INDEX, Wash. - Climber Jonah Harrison's effort to save the famous Index Lower Town Wall, a favorite climbing spot, is nearing its peak.
"Climbers love this place, climbers from around the world come here," he said.
Harrison, an attorney with the Washington Climbing Coalition, began his legal ascent to preserve this site several months ago after fellow climbers found "no trespassing" signs on the trail.
The owner, who had always been climber-friendly, had reportedly begun negotiations with mining companies who wanted to harvest valuable granite from the site.
Index granite helped build Seattle. It was used in the city's historic buildings and street curbs.
But for the last 50 years, the site has belonged to climbers who say very few places on earth offer such unique cracks and ledges.
Some of the region's and nation's most notable climbers reportedly cut their teeth on Index granite.
So Harrison and other climbing groups, including Access Fund, put together an offer to buy the wall from the owner.
"No" was her first response, says Harrison, but he says he and the others kept working on it and got enough donations to make a much larger down payment.
This time the owner, who still enjoys knowingclimberslove her cliff, said "yes." Now the group has 18 months to come up with the rest of the money it needs to keep the wall open for climbing forever.
The climbers will be holding several fundraisers. You can find out more at the following links:
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