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.