Upcoming

• USA 2010 – The hottest crags in the US, plus Squamish and Potrero. A full year of hard pullin’.
• Europe 2011 – Coming in 2011. Somebody, preferably a Euro, has gotta step up and take charge of this one. Email us if you’re interested.
• USA 2011 – Is it too early to start thinking about doing it again? We’re looking for group leaders and trip staff.

What’s the story with these road trips?

We think that taking people climbing is the best way to get them psyched about our mission. The road trips are part focus group, part climbing evangelism, and totally not-for-profit. We’re not trying to make a cent off of your participation. At each destination, we engage with the local climbing community by throwing parties, hosting talks, and working lines. When we can, we do the comps and festivals. Everywhere we go, we climb hard and a lot. The road trips are member-run; the only thing that cragging.org does is provide support and infrastructure. A small staff takes care of keeping things going, and you can jump on and jump off as you please.

What’s provided on a road trip?

Typically, transportation between climbing destinations, food, and camping. We’ll have a trailer for our gear and a support vehicle for hauling it. We also take care of communal camp equipment like tables, stoves, and cookware. Personal camp equipment – tent, sleeping bag, etc – is on you. Note that we DO NOT provide climbing equipment, guiding, or instruction.

Why not just go independently?

Our road trips are established with it in mind that our members want to do as much climbing as possible for as little money as possible. They’re cheaper, greener, and healthier than dirtbagging. By traveling together we eat well, get group discounts on transportation and accommodation, and amortize our carbon footprint. We keep things flexible by letting you come and go as you please, provided you schedule things a few months in advanced.

So what does it cost?

Costs vary across our road trips, and depend on where and when you join. In general, though, you’ll be asked to “buy in” at an estimated daily rate. So, if the estimated rate for the US road trip is $30 per day and you want to come for 100 days, you’ll need to give us $3000 up front (but not necessarily all at once). The cool part of rolling with cragging.org, though, is that you’ll only be held responsible for the actual costs of the services you receive. So, if camping at Rumney costs $15, you’ll be charged $15 and this will come out of your kitty. If the balance on your kitty hits zero, we’ll start billing you. Otherwise, you’ll get the rest back when you leave the trip.

So how do you make money?

We don’t. The road trips are run as non-profit programs. We’re only planning on breaking even. The upshot is that part of the trip overhead goes to supporting our exchange and leadership programs. That is to say, you’re paying so a couple of well-deserving climbers can tour with you as support staff. Sure, they’ll be doing the cooking and taking out the garbage, but they’ll also be having the experience of a lifetime!

Say I were interested. Hypothetically speaking, how would I go about joining a road trip?

Well, the process is pretty well automated by our members’ website, but in general it looks something like this:

1. Become a cragging.org member. Your membership keeps our website running.
2. Look at the road trip literature and figure out which one you want to join.
3. Use the members’ website to schedule your arrival and departure. At this point, you’ll be asked to send us a deposit via PayPal. They accept a credit card, bank transfer, or whatever.
4. Submit proof of insurance. It will specifically need to cover your medical expenses in the event of a climbing accident.
5. Get your kit together.
6. Pay the rest of your bill.
7. Make pick-up (or meet-up) arrangements with your trip staff.
8. Get psyched.