Darryl

A couple years ago some friends and myself decided that there was a need for a fund raising/organizing tool to help coordinate Washington climbers. As an attempt to kick start this process we produced a small guide, The Traveler’s Guide, which attempted to present to visiting or newly arrived climbers the best climbs of the Puget Sound. Using funds generated from the Traveler’s Guide, anchors/bolts have been replaced around the state most prominently at Darrington and the Index Town Walls. Anchors are being shipped to Squamish activists for use there. Funds were given to activists at the Frenchman’s Coulee. An offer was made to the State Parks Department to pay for the placement and maintenance of portable toilets at the Index Town Walls. As a follow up we envisioned an annual or biannual publication/newletter focusing on northwest climbing related activities. Such a publication would fill an, apparently vacant, info niche, help to organize climbers and provide a source of cash to support things such as anchor replacement, clean-up days/parking lot maintenance and the dissemination of information. During last summer we even went so far as to ask some people if they would be agreeable to writing a short write up on various things they had been doing. Unfortunately health problems of my (baby) son and a friend’s climbing related head injury put the project on the way back burner. After seeing the proliferation of climbing related web sites I began to think that maybe the project was a lost cause, however, recent comments here have caused me to reconsider. My experience with the Traveler’s Guide leads me to believe that not the benefits of such a publication are far greater than mere route information. If others concur and want to join in the effort, I would be more than willing to help make it a reality as well.