the tent wall, trying to fall asleep on a half-inch thick sleeping pad, before waking up to a devastating noise.

“We awoke in the morning to the pitter-patter of rain on our tent, [which] was not in the forecast,” Kopff says. “Hearing rain on the tent was heartbreaking, to say the least.”

Since climbing at Willow River State Park is prohibited on Friday and Sunday afternoons and all day on Saturday, we drove out on a Saturday night to get in as much climbing as possible from sunrise to noon. The rain put a soul-crushing halt to that plan.

Around 9 a.m., the rain lifted. Fifteen hours after leaving Madison, we were standing under the Dry Music Cliff. After careful deliberation and planning between Kopff and Heffley, Kopff began his ascent up the wall. His climb started smoothly, but suddenly came to a shocking halt.

“He made one move out and got up on this big hold that he grabbed on to,” Heffley says. “And as soon as he put weight on it so that he could start moving again, all of the sudden [the rock] just blew off. He fell straight down, and that was scary.”

By the time we had packed up all of our gear, it was already past noon, meaning climbing time was over. The disappointment of a failed climb hurts, especially when you know you won’t get another shot at it due to access restrictions.

Willow River climbing routes: What are all the different ways to make it to the top of the Dry Music Cliff?

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The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources enforces the limited access to protect the delicate ecosystems of the cliffs. Aaron Mason, the park superintendent for Willow River State Park and DNR representative, shed more light on the climbing restrictions.

“The Wet Music Cliff and the Dry Music Cliff are considered endangered or threatened,” Mason says. “[Climbers] can’t really damage the dry area, but the wet areas can be damaged more, so we try to avoid any type of people climbing on that part of the cliff because there’s a lot more living vegetation, lichens, mosses, stuff like that.”

The restrictions are also enforced to limit the flow of traffic. Hundreds of people can be around the falls during peak hours on weekends, which can create a real safety issue. Keeping everyone safe is the goal of the park, as well as maximizing availability for all park users.

“It’s really to try and keep the flow of people moving so that everyone gets a chance to be down there,” Mason says. “We have to find a balance of all the different things we have [among] camping, hiking, biking, climbing, fishing, painting [and] taking natural photography. There’s coming up with a balance of what works best for everybody.”

I posed this question of balancing activity with stewardship to UW-Madison professor Calvin DeWitt, an expert on land stewardship and wetland ecology, and an outdoor enthusiast. DeWitt has been masterfully walking the line between nature experiencer and nature protector for over 70 years.

“My approach … has been to thoroughly integrate myself into the system I’m climbing, hiking, walking, kayaking whatever,” DeWitt says.  “So much so that I become more of an expert at it than anyone [who] might criticize me being there.”

Mason and the DNR are faced with a difficult question at Willow River: How do they protect their beautiful resource while allowing people to experience it in a safe way?

Due to the restrictions in place, the rock is not climbed as frequently as it is in other places. If more people climbed on the route, Kopff would not have pulled off that piece of rock, because it would have fallen off years ago due to standard traffic and cleaning.

“With a little more diligence and cleaning the holds, with higher access, these climbs might see this happen a little less often,” Kopff says. “At a lot of rock walls, you don’t see holds breaking off like they do at Willow River because they see such a high concentration of climbers coming through.”

Willow River State Park is beautiful, and it certainly should not be a climbers’ playground. The park strives to make the land as accessible to everyone, but climbing is one of the best activities to deepen your appreciation for the natural world, as well as learn some amazing life lessons.

“I feel like with climbing I’ve really become aware of what it takes to get really good at something, the amount of dedication you have to put in, the hours and just how much love you actually have to have for something to become really good at it,” Kopff says. “Because without that love for whatever it is, you’re not going to have the passion to train through all the adversity.”

The battle between climber and nature is neverending. While Willow River may have won this round, Kopff knows that this isn’t the end. The only way to climb harder routes is to focus and train harder. In this light, climbing is a very simple sport.

The rock is there waiting for you, silently anticipating your next attempt. Nature is resilient. Beautiful rock formations can take millions of years to form, but humans in their infinite carelessness can destroy this. It should be the goal of all climbers to learn from their surroundings and grow into mentally strong climbers and environmentally conscious human beings.

A Trip to Willow River

Experience the sites from a climbing trip to Willow River State Park

 

Erick Kopff begins his morning doing pull-ups on the community playground in the campsite of Willow River State Park. Due to the difficulty of the climbing at the park, this is the only way for him to warm up his muscles before climbing on Sept. 21, 2014 in Hudson, Wisconsin.

The trailhead is stamped with the climbing restrictions, namely, no climbing on Saturday. The Department of Natural Resources limits climbing for a variety of reasons, but climbing is still allowed during specified times.

Erick Kopff flakes his rope before climbing at the base of Willow River Falls. Flaking is a process in which the climber will run the entirety of the rope through their hands ensuring that there are no knots or kinks in the rope.

Erick Kopff climbs Daily Grind (5.11a) on the Dry Music Cliff while being belayed by Craig Kleeberger. The route stays to the left of the large roof, making it one of the more popular routes due to its easier grade.

Erick Kopff and his partner Sarah Heffley gaze up at New Beginnings (5.12a). Preparation is a major key to success in climbing. It’s important to study the locations of holds and bolts, as well as gain an understanding of the sequence before beginning a climb.

Erick Kopff makes his way up New Beginnings (5.12a) on the Dry Music Cliff.

Erick was unable to make it to the top of New Beginnings (5.12a). Climbing is a difficult and strenuous sport full of challenges and failures. Kopff tries to treat each failure as a lesson in patience, but disappointment can be one of the harder challenges to grapple with. However, Kopff views failure as a necessary step in order to get stronger and climb harder routes.

About The Author

Photo Editor

Grey is a senior majoring in journalism at UW-Madison. You can't catch him without his camera. A trip to Colorado in high school put him on the path to be an avid climber and hiker. His goals include shooting photos for a magazine, and visiting every national park.