ROCK Project Tour Climbing in Popularity

Black Diamond Equipment and the Access Fund kicked off the six-stop 2015 ROCK Project Tour with a successful, sold out launch in San Francisco in mid-March. ROCK Project is designed to inspire the growing populations of gym climbers to embrace responsible habits and behaviors when they make the transition outside.

“ROCK Project raises awareness on how we can all be better stewards of the fragile climbing environments we visit,” states Touchstone Climbing and Fitness’ Lyn Barraza, manager of Berkeley Ironworks. “Touchstone looks forward to playing a role in creating cohesive vision within our climbing communities on how best to preserve our local crags and favorite climbing destinations.”

2015 ROCK Project Tour kicked off March 13-15, with a weekend of events including athlete poster signings, climbing clinics, gear raffles, presentations and stewardship projects. Highlights from the weekend included over 200 climbers attending the Planet Granite Climbing, Yoga & Fitness fundraising party where roughly $5,800 was raised for Bay Area Climbers Coalition (BACC) and the Access Fund. The tour stop in San Francisco also included a stewardship project organized by BACC in partnership with the City of Berkeley. Approximately 75 participants from the tour were involved in projects that included picking up trash, brushing off climbing chalk, trail maintenance, weeding and pulling invasive plants in areas affected by high climbing traffic.

ROCK Project will be pivotal in helping new climbers make the transition from gym to crag responsibly,” explains Stephanie Ko Pound, Planet Granite’s Senior Director of Bay Area and Marketing.

Professional climbers Brittany Griffith, Joe Kinder, Paul Robinson, Kate Rutherford, Chris Schulte, and Cedar Wright attended the weekend festivities.

The ROCK Project Tour makes its next stop in Salt Lake City, April 10-12, with the support of local partners Momentum Indoor Climbing, REI, and Salt Lake Climbers Alliance (SLCA). An all-star cast of professional climbers will attend including Whitney Boland, Paige Claassen, Sam Elias, Hazel Findlay, Daniel Jung, Joe Kinder, Daila Ojeda, JP Ouellete, Chris Schulte, and Barbara Zangerl. In addition to athlete presentations throughout the weekend, there will be a fundraising membership party for the Access Fund and SLCA, climbing clinics and a graffiti and trash removal project scheduled in Little Cottonwood Canyon on Sunday, April 12.

Future 2015 ROCK Project Tour stops include New York, Seattle, Denver, and Atlanta.

Black Diamond Equipment is a manufacturer of equipment and clothing for climbing, skiing and mountain sports. By consistently building innovative, standard-setting products and actively preserving the mountain/canyon environment, Black Diamond Equipment has assumed a leadership role in the international outdoor community. For more information on Black Diamond Equipment, visit BlackDiamondEquipment.com

The Access Fund is the national advocacy organization that keeps climbing areas open and conserves the climbing environment. The Access Fund supports and represents over 6.8 million climbers nationwide in all forms of climbing: rock climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering, and bouldering. Six core programs support the mission on national and local levels: climbing management policy, stewardship and conservation, local support and mobilization, land acquisition and protection, risk management and landowner support, and education. For more information visit www.accessfund.org