The Hills Are Alive … With Mountain Climbing Trash Pickers

APR 12, 2017 

90.5 WESA

 

Emerald View Park encircles Mt. Washington, Duquesne Heights and Allentown in a tight hug, an embrace from which Derek Stuart prepared to depart.

He stood on the grassy expanse that separates the sloping, western end of Grandview Avenue from the steep drop to the rivers’ edge and laid out a climbing rope beside bright pops of blue, red, orange and purple webbing.

“It’s just high-angle trash collection,” said Stuart, 54, of Fox Chapel. “Sometimes I think the outdoor community, we’re a bit selfish. We use the outdoor spaces, we go hiking, climbing and things. So when we can help clean things up and make things better we do our best to join in.”

Stuart is part of the Explorers Club of Pittsburgh, which organizes an annual Mt. Washington hillside clean-up with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and the Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group... Read the full article