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Climbing Is A Growing Sport, Says New Report

City of Rocks is a popular climbing destination in Idaho.
Courtesy National Park Service
City of Rocks is a popular climbing destination in Idaho.

More and more people are becoming rock climbers, and the economic effects are big in our region. That’s according to a new report from the American Alpine Club.

 Click 'play' to hear the audio version pf this story.

Nearly half a million new climbers found the sport over the course of a year. According to the report, the sport is a big contributor to the economy, and in Western States, 70% of climbing areas are on public lands.  

“Those public lands are essential not only to our craft, our activity and therefore for many of us sort of our purpose in life, they’re also essential to the economic engine which is represented in one slice by the $12.5 billion climbers add to the economy,” says Phil Powers, president of the Alpine Club.

The sport does lack diversity though.

“It’s still a very white and male activity, especially when you get outside the gyms,” says Powers. 

He says his group is working on that through grants to help facilitate women and people of color getting out on the rocks. 

Find reporter Amanda Peacher on Twitter @amandapeacher.

Copyright 2019 Boise State Public Radio

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada, and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.

Copyright 2019 Boise State Public Radio News

Amanda Peacher is an Arthur F. Burns fellow reporting and producing in Berlin in 2013. Amanda is from Portland, Oregon, where she works as the public insight journalist for Oregon Public Broadcasting. She produces radio and online stories, data visualizations, multimedia projects, and facilitates community engagement opportunities for OPB's newsroom.
Amanda Peacher
Amanda Peacher works for the Mountain West News Bureau out of Boise State Public Radio. She's an Idaho native who returned home after a decade of living and reporting in Oregon. She's an award-winning reporter with a background in community engagement and investigative journalism.