Memories From America’s First Climbing Gym…is a series of candid reflections and spirited tales about the early days at Vertical Club, the first commercial climbing gym in the United States. Authored by Rich Johnston, co-founder of Vertical Club (now Vertical World), and originally published between 2007 and 2009, the stories chronicle memorable moments from the gym’s past, from backstories that sparked the journey to run-ins with industry legends and rock stars along the way.
In this fifth installment, Johnston looks back with fondness on his first encounter with Yvon Chouinard, one of the most renowned pioneers in climbing’s storied history, when Johnston gave Chouinard an impromptu tour of Vertical Club, in 1988. “We were definitely on the same page,” says Johnston. “I didn’t feel like an outsider hanging with Yvon.”
Previous chapters in the Memories From America’s First Climbing Gym series can be read here.
I was standing off to the side, by myself, among a throng of outdoor people I didn’t know. I became a passive observer trying to figure out something clever to say to the next person walking by. That bombed. There was good food and drink, so I had something to occupy myself and justify my presence.
It was the summer of 1988, and I was invited to the opening party of the Patagonia store on 1st and Lenora, in downtown Seattle. Jim Donini invited me to the party, and I thought it would be a good chance to check out the new store. I felt a bit like an outsider. I wasn’t part of that crowd and didn’t fit in too well.
I was leaning up against a wall, checking out the scene, when I noticed Yvon Chouinard browsing around. I had never met him before and that wasn’t the time to make a grand introduction, since his ear was being bent by many admirers.
After a few minutes, I noticed Yvon walking straight toward me. There was only a wall behind me, so I knew he wasn’t looking for the bathroom. I wasn’t sure what he was doing until he came right up to me and asked, “Are you the guy who owns that rock climbing gym here in town?” I was trying to get my tongue straightened out…I didn’t expect that to come out of his mouth. I straightened myself out and answered in the affirmative. Yvon then said, “I want you to take me for a tour of the gym; I really want to see it.”
So, there we were, standing in the middle of a big grand opening, and Yvon wants to split and check out the Vertical Club. What could I do? I said, “You bet.” I got the feeling that hanging in a party was not his favorite thing to do. He grabbed his new CEO, whose name slips me right now, and the three of us start walking down 1st Ave toward my car.
As we were walking, I asked Yvon what his relationship to Paul Hawkins was, since Hawkins refers to Chouinard many times in his book, Growing A Business. Yvon explained that they shared the same interest in vegetarian diets and shared cooking ideas. Yvon then asked me if I ate dead animals. I answered that I preferred them dead. He was amused.
We approached my car, which was a ’69 Chevy Impala that had spent way too many miles on back roads getting to trail heads. It was a beater. I then remembered that my friend Greg had borrowed the car the day before because it had a big trunk and he needed to haul something. In doing so, he put the spare tire in the back seat. You can imagine what I was thinking as I approached my car, realizing that I had to remove the spare tire from the back seat to make room for the unfortunate one who had to sit in place of that tire.
There I was with Yvon Chouinard and “Mr. CEO” watching me pull the tire from the back seat. I was feeling very embarrassed, and the CEO had a look on his face that spoke the feeling of “what the hell am I doing here; the champagne back at the party sounds pretty good right about now.” I noticed that Yvon had a grin on his face. He was very amused. He is a trailhead-car type of a guy, and he even made a complimentary comment about my ride.
We continued on our journey to view America’s First Climbing Gym, which was a dingy, back-by-the-rail-tracks warehouse with a bunch of rocks glued onto an assortment of off-angled walls. When we got there, Yvon was grinning ear-to-ear. He was in heaven. This was his kind of place—grassroots, innovative, new, offbeat, and a bit sketchy.
We talked for quite a while about how it came about and the possibilities of where it might go. He was very intrigued by the glue that we used to attach the rocks to the walls. He asked about how he could get his hands on the glue. I told him that I would ship some down to his office. I asked him why he needed it. He told me that his office was by a freeway overpass that was perfect for traversing, and he wanted to glue rocks on the concrete stanchions. Wow, that blew me away. I’m shipping our glue to Yvon so he could glue rocks on concrete to boulder during his lunch hour. We were definitely on the same page.
He raved about the gym and mentioned that he wished he could still do innovative things like the Vertical Club. This was right about the time Chouinard Equipment was getting sued by anyone who misused a carabiner, which resulted in him dumping the company and selling it to the employees, which morphed into Black Diamond Equipment.
We spent a fair amount of time hanging out in the gym before he realized he should make an appearance back at the party. I could definitely see where his heart was. Spending just that short amount of time with him inspired me and brought me to understand a little about who this man really is and what makes him tick. I didn’t feel like an outsider hanging with Yvon.
Keep pulling.
