The SCC, for those of you who don’t know, is the Southeastern Climbers Coalition. It is a non-profit organization which works to preserve climbing areas in the Southeast for generations to come. It is funded by two main ways: fundraisers and memberships. The fundraisers are made possible by the SCC individuals who organize the event, volunteers, local businesses, and brands who provide schwag to be raffled, given, or auctioned off. Memberships are the second stream of revenue the SCC needs to sustain itself. When I say sustain itself, I mean be able to operate. When I say be able to operate, I mean organize trail days, fundraising events, and for god sake assist in providing access to MORE CLIMBING! To recap for those who only read bullet points, the SCC...
Works with national, state, and local governments and public land managers to preserve access on public lands.
Works with private landowners to open and preserve access on private lands.
Raises money to purchase or lease climbing areas from private landowners. The SCC then manages these areas to keep them open to climbing.
If you climb at Boat Rock, Rocktown, Cumberland Boulders, Denny Cove, Moss Rock, Sandrock, Obed, Hospital Boulders, Sunset, Deep Creek, Yellow Bluff, and many more, the SCC has in some way since its inception had a hand in facilitating access, managing access, or straight up bought the crag and therefore made it open to climb to folks like you and I. Since initially writing this, the good folks at the SCC have acquired two more areas! One is Hells Kitchen and one is access to Dogwood Boulders. Trust me when I say anyone and everyone will be extremely impressed with both of these...HUGELY as some political figures may say!
I recently learned that the SCC has right around 1000 members. Membership is $35 a year and provides you with a shirt worth about $20. The lack of members absolutely shocked me! There are probably 1000 climbers on a good day at LRC. There are definitely 1000 climbers on a good weekend at any major climbing gym. A couple day passes to either of these cost at least $30. To climb at Denny Cove, Deep Creek, Hospital Boulders, is free…because of the SCC. So with that said, I present to you 12 things you can forgo this year to become an actual SCC member and truly call yourself part of the Southern climbing culture.
Forgo 1 day of climbing at the gym to climb outside. Denny Cove is now open every day…just sayin. So are many more "free crags"
Roughly 10 Kombuchas throughout the year. Yes, I love them too, but get some unflavored tea, a couple glass gallon jugs and an alien looking Scobey and make your own.
If you grow 3 or 4 tomato plants, I guarantee you will reap at least $30 worth of tomato’s. Just add water.
One six pack every 3 months, or one beer while eating out every month. Sounds really simple when you put it this way. This may be the most difficult one to execute I might add – expert level SCC penny pincher status.
One more guidebook – Chances are, 9 out of 10 will have the guidebook at these main areas. Chances are you will enjoy climbing what looks cool to you rather than what the book says is cool. This is stated confidently from experience.
The math is dubious at best but it is safe to say that if you keep your dwelling 1 degree cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer you will save at least $30 that year.
Buy black beans and La Croix in bulk. Its a known fact every climber consumes both of these at extraordinary rates, so buy alot of them at once. Its just economics.
Trade 1 coffee a month you would normally buy at Starbucks or your preferred hipster coffee shop and brew your own on the fly. Aeropresses, French Presses, Percolators, pour overs...most likely you own one of these coffee prep methods. Use it and if you are like me - abuse it.
3 day passes to LRC. I get it – its an awesome boulder field. But three days this year you were planning on going there, go explore some where new. I’m sure there are a couple other boulder fields out there.
Cable TV – I have Sling + ESPN (love sports) for $25 a month. We bought a pair of old fashioned antennas for $10 at Walmart and get all the local networks (CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC) Easy. I don’t get Lifetime however – I did get over this lack of lifetime 5 months in and you can too.
Carpool at least 4 times a year. Not only will you save money to buy a SCC membership, but you will do your part in the battle against global warming....uhhh....climate change....hmmm....fossil fuel consumption.
The last one goes against being a “sales rep” but buy one less article of clothing this year. Safe to say you probably do not need a new pair of sandals, hat, shirt, socks, underwear or whatever. Yeah it looks dope and would make for great IG photos but if its that new Patagonia Trucker hat or a SCC membership, what would Yvon do?
The overall purpose of this list is to get climbers to become members of the SCC. Its not an online course on saving money. We have such an unbelievable plethora of sandstone in this region to be climbed and is not yet open to the public. As the SCC grows, so do our options in routes and boulders. As climbing continues to become ever more popular (uhhh…Olympics?!) dispersing the crowds throughout various areas becomes even more crucial as well as trail days to sustainably maintain the areas and trails leading to them. With that, we have a chance to be one of the more influential grassroots climbers group in the country. 1000 members is in my mind pretty abysmal given the amount of climbers I know exist.
Be a part of a community. Be a part of something you believe in. Go climb rocks in the woods and support the organization who made many of these rocks possible to climb.
Contest Rules
Simultaneous Contests on Facebook and Instagram:
SCC 25th Anniversary ticket winners announced Monday May 7 and all other winner announced Friday May 11
Facebook Winners Receive
1. 1 Ticket to the SCC's 25th Anniversary Celebration on May 19 + Metolius Climbing Session Crashpad (IG winner gets Metolius Woodgrips Hangboard) and a big ole bag of Superchalk 2. 1 pair of Teva Original Universals and a big ole bag of Superchalk 3. 1 Fayettechill Clothing Company tee shirt or hat and a big ole bag of Superchalk
Rules for entering (another chance via Instagram) 1. Follow both On the Road and Off and the SCC 2. Already be or become a member of the SCC (link in blog) 3. Share this post on Facebook or tag two friends on IG (OR BOTH!!) and lets help out the SCC!
