Leaders Gather to Talk About The Future of Climbing
In Golden, CO last week an informal group of leaders in the climbing industry gathered to discuss the future of climbing. Organized by Earth Treks’ founder Chris Warner, the roundtable included Presidents and key staff from Earth Treks, American Alpine Club, American Mountain Guide Association, Access Fund, USA Climbing, Climbing Wall Association, Climbing Business Journal, Petzl, and Walltopia.
The idea behind the roundtable was to bring organizations that are helping to grow indoor climbing and groups that support and advocate for outdoor climbers into one room to talk about the the challenges and opportunities facing a sport that is seeing rapid growth in participation.
The meeting featured short presentations by each of the attendees followed by open discussion about the issues each group is facing, and how the groups might work together to address the challenges.
Indoor Problems
It was evident from the meeting that the industry is facing two distinct problems. The first centers around the lack of consistent practices across climbing gyms. Several attendees expressed concern that many gyms were not following the industry practices set forth by the CWA, creating unneeded risk and liability for these facilities and putting the insurability of the industry as a whole at risk. The safety of routesetters came up several times. While the industry is not specifically regulated by OSHA, almost every climbing gym is subject to the agency’s workplace safety requirements. Some climbing gyms have adopted practices to improve worker safety: ladder skids to improve stability on foam flooring, ear protection from loud impact drivers and safety glasses that protect eyes from metal shards from bolts. These practices, however, are far from the norm. Some of this inconsistency is self imposed. One attendee brought up the point that there is no specific safety standard for flooring; the current guidelines only call for an attenuating surface with no standard for performance. The group also discussed the fact that AMGA, CWA and PCIA all offer competing certifications for Climbing Wall Instructors, which adds confusion to the marketplace. The most promising discussion area that could promote consistency came from the AAC. In the US there is no commonly accepted belay instruction method, so every gym instructs and tests for belay competence differently. The AAC is developing a new certification program aimed at the climber (rather than the instructor, as the CWI certification does) that would teach the fundamentals of belaying as well as single pitch sport techniques like rappelling and fixed anchor evaluation. If constructed properly, this certification could be adopted by every gym in the country and climbers would have access to a universal belay card. This has the promise of improving competency and safety amongst climbers while saving time and angst by eliminating belay tests when certified climbers visit different facilities.Outdoor Problems
The second major problem facing climbers is the issue of acceptable behavior and safety at the crag. Like many other outdoor sports, climbing areas are seeing ever increasing numbers of users. Unfortunately, it has become apparent that not all of these new users are acting in a way that is safe, sustainable or desirable. The group suggested that one reason for this conflict was that American climbers lack a training culture. Warner shared statistics from Earth Trek’s four climbing facilities in Maryland and Colorado which showed that while thousands of users are eager to learn how to climb at their facilities, only a tiny fraction are willing to spend time learning safe outdoor climbing skills or outdoor ethics, even when these classes are provided free of charge. Travis Herbert, Education Director from The Access Fund suggested that industry groups “need to make it cool to be stewards” of the outdoors. He also suggested that the social norms need to change so that it “doesn’t count” if you sent a v15 but trashed the crag in the process. The climbing media, particularly groups that put out popular climbing videos, and the elite athletes that are featured in them, can play an important role in making ethical outdoor behavior fun, approachable and normal.What to do next
The indoor climbing industry is growing quickly, with roughly three new gyms opening in the US every month, but all attendees agreed that we as an industry have been slow to develop a coordinated response to these issues. “The industry is booming and we no longer need to fight internally for resources,” Warner said. “The timing to act is now, if we wait it will be harder to facilitate conversation.” One idea that emerged from the group was to form a Climbing Alliance that would facilitate better coordination and leadership on solving these problems. Could this alliance raise $1 million for an outreach campaign to educate climbers and help define what it means to be a good member of the climbing community? Could it help every gym in America provide consistent climber training and enforce safety standards? This was the first time all of these groups had been in one room at the same time and it led to some great conversations and a true starting point from which to move forward.Mesa Rim Chooses Entre-Prises for Second Gym
Press Release
Mesa Rim Climbing and Fitness is not a new name in the climbing facilities business. They currently operate one of the largest facilities in the country, located in San Diego, CA. Now with 4 years of success they look forward to opening a 2nd location in 2015 with the same business model.
“Building a modern climbing facility requires a very tight partnership between the climbing wall builder, building architect, building structural engineer, and construction company. We were immediately impressed by the expertise and innovation EP brought to this partnership, and the high level of collaboration. The EP product will allow Mesa Rim to progress the design of climbing gyms, with elements of classic climbing angles coupled with innovations in climbing terrain and space design. We look forward to building another successful facility.”
– Mesa Rim Owners Bob Kain and Ian McIntosh
For Entre-Prises, we are excited to showcase our experience and quality with our newest MozaiK innovations and classic Freeform, real rock sections. The design continues to evolve with about 27,000 sq. ft. of total climbing surface and over 150 climbing lines. Lead walls should reach over 50ft tall along with bouldering zones, natural crack features, electronic articulating training walls and the first indoor 15-meter speed climbing wall rounds out a few of the facility’s features.
From Lexington: The Property Hunt
This is the fourth installment in our From Lexington series that chronicles the journey of starting a climbing gym.
by Chris Shotwell
We started looking for a location for L’Escalade while still living in California. Our impulse was to try to shop for commercial real estate in the same manner that we would shop for a house. We registered for Loopnet and began cruising through the available options. As we worked through the process, it became clear that the listings for commercial property typically don’t provide some of the most pertinent information for a climbing gym! At least 70% of the listings that we were looking at didn’t provide a clear height (the distance from floor to ceiling before you encounter obstructions such as fire sprinkler heads, lights or rafters). We decided that we would have to call some brokers and let them handle the fact finding.
Because we had a very clear vision of the facility we wanted, it was easy to set the criteria for our location. We knew that we would require a building with at least 25,000 square feet and a large section with a 50′ clear height. We also knew that we needed a location that was easy to access from multiple points in the city and with significant parking availability. People do a lot of driving in the Bluegrass region; Lexington is definitely not a walkable city.
All of the brokers we contacted immediately balked at finding a building that was well located in Lexington and had 50′ of clear height. Additionally, many commercial brokers don’t seem to want to work with relatively young people. We left messages with many agents that never bothered to return our call, which created serious obstacles to locating someone to work with us. We did eventually find a broker, but it took far longer than we anticipated.
Our research turned up a couple of less than ideal candidate properties, all either lacking the height or parking that we were looking for. After a couple of fruitless months, we discussed our remaining options.