Unlike Congress, Climb Smart Not Shut Down

 

CLIMB SMART IS ON FOR OCTOBER 18-20 AT JOSHUA TREE LAKE CAMPGROUND AND FOR CLINICS, AT VARIOUS SITES IN THE AREA.  THE PARK CLOSURE DOES NOT CLOSE OFF THE CLIMBING COMMUNITY!

Friends Of Joshua Tree, as part of a nationwide network of climbing advocacy groups, regrets the failure of our government to function just as climbing season opens in the arid regions of the US.  This failure deeply affects not just FOJT, but our friends at JOSAR (Joshua Tree Search & Rescue), the local Joshua Tree gateway community and the entire global climbing community of Joshua Tree.  We (along with our friends at Access Fund and AAC) demand that Congress immediately open Joshua Tree National Park and every desert climbing area managed by the NPS to facilitate visitation and commerce critical to the region and the health of organizations like JOSAR and FOJT across the country.

The FOJT Climb Smart event is still planned to stage October 18-20, as a large portion of the event happens outside of the Park boundaries.  Contingency plans are under development for the elements of Climb Smart that are currently planned inside the Park boundaries.  We will be posting updates to our website and to registrants of the event regularly as the situation unfolds.  Thanks for your patience and if there is one thing you might do about this, please reach out to your local congressional representative to let them know that this form of negotiation is unacceptable to the American public and that consequences will be delivered by an empowered and connected network of passionate climbers via the power of our vote and the sway of our influence in our greater communities (over 12 million climbers in the US).

Board Of Directors, Friends Of Joshua Tree