Media frenzy!!

[pigsteak]

I do find this starstruck hero worship quite entertaining...

[clif]

take 5 minutes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBmAPYkPeYU

[THB]

thanks for keeping everything "safe", clif...

i also hope he doesn't do the ticket 1st try...

[tbwilsonky]

the only way to stop this madness is.... booby traps.

[stix]

lamest shit i've ever read. who gives a fuck. doubt he'll have much trouble with pure imagination. adam taylor sure didn't seem to. i'm sure it's softer than god's own stone. girls do it for fucks sake. i hope he onsights and downrates everything. might help alleviate some traffic in the fall time.

[climb2core]

Ha ha ha, because clearly the masses are showing up for those soft 14c's and 14d's.

[Dhaulagiri]

Ha ha ha, because clearly the masses are showing up for those soft 14c's and 14d's.

I know I am. Get ready Ian.

[whatahutch]

might help alleviate some traffic in the fall time.

I say bring on the media and the crowds. The more people that come to the Red to climb the better.

Let me preface this with stating that I am neither a communist nor a capitalist because I see that both have inherent flaws. Let me also say that the biggest problem I see with more people is ecological, but I believe that that is easily managed - and managed is the key term - by sustainably developing more walls and opening and publishing those walls to the public.

So here is why media frenzies and crowded parking lots are good. It boils down to positive economical and political pull. Say that every climber in the Red has 10 dollars that goes to a six pack of good beer, bought at the beer trailer at the end of the day. I heard once from a representative of the Small Business Administration that mark up on products is about 20 percent. So the beer trailer gets two bucks from every six pack. This may not be true, but I am just using this as an example. Tax rate for alcohol is 11 percent. So there is roughly a buck of that $10 going back into taxes for the state.

Lets do the math for the climbers that Rick and Liz brought in just this year. I saw a post last week from Rick that stated something like 35,000 climbers have visited Muir in the last year. If all of them drop $10 on beer you have $350,000 dollars spent at the beer trailer this year. If you take 20 percent as profit margin for the beer trailer they would have made $70,000 dollars this year. At an 11 percent tax rate, $38,500 in tax revenue was created selling beer to climbers.

Okay, add pizza and burgers at Miguel's and and The Rock House, respectively. Add plane tickets of climbers. Add gas, add cabin rentals, add camping and climbing equipment, add land purchases, add bolts and glue and everything else it takes to keep improving to the mix. Add millions to the cause for climbing and guess what you get. Money in today's society equals political pull, add media spot light and Adam Ondra can become the president. Okay, so I blew that one out of proportion there. However, the more people that come to the Red to climb, the more economical benefits are created, and the more political pull we have as community of climbers. Climbers could really start influencing legislators and bureaucrats into designating more areas for climbing. Just think of the great climbing potential at certain state parks that aren't just in the Red. Kentucky could become the worlds sport climbing destination because of the sheer amount and quality of the rock in this state. I saw someone suggest a few years ago that maybe only one to two percent of the climbable rock in Kentucky have been developed. I think that is a low suggestion, but I doubt it is much higher than that.

Maybe I am just dreaming though. Maybe my math is off. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe though, just maybe, more climbers are a good thing. Maybe more climbers, and the media spotlight isn't such a headache for economically deprived counties like Lee County.

I wonder if both Miguel's and the Rock House could have both succeeded 15 years ago, or even 10, by catering to the crowds at the crags that existed back then.

[pigsteak]

you do have it wrong...we locals want all the clout and street cred without the crowds.

[clif]

whatahutch, this will only work if muir is dammed and allows DWS throughout the summer