33 Brands From the CWA Summit 2024 Expo Hall

The Expo Hall was the center of attention at the 2024 CWA Summit in Portland, Oregon. At the contemporary Oregon Convention Center, over 80 climbing industry brands unveiled their latest innovations and services. From eco-friendly holds and recycled materials to advanced training board systems, multiple CRM options, new fiberglass macros and elegant wood volumes, this special edition Buyer’s Guide captures a glimpse of the cutting-edge gear and timeless classics that might be arriving at a gym near you this year.

BRANDS INCLUDED BELOW:
Approach – Asana – Beta Climbing – Bold Climbing – Capitan – Cascade Specialty – Climbing Business Journal – Dollamur – Dreamwall – Elevate Climbing Walls – EP Climbing – Essential Climbing – Flashed – Griptonite – Grizzly Holds – Head Rush Technologies – HMH Outdoors –  IMPACT Climbing – Kilter Grips – Maverick – Midnight Lightning – Monument Sports Group – Rockcity – Rock Gym Pro – Rockwerx – So iLL – Strati Climbing – The Hold Room – Trango – Treadwall Fitness – UCS Climbing – Vertical Solutions & Proxy – Walltopia

SEE OTHER BUYER’S GUIDES HERE

Approach

Approach helps climbing gym operators manage the core elements of a gym’s operations. From the point-of-sale system to membership and waiver management and comprehensive calendaring, Approach’s platform was designed to streamline gym operations and help gym businesses grow. The unified platform—used by more than 130 gyms around the world—also comes with customizable business intelligence tools, as well as reputation management tools focused on amplifying a gym’s presence online.

 

Asana

Asana Climbing is a versatile padding source for climbers and climbing gyms that offers custom padding solutions for projects big and small. Asana also supplies a range of climbing gear, such as chalk, chalk buckets, and packs. In 2024, the company featured its new collaboration collection with The Grateful Dead. Asana is based in Garden City, Idaho.

 

BETA Climbing

BETA Climbing is a climbing gym management and customer interaction software, with creators based in Malta. In powering gyms with a point-of-sale solution, waiver repository, route management tool, event booker and more, the BETA software acts as an engagement platform between climbers and gym management. Beta’s migration team sets up gyms on BETA—including passes, participants, etc.—for free, helping make it a smooth transition to BETA’s software. Their system runs on the web with customer-managed accounts, so there’s no need to worry about complicated installs or buying special hardware.

 

Bold Climbing

Bold Climbing is a North American distributor of climbing holds, macros, volumes and a suite of other gym products, from setting hardware to air filtration systems. The company distributes grips from a robust lineup that includes 360 Holds, Artline, Blocz, Bluepill, CCE, Chapter, Formik, Menagerie, Rockcity, Rustam, Simpl. and Unit. During the Summit week, Bold featured new creations from several brands at the latest CBJ Grip Showcase.

 

Capitan

Capitan is an automated CRM system focused on making it easier to manage and grow a climbing gym business. The company’s web-based platform—designed to be flexible and mobile-friendly—includes a climber-specific CRM, memberships and passes, check-in/check-out and PIN tracking, document and event management, reporting and more. Capitan’s platform also has an Associations feature, for automating discounts across subgroups of customers, and this year Capitan unveiled its new automated membership referral system.

 

Cascade Specialty

Cascade Specialty specializes in climbing gym flooring. With beginnings in Everett, Washington, dating back to 1999, Cascade Specialty now provides roped and bouldering wall flooring to indoor climbing gyms throughout North America. The flooring company—winner of the Climbing Gym Floor Installer of the Year award last year—offers open-cell foam, carpet-bonded foam, vinyl-coated fabric, as well as carpet options.

 

Climbing Business Journal

Climbing Business Journal is an independent news outlet dedicated to informing, connecting and empowering the professionals of the climbing industry. CBJ’s coverage— articles, podcasts, webinars, etc.—spans breaking news, gym developments, industry best practices, business planning, risk management, routesetting, coaching and more. CBJ also equips the industry with a popular jobs board, comprehensive gym map, data-driven reports and other tools. At the Summit, the CBJ team highlighted their latest data products—including a new interactive dashboard in the works—as well as a growing list of member benefits. CBJ also organized the CBJ Grip Showcase in Portland, hosted by Portland Rock Gym, and was the CWA Summit’s official media partner for a second straight year.

 

Dollamur Sport Surfaces

Dollamur Sport Surfaces creates bonded mats for indoor climbing environments. As an international manufacturer of climbing flooring, the company showcased at the Summit its 1 3/8-inch to 2-inch foam cushioning, available in eight colors. Dollamur can provide multiple surfaces throughout a gym, from carpet-bonded foam to vinyl floors.

