Climbing Holiday Gift Guide: Access Fund Membership (Matched Through Dec 15!)
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
Need a gift for that special climber in your life? We’re running new product recommendations every weekday until the holidays. Check out the rest of the list.
This June the Climbing staff spent a day volunteering with the Front Range Climbing Stewards (FRCS), improving trails in Upper Dream Canyon just outside of Boulder. It was hard work. We split rocks and lugged 100+ pound blocks to build stairs. At the end of the day, we hadn’t completed the stairway, but we’d helped the full-time FRCS team make progress on the project. Today, the Oceanic Wall at Upper Dream Canyon has a beautiful approach trail due to their efforts. Thanks to funding from the Access Fund (AF) and our local climbing organization, Boulder Climbing Community, the FRCS team spent the summer working full time to improve the climbing areas around Boulder.
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The Access Fund partners with local climbing organizations for projects around the country. They also work hard to ensure that our nation’s crags stay open. Right now AF is working to pass a law that would legitimize bolting on public lands, and that’s just one of their many current campaigns. Joining AF is like giving a gift to the entire outdoor climbing community. (They also do gift memberships.)
Even better, right now Black Diamond and a group of anonymous donors are matching all contributions—up to $75,000 total—through December 15. Join at the $35 level and AF will receive $70. Join at the $50 level and AF will get $100, and you will get a free t-shirt. Or, if you donate $75,000, they’ll get $150,000! Wouldn’t that be amazing, to contribute $150,000 to our nation’s climbing areas? I joined at the $50 level, with an additional $15 donation to my local climbing organization. And if supporting outdoor rock climbing isn’t enough, they have other member benefits like discounts on gear (and Climbing Magazine subscriptions).
Do your part, donate $75,000 today. Or $35.
