Methow Spires
Twisp, Washington
Specs: Methow Spires is expected to open in the coming months in Twisp, Washington, a mountain town centrally located in the Methow Valley. The gym is owned and operated by “almost-lifelong Washingtonians” Kelly Jewell and Michiel (Mac) Zuidweg, who moved to the Methow Valley three years ago with their kids, looking to “put down full-time roots,” the gym’s website shared. The idea for a climbing gym “arose from our desire to bring something to the Methow Valley, from our love for this place and the community,” Jewell said, although initially the plan was not to open a climbing gym.
In 2023, Jewell and Zuidweg purchased an empty lot on a main street in Twisp, but they weren’t completely sure what they wanted to build. They explored affordable apartments and commercial space. “I thought, ‘Well, my brother opened up a climbing gym in Durango, [Colorado], Gravity Lab,’” Zuidweg recalled. The team ensured the zoning for the site in Twisp was appropriate for a climbing gym, and while Zuidweg and Jewell didn’t make the decision to open a gym immediately, it sparked the idea. “And then once Mac, the big dreamer in the family, had the dream of opening a climbing gym, it became something we just couldn’t quite let go,” Jewell said.
Jewell said their family has been climbing for several years, which is what originally brought them to the Methow Valley. The region has an active, outdoor-oriented population, Zuidweg explained, with Nordic skiing, mountain biking, skiing and climbing, but with limited indoor recreation options. “It just seemed like there was a need for an indoor community space for kids, just another recreational activity for kids over the wintertime or if we have the summertime hot, smoky days,” said Zuidweg.
In the past, the Valley had some smaller, co-op-style gym spaces, which are no longer operating, Jewell stated, so “there’s no other spot for people to train throughout the winter unless they’ve got some kind of setup in their garage.” After studying the feasibility of their project for about a year, everything solidified for the family, and they decided to move forward with Methow Spires in 2024. Construction began last May after the team moved past some hurdles, such as snow, permitting and parking.
The new gym is located near the edge of downtown Twisp, at the boundary between commercial and residential areas, where the team hopes access will be convenient for locals and visitors, while bringing traffic to other businesses. The chosen location greatly affected the building design, because the team wanted to ensure the build was respectful to people living nearby. “We didn’t want to just build this gigantic building just because we wanted the climbing gym on the main street,” said Zuidweg. With that value in mind, they opted for 26-foot roped walls, ensuring the roofline did not exceed 30 feet, and that the gym blended in with surrounding buildings. Zuidweg has been involved in some building projects in the past, which gave the team familiarity with the construction process.
The pair decided to include roped climbing amenities—specifically top roping, lead climbing and auto belays—in addition to bouldering terrain to cater to the Twisp community and training for nearby climbing outside. “There are some very strong older climbers here who would want some ropes,” Zuidweg added. While 75 percent of the building will be the gym space, which will include a Kilter Board and strength training area, the remaining space will be leased as “two small retail spaces and a few offices in the front of the building…to help offset the cost of construction and bring a couple of new spaces to town,” said Jewell. “It’d be awesome if [the businesses] were complementary to the gym,” she continued, while welcoming anyone “who needs a space in the Valley and has a great idea of what else to bring to Twisp.”
During the planning process, Jewel and Zudiweg were able to work with Sebastiaan Zuidweg, Mac’s brother and owner of Gravity Lab, a Colorado gym and separate business, which opened in 2022. “My brother and I climbed and went on a lot of adventures together,” Zuidweg said. “And when he decided to open up the gym, it was fun to watch him and his wife, Laura, go through that adventure.” So, when Jewell and Zuidweg decided to move forward with their gym, they “spent a week down in Durango meeting the team, chatting with them, doing some routesetting, and going through that process,” Zuidweg said. “They were very generous and open and sharing things with us.”
Walls: EP Climbing
Flooring: Cascade Specialty
CRM Software: Approach
Website: www.methowspires.com
Instagram: @MethowSpires
In Their Words: “It’s easy to dream about owning a gym. It’s very labor and effort intensive to execute to get there. It’s a lot more than you would anticipate. One of my recommendations would be intensive research. It’s easy to just want to keep moving ahead…But each step that you take requires a lot of research and good planning to make sure you’re positioned well for the future and you are designing well for your community.” – Michiel Zuidweg, Co-Owner of Methow Spires