 

Dreamwall

Dreamwall is a team of experienced professionals specializing in the design, manufacturing and installation of climbing walls. The company’s design process begins with an analysis of the unique space, then moves into engineering structures that meet international and local safety and quality standards, followed by an installation that brings all the pieces of the puzzle together. Dreamwall has completed projects in over a dozen countries worldwide.

 

Elevate Climbing Walls

Elevate Climbing Walls is a custom climbing wall manufacturer. Elevate not only has its Legacy Panel system—hand-sculpted with a focus on quality and durability—but now the Evolution Panel, a smooth panel designed with routesetting in mind and a modern finish. Elevate can assist with the design, build and operations of a climbing wall and facility.

 

EP Climbing 

In addition to building walls equipped with Mozaik XP Surface Technology, EP Climbing provides remodels, consultations, routesetting, staff training, maintenance and inspections that help gym operators keep their climbing facilities operating safely and successfully. EP also produces holds, macros and volumes, with an improved hold material that’s now more wear resistant. EP’s dual-tex macros were in action on boulder #6 at the CBJ Grip Showcase, and so was the Titan Boulder that will be seen at the upcoming Paris Olympics.

 

Essential Climbing

Essential Climbing is a distributor of Axis, Captain Crux, Chapter, eXpression, Kumiki Climbing, Lapis, Squadra and Vezi climbing holds, macros and volumes. At the Summit, the company showcased fresh grips from each brand, including shapes in Vezi’s Otium range and dual-tex eXpression creations. Essential also brought Squadra fiberglass macros and a selection from Axis’s Easy Rider and Disc Fiberglass lines, among other shapes.

 

Flashed

Flashed is a homegrown, Calgary-based brand selling products for climbers—crashpads, chalk, chalk bags and other climbing accessories—as well as padding systems for climbing gyms. This year, in Portland, the Flashed team highlighted their Mg2+ seawater chalk—a by-product of the salt industry designed to be eco-friendly—samples of their commercial flooring solutions, and stylish crashpads from the Artist Crash Pad Collaboration Project.

 

Griptonite

Griptonite is growing a climbing gym ecosystem that uses wireless route tags, smart hangboards, digital and print signage, and an accompanying app—all engineered to help inspire new climbers, retain regular customers, and take care of a gym’s bottom line. Griptonite’s technology includes an events platform—with live leaderboards, digital scorecards, and functionality for comps and leagues spanning one or more gyms—as well as training and community engagement tools and a complete gym analytics dashboard.

 

Grizzly Holds

Grizzly Holds, a Canadian climbing hold company that hit the ground running in 2018, featured in Portland some of their latest new sets of grips poured by Aragon: the Ripple Effect Macros, the Carbons and Flakes series, among others. The Ripple Effects, in particular, were featured at the CBJ Grip Showcase and are now available to order online.

 

Head Rush Technologies

Head Rush Technologies produces and distributes magnetic braking auto belays from their factories in Colorado, France and the UK. At the Summit this year, Head Rush displayed the TRUBLUE iQ+ Auto Belay with catch-and-hold technology, their TRUBLUE SPEED Auto Belay, as well as the No Delay Belay Service Plan. The TruBlue iQ+ Auto Belay is currently $4,399-4,599; the TRUBLUE SPEED Auto Belay is currently $2,799-2,899.

 

HMH Outdoors

HMH Outdoors is a brand-building network that handles distribution, sales and marketing for industry businesses serving climbers and climbing gyms. The HMH family of brands includes 8B+, Butora, Climb Lab, Harness Consulting & Marketing and Maxim Climbing Ropes, equipping climbing facilities with rental shoe fleets, ropes, air filtration and hold cleaning technology, HVLS fans, and other essential products for gyms and climbers.

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IMPACT Climbing

IMPACT Climbing is an Ontario-based climbing wall builder that designs and constructs all types of walls, from full climbing gym builds to single walls. IMPACT supports gym owners at every step of a project, helping them craft a business plan (with a business planning calculator), providing guidance on the best design for their unique space, and offering advice all the way through construction, so the gym can be opened with confidence.

 

Kilter Grips

Kilter Grips—a climbing hold and training board company that’s been a longtime staple in the CBJ Grip List, with over 20 awards in ten years—exhibited at the Summit their vacuum-thermoformed comp set macros, dual-tex Kaijus, and a variety of other new shapes from Kilter and Urban Plastix. Their fresh grips were also on display in Portland at the official Summit afterparty. Kilter is based in Colorado, with holds distributed internationally.

 

Maverick

Maverick Climbing was recently launched by Jerad Wells and helps gym owners access high-quality climbing wall design and construction services. The Maverick team has over 75 years of combined industry experience in climbing gym and wall design, engineering, manufacturing and installation. Maverick works with gym owners at each step of the process, with a focus on matching the wall design and build to their unique space and business plan, and also offers operational and marketing consulting post-build.

