The Access Fund believes that modest use fees should not constitute an access problem for climbers. A key condition of our support for any use fee is that it be retained by the land unit that collects it, and applied 100% to managing the activity that generates that revenue.
What the Access Fund cannot support are use fees such as that now in place at Denali National Park in Alaska. The Denali mountaineering fee is unreasonable because it is at least 200% of the next highest special use fee currently imposed in the national park system. It is unprecedented because no national park has ever charged such an amount for individual users (whitewater rafters are charged $75 per group to float the Grand Canyon). It is unfair because no other type of visitor to Denali is charged a similar use fee.
Denali maintains that the mountaineering fee is applied entirely to paying the costs of climbing management, except for climber rescues. The park initially proposed to charge climbers $600 per visit, claiming that amount would cover all of the costs of its mountaineering program. Due to intense pressure from the Access Fund, the American Alpine Club, and other climbing organizations, the Park Service lowered this fee to its present level.
At $150 the Denali climbing fee presumably pays for about 1/4 of the total costs of climbing management in the park. Why aren't other visitors to Denali being asked to pay a special fee that will cover approximately 25% of the total costs of their activity?
In its first season the Denali climbing fee caused apparently little adverse reaction among climbers. Only ten climbers out of 1245 even complained about the fee. However, this does not mean (as Denali officials claim) that the majority of climbers visiting the park support the mountaineering fee. In fact, climbers have overwhelmingly stated that they do not support any such fee if it is used to pay for rescues, and herein lies the continuing controversy.
The Access Fund believes that Denali is taking liberties with its accounting to make it appear on paper as though none of the revenue generated by the climbing fee is being applied to rescue expenses. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt has already admitted on national television that climbers are being charged this fee because of the perception that there are extraordinary costs associated with climber rescues at Denali.
Ranger field pay, maintenance and supply of climbing support stations, the $250,000 rescue helicopter contract - can we really believe that in paying all of these "fixed" rescue costs Denali manages to keep all climbing fee revenue separate from the rescue budget?
The fact that climbers have become inured to paying large sums of money to climb big mountains in the rest of the world doesn't make the Denali fee fair or acceptable. As long as other visitors to Denali are not required to pay a use fee that covers a similar percentage of their activity's management budget, the climbing fee will remain discriminatory, and the Access Fund will continue to oppose it.
Therefore we urge climbers, as well as National Park Service officials at Denali, to consider the present fee of $150 simply the maximum amount that may be assessed under the fee program. The Access Fund believes that the actual amount the individual climber pays to climb in Denali should reflect their ability to pay, their level of support for the mountaineering fee, and the amount paid by other user groups for recreation in the national parks system.
The Access Fund encourages climbers to pay the $25 pre-registration fee at Denali, and to negotiate with Denali officials upon arrival at the park for a reduction in the balance of the fee. This could bring the amount of the fee into alignment with special use fees presently in effect in other national parks, and would provide data for the park on the true extent of climbers' support for this fee and the mountaineering program generally.
Until the Denali mountaineering fee is reduced substantially, or a similar fee is levied on non-climbing visitors, the Access Fund will not dedicate any of our resources to helping Denali promote and publicize its mountaineering program, whose many worthy objectives and attributes are irreparably compromised by the excessive and discriminatory nature of the climbing fee.