Index purchased!!!

[summitchaserCJB]

:tup:

[andyf]

Very good news. I wasn't aware that the parking lot was another parcell.

 

And what is this about a bridge over the RR?

 

State Parks negotiated a 25-year agreement with BNSF to establish a crossing right over the tracks. The WCC funded the deal ($5,000) out of our Index fundraising. The deal just got finalized last week. There won't be a bridge, but rather a board crossing of the tracks (like you'd see at a driveway) with fencing put up along the LTW side of the tracks. Climbers who are headed left to the LTW and right to the Country/UTW will need to hike along the other side of the fence from the tracks to keep the RR happy.

 

We can continue using the current parking area (which is mostly in BNSF's right-of-way). We might eventually be able to move the parking area over to the Gun Club property (currently owned by the Forest Service), but that's probably a few years away.

 

Andy Fitz, WCC

[num1mc]

Everyone involved should feel fortunate that there is not a need to build a bridge over the RR tracks. Such a structure could run to $250-300K very easily, depending on ADA requirements, geo-technical and engineering requirements.

 

And any pit toilets are going to be pricey, but given the number of homeless people, meth-heads and partyers, any toilet is (probably) going to be un usably crammed with (non-crap) crap. I would also imagine a pit toilet will run about $50K. Most places where pit toilets are used successfully are in locations where access is denied except for during operating hours. This would be a large change to the status quo at Index, and may be met with resistance

[mattp]

There are some issues to work out here, for sure, Mr MC, but the whole point of buying the area was to maintain access and we're looking for solutions that don't involve hourly closures or seasonal ones. You are right about the concerns you note and we'll be looking for good solutions here.

 

And, Stephan, thanks for the thanks but this was truly a team effort. Some folks who dug really deep for this thing probably won't come forward to claim credit but we had a lot of people working on this, both on our "team" and off. Over 400 individual people have donated to the fund so far, and over a dozen local businesses and clubs also kicked in.

 

This recent bit of publicity is helping to push us toward our fund raising goal, and some kind of toilet type facility is definitely on our list of projects. Mr. MC is right that it'll be expensive. Think of the Index Fund next time you drink coffee on the way to the crag!

[Sherri]

Speaking of issues, it seemed like there were more folks bivying/car camping in the parking lot this summer than I remember seeing in the last few years. Have to wonder if toilet facilities will facilitate the parking lot turning into a climber's campground.

[mattp]

Maybe we can set it up with a retinal scanner and you can only enter the can to poop there every other day or something.

[Sherri]

Maybe we can set it up with a retinal scanner and you can only enter the can to poop there every other day or something.

 

I'm not putting my eye in there.

[Rad]

A toilet will require some creative thinking and a chunk of change, but it is definitely needed. Plenty of state parks have toilets that are perfectly nice. Not state park, but the toilets by the Serene trailhead are quite nice. The FS permit gestapo patrol that place frequently, which may help keep the riff raff away.

[toproper]

how about a "pay to poo" set up? Seriously, with a dollar per dump we could generate some income!!

 

Huge thanks to all involved. This is great news for climbers current and future.

[summitchaserCJB]

or a debit card type setup that limits to one dump a day.

[num1mc]

It would be nice if my shit-house opinion was needlessly jaundiced. The FS has pit toilets at the Tumwater penstock bridge and at Stevens Pass. To my knowledge, these locations have not received the severe mistreatment that has occurred at Vantage by (?) concert goers.

 

Another question: Now that the necessary budget has been trimmed by the removal of bridge construction, what is planned with the remaining funds???