Last month, La Zipette climbing gym reopened in the French city of Chambéry, following an expansion of the gym. The atmosphere at the laid-back, small-town bouldering gym was like that of a first-time opening, with a DJ, taps flowing, climbers sending. Amid the party, one detail wasn’t lost on the industry insiders at the event: the new climbing walls in the gym were built by OnSite, a Canadian manufacturer. While it has been common for wall builders originally founded in Europe to complete gym projects in North America, rarely—if ever—has the opposite happened. In fact, according to CBJ’s research and conversations with other wall builders, OnSite may be the first wall manufacturer originally founded in North America to have completed a commercial climbing gym project in Europe.
At the reopening night, OnSite’s founder and CEO, Francis Larose, told CBJ that he had long had his sights set on entering the European market. Before running a climbing wall business, Larose had a business in the video game industry that extended into Europe, and he founded OnSite with that goal in mind. Already, the company had been distributing home climbing walls outside North America, but it had yet to complete a gym project in Europe. With OnSite being based in French-speaking Montréal, Quebec, France was a logical choice for the experiment. “We have always wanted to build in Europe, but now was the moment everything came together,” said Larose. “It was the right time, the right location, and the right partner.”
The pieces started falling into place when La Zipette co-owner Aurélien Di Piazza got connected to Quentin Manzato—a construction team leader at OnSite and the eventual foreman of the expansion project—through a mutual friend. “Our gym just kept getting busier in recent years, especially in the evenings. We also wanted to offer more varied wall terrain in the gym,” said Di Piazza. At first, he was thinking of adding an expansion above the existing climbing walls; then, serendipitously, the trampoline park that had been next door moved further down the street, allowing the gym to move in. Larose felt the timing was also right for OnSite to make the leap to Europe—following the DÉLIRE acquisition last spring, and now that the industry is more removed from the economic shocks of the COVID pandemic. The two business owners met to discuss the project in Montreal, and soon the transatlantic collaboration was underway.
Completing a gym project on a different continent for the first time wasn’t a walk in the park. Some challenges the OnSite team had to navigate were increased taxes, VISAs for the construction crew, complex production and shipping logistics, and foreign market conditions. The market price of a new climbing wall can be much different depending on the location, Larose said, so they had to find alternatives to keep the project within La Zipette’s price range—sourcing the steel structure, wood panels and other essentials from different countries, for instance. Di Piazza also understood the two companies were in unchartered territory and was patient during the project, Larose added. Manzato’s ties to Chambery helped speed things along a bit, allowing the crew to source some equipment for the build from his contacts in the area.
The end result is a gym that’s around 1,500 square meters in size (approx. 16,000 square feet), compared to 750 square meters (approx. 8,000 square feet) when the gym first opened, in 2018. OnSite handled the design and construction for the renovation. Part of that work involved repositioning much of the original climbing walls to open up the space, redoing the supporting structure, and weaving in new panels. With the extra room, La Zipette’s owners opted for a new boulder with an arch as the centerpiece; training areas that will soon be getting fitness equipment, campus boards and three training boards—a Moonboard, Kilter Board and Tension Board 2—on OnSite’s adjustable frames; a larger social area with tables and cubbies; and upgraded flooring. Altogether, the new layout amounts to La Zipette 2.0—the same chill, local bouldering gym, just bigger.
As for what’s next for OnSite, Larose hinted that another gym project abroad is already underway, and more may follow. “For us, La Zipette was a relatively small project, but it shows gyms in Europe what we can do,” said Larose. “We’re here, and hopefully here to stay.”
Joe Robinson has been working in the climbing industry for over a decade and currently manages CBJ editorial. He traveled the world as the IFSC’s community manager during Olympic inclusion and across the U.S. while writing for Alpinist, Climberism, DPM and CBJ. He also worked in local climbing gyms of the Pacific Northwest and West Michigan while advancing economic empowerment, educational equity, youth development and diversity programs of national nonprofit organizations.
