Paying to Climb Outdoors

you don’t have to pay to climb at redwing….and temps are going up this weekend. PSYCHED

i generally only climb at areas that don’t charge you, much less even know if you are there. this would include the ENTIRE New River Gorge, Meadow River and Summersville Lake areas. Not to mention the hundreds of other pristine developed cliffs that the locals keep for themselves and their closest friends. yep, there’s a lot of rock in WV.

i remember having to pay at Eldo, Torrent and the like…but to keep numbers down it is better than a bouncer at the gate keeping the crowds limited.

i know at areas such as the Black, there is a log of who is on what route per day, the local ethic dictates that only one party be on a single route per day. this is a great way of not having to pay AND keeping the experience intact. however, good luck for that implementation policy at Miliscary or DL.

thoughts?

In the Black you register for the climb you are going to do, but any number of people can sign up for the same climb. Most just don’t because they don’t want to get stuck behind slower folks, but it’s not unusual to see multiple parties on Comic Relief or Escape Artist.

Paying for climbing seems to go against a lot of what people like about it, ie the freedom and all. I used to climb at the Gunks every weekend, but now that I hardly ever pay for climbing, it would tweak me a little. It all depends on what you get back in return, in terms of facilities and what not.

Also, usually at pay to play places you can get a season pass, which drastically reduces the cost. That’s the case at national parks, rifle, etc.

The do have a season pass at the Gunks which is not very expensive. This is similar to the National Parks Pass which is also quite affordable. Also the gunks provides free camping which offsets the cost of having to pay to climb.

Additionally at the Gunks you can still climb for free if you go to the Nears. It may not have as much bouldering as the carriage road but the routes are all still fun. If you were to look at the alternative, which could be a closure such as Torrent Falls, it would seem that paying is the least we can do.

As most people have said there are still plenty of places where you do not have to pay. But if you want to go do High-E then you will have to pay just like you pay to get into Eldo, Yosemite, Joshua Tree and many other climbing areas.

From the parking lot at the overlook, right before the overpass, you just walk 100 feet up on the left side of the road and then take a left when the guard rail ends to go to the nears. No rangers. It can be busy but there are so many routes its generally not a problem.

The yearly pass is $85 for the first person and $50 for another adult in the same household. http://www.mohonkpreserve.org/index.php?individual
Notice that it is a $35 premium to be a rock climbing over a hiker.

It seems to me that charging extra for climbing versus other activities is just a way to jump on the climbing bandwagon. The sport has grown from an isolated community of hard-core climbers (long, long ago) to readily accessible (thru your local gym) activity.

I’m not sure if the increased cost is intended to keep the pressure in some areas down? (i.e gov’t taxes the heck out of cigarettes in order to discourage use, and they make money from the diehards who just on’t quit) Or if it the perception that climbing results in so many more injuries that they are trying to recoup some additional ‘cost’ in allowing people to scale a vertical trail versus a horizontal one?

Good topic though….

The Gunks is privately held land, as opposed to state or federal land. For some reason, it doesn’t bother me a bit to support the Mohonk Preserve, whereas I do chafe at the bit about paying more than a nominal fee to get into government parks.

FYI – The Mohonk Preserve does offer a free membership(the $35 hiker’s version) for volunteers who donate something like 40 hours of work.

One good thing for poor climbers is that Camp Slime is free, and right next to the cliffs. That can be a savings for someone, if they are used to paying for camping, which can offset the day use fee.

I wish the Gunks had an “in-between” sort of thing for visiting climbers, though. It’s a yearly pass or a day pass, and that sucks for people who might make an annual pilgrimage of 4-5 days.

Still – it costs me what – $10/night to camp in Jtree plus the 7-day park pass. I go there twice a year for 2-week trips each visit. It’s about the same cost as camp/climbing at the Gunks and a National park! True, a much nicer camp….but I would be just as happy with more primitive situation.

And finally, as was mentioned above – Where there’s a will, there’s a way….But I don’t think it’s a good idea to publicize those “ways.”