President’s Note

Hey Smith Rock Group community! My name is Dustin and I am the president of the Smith Rock Group. I am very fortunate to work with a great board and staff who care deeply about Smith Rock and the climbing community. We work with other local organizations, like the High Desert Climbers Alliance and Trail Keepers of Oregon to execute projects and events. This year is the 31st year that the Smith Rock Group has supported the park. I am really excited for our annual Spring Thing event this year.

We have formed new partnerships  to support the event in addition to the amazing, long-term partners that have supported us for years. I am excited to announce that we are collaborating with Initiative Brewing on abeer that we will officially release at Spring Thing in April! The Initiative Brewing team has been incredible and will be brewing this beer throughout the year The Smith Rock Group will receive a portion of the keg sales. So if you see it, grab a pint and support the Smith Rock Group drinking a beer! We have several other partnerships in the works and we can’t wait to announce these soon! Stay tuned!

We have other plans in the works that will support the park as attendance grows, and ones that will support “newer” climbing areas. Spring Thing is our major event which will be on April 27th, 2024 but we also have several Trail Days throughout the year so we can continue to make an impact year-round.

My call to action for all of you is to think about how you can be a steward of the park and not just a user. How can you help take care of your surroundings, help educate climbers who are new to the area, and how can we preserve the park’s natural beauty? Without you, our community, we would not be able to do what we do. 

Thank you for everything you do to support us and the park!