How Squamish made $25 million off climbing (and what that means for access)

Climbing access should never be taken for granted. 

Hundreds of boulders in Oak Flat could be lost thanks to a land transfer to a copper mining company. A popular crag in the Red River Gorge was shuttered last year.

One key to keeping climbs open? Show people the money. 

That’s the approach taken by the Squamish Access Society, which published a study on March 24 showing that climbers directly spent $25 million (in local currency) in that community. 

This created regional spinoff benefits that, when combined with direct spending, the report valued at $42 million. The results were based on 566 surveys and 128 field counts collected in 2025.

“These kinds of studies are important in the medium-to-long term for maintaining access,” said Toby Foord-Kelcey, the society director who pitched the idea for a study.

“You may not need it right now, but you have it in your back pocket…whenever there’s an issue, and you need to make the case right then and there that climbing is important.”

Squamish isn’t the only place to use this tactic. 

A number of studies have occurred throughout the years, ranging from Mount Washington Valley to Tennessee.

Locals in Bishop commissioned a report that showed climbers spend $15.6 million each year there. 

Red River Gorge climbers used their own economic impact study to ensure as much access as possible. It showed an $8.7 million annual windfall. 

“They needed to make a case like, ‘Look, you got all these young, surprisingly affluent people coming to one of the poorest parts of the US, and they are spending money,” said Foord-Kelcey when describing the Red. “You need to open up all this fantastic climbing for them, and the numbers will keep growing.”

How much the average climber is spending 

In the case of Squamish, the new study found the average visiting climber is often in their 20s or 30s, and spends about $773 dollars on an average trip, which typically lasts about 16 days. It may not seem like a lot individually, but collectively, that wound up being $21 million. 

“They’re young. They’re not spending as much as some other kinds of tourists. But they’re still spending,” said Foord-Kelcey. “They’re also here for a long time…it’s a very, very loyal group of people.”

The highest spending visitors tend to be from the nearby Vancouver area, said Peter Larose, principal of Larose Research and the study’s author.

These folks tend to spend about $115 a day and visit for one or two nights each trip, he said. 

On the other hand, more frugal travelers are from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and the Pacific Northwestern area of the United States. They tend to spend about $1,000 to $1,500 per month. 

“They tend to be in larger groups to spread out costs [and] stay for longer durations,” said Larose.

“[These] visitors are more likely to arrive in their own vehicle, so they may be more likely to be car camping, couch surfing, or packed into campsites.”

Finally, resident climbers in Squamish were also found to be significant contributors to the economy. The study found they spend an average of $2,700 each in 2025. Their total contribution wound up being about $4.3 million.

Larose, a longtime climber himself, also took note of the optics in having climbers commission a study to show the economic benefits of the sport. 

“Part of what I don’t like about doing economic impact analysis is people often assume there’s this sort of underlying motive,” he said. “But you just dig into the methodology section of the report and you’ll see this is a pretty robust methodology. It’s about as robust as you can get without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The analyses were guided by the standards from the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. National Visitor Use Monitoring program, and methodologies established by BC Stats in collaboration with Destination BC to measure tourism and outdoor recreation economic impacts.

“We had 128 days of counting and surveys conducted with 566 surveys completed that were reviewed by people from BC Stats from Destination BC. The methodology has been consistent with what’s been done in a dozen other studies,” Larose said. 

 

Infrastructure is key in turning climbing into a money-maker

Turning climbing into a money-maker isn’t quite as simple as ‘build it and they will come.’

“Bolting a bunch of routes in the middle of nowhere and expecting to become the next great…climbing destination; it just won’t happen,” said Larose. 

Land management, infrastructure, capacity and marketing, are all related and need to be aligned, he said. Having a local access group to take a stewardship role is also a big ingredient for success.

It’s not just about great climbing. It’s also about having a supportive framework around it. 

Foord-Kelcey had similar thoughts, highlighting the importance of accommodations.

“If you want the 20-to-30something long-vacationing, loyal climbing crowd, it’s good if you can facilitate them with somewhere to stay,” he said. “And Squamish does manage that, but it manages it more accidentally than intentionally.”

The area has provincial campgrounds at the Stawamus Chief, as well as a sizable amount of public land where people are allowed to camp for up to 14 days. 

He said however, one particular challenge is parking. 

The municipality is proposing paid parking in a number of climbing areas. The study shows that four out of five resident climbers would climb less as a result. 

On top of that, some of the most popular areas like Murrin Park are consistently full. 

“That’s a difficult topic,” said Foord-Kelcey. “It would be nice to see more municipal and provincial attention to it, but I don’t think we have the solutions for them. It requires everybody to think hard about it. It is one of the few topics that came up as a pronounced negative about Squamish.”

 

How an economic impact study helped Red River Gorge climbers win access 

Having been out for only a couple days, it’s too soon to know what the effect of Squamish’s study will be. 

However, elsewhere, there’s at least one case where this type of information has yielded results. 

That would be the Red River Gorge.

Louie Allen, executive director of the Red River Gorge Climbers’ Coalition, said an economic impact study was a valuable tool that led to changes in the law favourable to climbers.

The document, authored by James Maples, showed lawmakers in Kentucky that climbing was making $8.7 million a year. 

This information helped secure a win for climbers at the Kentucky Legislature. An amendment to KY Recreational Use Statute 411.190 was passed last year. 

It extends liability protections to private landowners who allow people to climb on their property.

The bottom line? Property owners who don’t have to worry about getting sued when a climber gets hurt are more likely to let people access their land. 

“That’s an indirect example, but it wouldn’t be possible without the data we have from the economic impact study,” Allen said. 

On top of that, he also noted the study has been an effective rallying point for fundraising. 

“That economic impact study data was also critical in securing over one million dollars in grants last year to help make our Ashland purchase,” he said. “That purchase resulted in the formation of our Cave Fork Recreational Preserve and expanded our Miller Fork and Pendergrass Murray Recreational Preserves.”

Another leader with the coalition also noted positive effects from the study.

The promise of climbers spending money is an incentive for locals, said Bill Strachan, executive director emeritus of the Red River Gorge Climbers’ Coalition.

“The response of local governments to the economic impacts has been to want to become involved in and support the activities of the RRGCC in any way they can,” he said. “This includes such things as installing informational kiosks on the RRGCC properties and tabling at the RRGCC’s annual Rocktoberfest event.”

Strachan said that the study has encouraged businesses in the area to invest in expanding their businesses or extending their seasonal opening times. 

“This encourages climbers to visit more often, stay for longer periods of time, or even to move to the area,” he said.

It’s a virtuous cycle, as those climbers become more invested in the area and volunteer their time and money to help maintain access.

At the end of the day, Strachan’s final thoughts suggest Red River Gorge’s economic impact study has been, at the very least, a worthwhile pursuit.  

“With the multiple land acquisition successes we have experienced since the original purchase of the Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve, it has worked beyond our wildest dreams,” he said. 

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