Climbers Donate Index Town Wall to Washington State Parks

OLYMPIA — In early March, the Washington Climbers Coalition, a rock climbing advocacy group, donated 20 acres that include some of the state’s finest rock climbs to Washington State Parks.

This donation caps over twenty years of conservation and public access efforts focused on the Lower Town Wall, a granite crag near Index, Wash. Washington State Parks has agreed to manage the property as a climbing park in order to forever preserve public climbing access at this exciting destination.

The Lower Town Wall at Index has been one of Washington’s most popular climbing destinations for more than 60 years. Public access was never in question at the site until, in 2009, the private property owner put up "no trespassing" signs. The Washington Climbers Coalition worked with partner groups, including the Access Fund, the American Alpine Club and the Mountaineers to raise funds and purchase that property.

“Many climbers initially considered the Lower Town Wall as a training area for trips to more famous destinations including Yosemite Valley, in California,” said Matt Perkins, a co-founder of the Washington Climbers Coalition. “But beginning around 1980, the Lower Town Wall came into its own — many of us found it almost the other way around: We’d return to Index after a spring climbing trip to Yosemite and find that we were ready to tackle some of the famous test pieces that the Lower Town Wall was known for.”

Climbers have worked with private, State and Federal land managers to support climbing activity in the Index area for decades. State Parks has already worked with the Washington Climbers Coalition to adopt a climbing management plan for the area. Meanwhile, the Washington Climbers Coalition added a vault toilet and improved access trails on the property and adjacent state lands to improve sustainability.

Additionally, the Washington Climbers Coalition is continuing to fundraise for the purchase of the adjacent "Lower Lump" property with more rock climbing opportunities. The property was purchased with an Access Fund Climbing Conservation loan in 2023. To help close the funding gap, State Parks secured a state-funded Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program grant.

“Washington State Parks already manages other climbing areas at locations like Beacon Rock, Larrabee and other State Parks, and we are proud to take on the Lower Town Wall as part of Forks of the Sky State Park” said State Parks Northwest Region Superintendent Jess Logan. “We look forward to continued collaboration and stewardship with the climbing community.”

This historic milestone comes at a time when more examples of shared stewardship and community partnerships with land managers are needed here and across the nation. The area teams with climbers nearly year-round and the town of Index has hosted a climbers festival each fall.

Once dubbed one of America’s top ten climbing destinations, the Lower Town Wall rocks on.

About the Washington Climbers Coalition

The Washington Climbers Coalition is a non-profit organization whose mission is to make Washington a better place to climb through advocacy, stewardship, and education. We have worked with climbers, land managers, and others with an interest in places where rock climbing occurs in Washington since 2004.