On Tuesday, May 6 Kimberley Alpine Resort general manager Christine Schultheis, on behalf of the Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR) presented a cheque to Marc Trudeau of the East Kootenay Climbing Association for $1,000.
Trudeau explained that the association was initially established to help foster and promote climbing in the East Kootenay.
"These funds are going to go towards basically helping the sustainability of the climbing community and making crags hopefully safer by replacing bolts as needed, or adding new ones, and creating new routes in new areas," he said.
By making these climbing areas safer, Trudeau said he hopes it will encourage more people to want to try climbing, including youth and beginners.
"Part of it is that most people who usually begin climbing often start in climbing gyms and then they progress to going outside and I think to get outside and climb you need to have environments that are hopefully safe to climb," he said.
"We have a group of dedicated folks that are watching what’s happening with some of the crags in terms of the hardware that’s out there. Some need to be replaced and some need to be installed properly and we have the right people to do that. It’s great."
He added he's not yet exactly sure where the new bolts will be installed, but he has a few ideas.
"It’s hard to say, there’s so many crags in the area actually nowadays, but I would say that there’s still going to be room for some things in Perry Creek," Trudeau said. "It’s one of the more established climbing areas and it’s also one of the first sanctioned areas in the East Kootenay under Recreation Sites and Trails BC. It’s an actual rec. site and so I would suspect some of those bolts will go towards that."
Trudeau added the East Kootenay Climbing association is really appreciative of the support from RCR and their contribution towards the local and regional climbing communities.
"Thank you to you guys for all of your hard work and efforts that you put in towards making this all happen," Schultheis said. "It’s much appreciated."
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