Protect Icicle Canyon Climbing
We need your help to permanently protect threatened climbing in Icicle Canyon outside Leavenworth, Washington. Some of the most coveted climbing areas in the canyon are located on unprotected, privately owned land, where residential development is butting up against recreational use. We need the climbing community to come together to help us protect these privately owned parcels as public land.
Photo Courtesy of:© Austin Siadak
Earlier this year, Access Fund made significant investments from its Climbing Conservation Loan Program (CCLP) to acquire Alphabet Rock, Icehouse Boulders, and the initial access path to Givler’s Dome, with funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and additional grant money. Now, we are working with the U.S. Forest Service to give these climbing areas a permanent home within Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, as public lands.
However, there are several other historic and popular crags in central Icicle Canyon that are still unprotected. We need your support to ensure that this unprotected climbing is acquired and integrated into our public lands system before climbing access is lost forever.
Donate today to help us protect climbing in Icicle Canyon. The first $10,000 will be generously matched by our local partners: The Mountaineers, Leavenworth Mountain Association, Washington Climbers Coalition, and Northwest Mountain School!
WHAT’S AT STAKE
- Climbing access could be lost if these private lands are sold to new landowners, who could close access or build houses at the base of these crags.
- The climbing community would lose some of the best local spots to teach and learn climbing skills outdoors.
- These critical inholdings to Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest have rich conservation values, which are being jeopardized by residential development.
Photo Courtesy of:© Kurt Hicks
SUPPORTING PARTNERS
- Chelan-Douglas Land Trust
- Leavenworth Mountain Association
- The Mountaineers
- Northwest Mountain School
- Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest
- Washington Climbers Coalition
- Bevis Family
- John R. & M. Margrite Davis Foundation
- Access Fund
- And you?
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- June 15, 2020: Access Fund Purchases Climbing Areas Outside Leavenworth, Washington
- Project Financials
Icicle Canyon is located on ancestral lands of Yakama and np̓əšqʷáw̓səxʷ (Wenatchi). Icicle Canyon’s native name is Nasikelt, meaning “narrow bottom canyon.”