Gatineau Park News News of the Gatineau Park

Climber Meeting Called – Frustration Evident

The ongoing saga of discussions between the NCC and rock climbers in Gatineau Park resurfaced yesterday with the posting at the Climbers’ Coalition website of documents and a call for a climber meeting August 17^th.

While both sides are making considerable efforts at reaching agreement there remains a real risk that the lack of a happy middle ground might mean a losing situation for all.

The NCC consider the climbers a very small user group and have still invested considerable time in considering their needs. The climbers are all volunteers but have still organized a sophisticated management plan and offered many forms of collaboration in attaining NCC conservation objectives.

Yet the current state of play is that the number of climbing routes that the NCC seems willing to consider may turn out to be too few to keep the coalition together as a representative of the climbing community.

Though meetings and discussions have taken place, what hasn’t been happening is a working relationship. The Coalition’s Climbing Management Plan proposes climbs that could remain open including ecological considerations and management options. The NCC has rejected many of these and given its reasons, but without exploring with the climbers whether there were control options that could mitigate those concerns.

If the August 17^th climber meeting votes to reject the NCC offer the loss to the climbers is clear but there is a significant loss to the NCC as well. The Coalition is a sophisticated partner that can work with the NCC to educate park users, protect the park ecosystem and even facilitate liability coverage against climber injury. The people the Coalition represents are committed wilderness lovers who as partners will support NCC conservation objectives. If the strained relationship reaches the breaking point the NCC loses these assets and likely gains rogue park users intent on circumventing climbing restrictions. It also loses face with many other park power-users already skeptical of the NCC's commitment to openness and dialogue.

Reading over the 42 pages of meeting minutes, management plan and NCC reaction posted by the Coalition yesterday one can sense the tension in the room, feel the collaborative spirit when things were going well, see the hard work that went into the plan, and share the sense of helplessness at the remaining gap between the needs of each side.

Both sides in this drama are serious players, I just wish they’d pick up the phone and talk to each other more often. I’m imagining… “You suggest Baby Pneu, we have a problem with that. The staging area is too close to the stream. Any suggestions?”…

That climbers meeting takes place at 7pm on August 17th in the conference room of the Jean Talon building at Tunney's Pasture (1st floor Building 5, 170 Tunney's Pasture Driveway)

View Jean Talon building at Tunney's Pasture in a larger map