As the Sauratown season approaches, we know many of you are interested
in an update on the status of this closure.

Historically, Sauratown climbers have been accessing the cliffs and using a
parking lot that belongs to a property owner, who at this time, wishes to not
be named publicly. The fire that occurred in 2007 helped raise the issues of
liability. Access is currently closed to climbers to mitigate concerns of
liability held by the landowner in the event of an accident that occurs while
public is on their property. As it is private land, we must respect their
wishes.

While North Carolina recreation use statutes protect private landowners who offer free public access to their lands from
parties seeking litigation, this does not protect the landowner or their
business interests from incidents that occur on their property and affect it or
its business interests. They hold sole liability in the instance that a public
entity enters their land, say, and starts a fire that nearly burns the entire
mountainside. The fire could have resulted in damage to other property owners,
for which they are liable.

The landowner is also concerned about access of unknown individuals to the
property who can and have come into contact with clients. The business is a private
venture geared towards providing enrichment to clients. Our presence and use of
their facilities interferes with their confidence in providing unhindered and
safe enrichment to the clients.

If you are having trouble interpreting the above statement, think of who the
landowner is and what their business is. The landowner has asked us not to
disclose specific information regarding their concerns.

If we wish to access these cliffs, we must work with ANY property owner to:
mitigate their concerns (whether they be business or personal), create an
agreement for public access that allows use of the property and allows use by
emergency personnel in the event of an accident.

During discussions with the landowners BOD, the CCC have offered: land
purchase, acquisition by the state, leasing, buying a lot on the ridge line,
donations of time and volunteer hours, legal guidance on the Recreational use
Statutes and more.

We continue to negotiate, but this is a challenging situation and it will
take time to devise a strategy that satisfies the concerns of the landowner and
secures access for climbers for the long term. 

We too are affected by the closure of access to
Sauratown. Please be advised that we are working on it. We will create a thread
for discussion on our website: www.carolinaclimbers.org. Please be mindful
that these discussions are public.