CLIMBING FEES CHANGING AT MOUNT RAINIER

Mount Rainier National Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga announces that the
proposed increase in climbing fees at Mount Rainier has been approved by
Pacific West Regional Director Christine Lehnertz, and is effective
immediately.

Climbers will now be charged $43 for an annual climbing pass which is good
through December 31 of the year it is purchased.  This is a $13 increase
from the previous fee of $30 which has been in effect since May, 2003.

In addition, the park is implementing a new $30 “youth” climbing pass for
climbers 24 years old and younger, in support of National Park Service and
Department of Interior initiatives, and in response to comments made during
public meetings the park held in November and December of 2010.  It is
estimated that 5-10% of the total climber volume is in this age group.

The public comment process involved three public meetings held in Seattle,
Tacoma and Ashford in November and December as well as one additional
meeting held in early February in Bellevue.  Attendees included
mountaineering groups, professional guides, rangers, independent climbers
from broad backgrounds, non-climbing public and mountain rescue groups.  An
Executive Summary, a Frequently Asked Questions document, and a Climbing
Program Cost Analysis were produced and posted on the Mount Rainier web
page (www.nps.gov/mora) and widely distributed.

After a thorough analysis of all of the comments submitted, the park staff
decided on the above fee structure for implementation.

Climbing fees, in addition to other park funding sources are used to
support climber services and management of climbing activities on Mount
Rainier.  These services and programs include: registering approximately
11,000 climbers each year; providing up-to-date climbing route and safety
information; updating weather, climbing, route, and climbing related
information on web blog; staffing ranger stations at Paradise and White
River; issuing climbing passes and providing updated information for
climbers; staffing two high camps (Camp Muir & Camp Schurman); briefing
hundreds of climbers during peak season; responding to numerous search and
rescues and emergency medical situations on the upper mountain; operating
and maintaining high camp facilities and communications systems;
maintaining toilets at the high camps and managing the “blue bag” and
“Leave No Trace programs; hauling several thousand pounds of human waste
off the upper mountain to processing facilities.  In addition, the revenue
from these fees allows the park to provide the climbing ranger staff
training in core skills, including mountaineering, search and rescue,
emergency medical services, incident management and aviation-related
training, to be able to perform their jobs in the extreme environment in
which they work.  Part of their job responsibilities also involves
monitoring the alpine wilderness areas for impacts related to visitor use
and climate change.

Superintendent Uberuaga said “I very much appreciate the ideas,
recommendations and feedback from all of the people who provided comments,
either at the public meetings or in writing.  Their participation helped us
make better decisions that will guide management of the climbing program
for the next several years.”

                                  -NPS-