How much is too much to pay for climbing access?
-
In another climbing forum, user Leslie H. warns of a proposed $5/day parking fee for the Wrinkled Rock Climbing Area, and points to the financial impact to climbers visiting the area.
N.B. do not participate or brigade other communities, please keep the discussion confined here
My local crag is managed by Conservation Halton, who charges about $12 CAD for a day pass (which includes parking). Since I live in a suburban area, and the conservation authority serves the entire Greater Toronto Area, I feel this is well worth the cost.
This money doesn't go towards the local climbing community, so I encourage those I climb with to also get memberships with the Ontario Alliance of Climbers (~$20/year)
That said, do you pay to climb at your local crag? How much do you pay, and would you stomach a price increase?
-
I'm not opposed to paying for access to outdoor climbing. It does take resources to maintain the trails and routes in an area, and I believe the people that do that should get paid for their work.
I do wonder how reasonable this pricing is. Given that LCOs exist and take responsibility for crag and trail management, and given that these tend to rely on donations, I'm not fully convinced that a flat fee of $5/day is the best option. Another thread in news talked about the accessibility of gym pricing and "pay what you can." I like to believe that climbing can be financially sustainable based on donations from those who can afford it.
My LCO, Southeastern Climbers Coalition, does some fun events and such that incentivize membership. For example, I "accidentally" became a member when I signed up and paid registration fees for one of their bouldering competitions. I think things like that are a great idea! Maybe a more accessible way of getting money for maintenance would be to look at fundraising tactics like that as opposed to flat fees that are clearly opposed by at least some considerable portion of climbers
-
Complicating matters somewhat is that in the case of Wrinkled Rock, the fee is actually levied by a concessionaire, whose revenue from the fee would most likely not go towards promoting access or other climbing related amenities.
I definitely understand the point of view that paying the concessionaire — essentially a middleman — seems over the top given access was formerly free of charge.
