OpenBeta Volunteer Rendezvous: October 2024 in Red Rock Canyon

Trip report from our 2nd-annual OpenBeta Volunteers weekend

May 20, 2025

Black Velvet Canyon with Epinephrine chimney visible on the right

This past October, OpenBeta volunteers gathered for our second OpenBeta & Friends weekend in the iconic Red Rock Canyon, just outside Las Vegas. With its world-class climbing and stunning desert landscapes, Red Rock was the perfect backdrop for a weekend of adventure, laughter, and community building.

No formal agenda — just camping and climbing with the people we usually only know from GitHub issues and Discord threads. At the belay and on the long approaches to the walls, the conversation kept coming back to OpenBeta—new features we’d love to build and how to keep growing the community around the project.

One hot topic: OSMAnd, an open source mobile app built on OpenStreetMap data, is incredibly handy for recording GPS tracks, which helps us map approaches to climbing walls and improve access data for everyone.

Thanks to everyone who came out — we can't wait for the next one!