 

Midnight Lightning Climbing

Midnight Lightning, a Squamish-based chalk, accessories and soft-goods brand, manufactures its line of products to be eco-conscious. At the Summit, the Midnight Lightning team displayed their Seawater Sourced chunky and powder chalk. They also brought their new Approach Hat, Low Waste Liquid Chalk, Chalk Socks and the Chalktopus—a cute, octopus-looking product that fits inside a chalk bag, similar to a chalk sock.

 

Monument Sports Group

Monument Sports Group provides professional insurance services for sporting and recreational facilities and events. As the provider of general liability and other CWA insurance programs, Monument helps operators understand the unique risks that come with running a climbing gym, while negotiating the best pricing for climbing facilities.

 

Rockcity

Rockcity is a climbing hold brand manufacturing PU and PE grips, fiberglass macros, and plywood volumes. The company is well-known for supplying grips that have been set at many an IFSC event of late as well as the Olympics in Tokyo and (soon) in Paris. Based out of the United Kingdom, Rockcity is distributed by Bold Climbing in North America.

 

Rock Gym Pro

Rock Gym Pro—which has won the Climbing Gym Management Software of the Year award for three years straight—is a longstanding, all-in-one CRM/POS software that enables gyms to integrate digital waivers, manage memberships, check in customers, book events online and create advanced reports. In Portland, the Rock Gym Pro team led the “Unlocking the Value of Customer Data” presentation, which delved into some of the latest industry insights in payments and check-ins and presented methods for analyzing customer data.

 

Rockwerx

Rockwerx, based in Barre, Massachusetts, has long been installing durable, custom climbing walls across North America, providing indoor and outdoor walls for projects big and small. Rockwerx offers a full-suite of climbing products and services that includes custom climbing walls, modular panels, Kidwerx, volumes, consulting and flooring.

 

So iLL

So iLL is a North American climbing shoe, hold, apparel and training gear company. At the Summit, the company showcased its new climbing shoe line, following years of design and testing. They also shared a glimpse of their LED system board—with translucent holds shaped by Jason Kehl—as well as a selection of macro grips from their various hold lines.

 

Strati Climbing

Strati Climbing produces safety flooring for commercial gyms, home climbing walls, recreational facilities, and colleges and universities. Strati also offers re-covering services focused on breathing new life into gym flooring, with cordura/ballistic, vinyl and carpet-over-vinyl options. In addition, the Albuquerque-based company produces rubber fitness flooring roles and tiles; training area mats; and padding for posts, railings and walls.

 

The Hold Room

The Hold Room is a one-stop shop for routesetting gear and climbing grips, with a lineup that includes over nine makers of climbing holds, macros, volumes and setting tools. Their booth in Portland showcased lines from Elevation, SupR, Thrive Climbing and Unleashed Climbing. SupR, in particular, won the CBJ Grip Showcase for a second time in a row.

 

Trango

Founded in 1991, Trango is a company of climbers who design products for several climbing disciplines. Trango distributes gear like training equipment, climbing shoes and their new crashpads, in addition to a wide variety of grips under the Trango Holds name, following the Trango-eGrips merger two years ago. Trango Holds exhibited their dual-tex Loaves line at the CBJ Grip Showcase in Portland. Trango distributes Tenaya products, as well.

 

Treadwall Fitness

Treadwall Fitness, based just outside of Boston, produces rotating climbing walls and other training equipment. They recently announced the Treadwall Flow, which combines their longstanding Treadwall and grips from Kilter. Other products by Treadwall Fitness include the Boulderboard Training Stations, Laddermill Ascenders and Ledgewall Climbing Panels.

 

UCS Climbing

UCS Climbing is a sports flooring provider based in Lincolnton, North Carolina. Their division of roped and bouldering flooring offers padded surfaces for indoor and outdoor walls, in addition to drag pads and training wall flooring. With digital printing capabilities, UCS can customize most equipment to fit a gym’s brand and color-scheme needs.

 

Vertical Solutions & Proxy

Vertical Solutions was started in 2007 in Salt Lake City, Utah, where its flagship The Front Climbing Club gyms are located. The company offers a variety of services for new climbing gym projects, providing its signature walls, flooring, holds through Proxy Climbing, training boards and gym furniture. Additionally, Vertical Solutions equips new builds with hardware and staff training through its partnership with Petzl USA, as well as workout equipment selection assistance and pricing through its partnership with Freemotion Fitness.

 

Walltopia

Walltopia—winner of the Climbing Gym Wall Builder of the Year award for three consecutive years—is a Bulgarian climbing wall company that also creates and distributes training boards, flooring, grips, hardware, safety devices, gym software and active entertainment products. The company had another large booth at the Summit, showcasing a bit of everything on a massive screen. Holdtopia’s The Moon and The Nose macros also made an appearance in Portland, at the CBJ Grip Showcase. These macros are made of 100% recyclable thermoplastic and designed to be fully recyclable at the end of their lifespan.

 

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