Åre Klätterhall
Duved, Sweden
Specs: In the Åre Municipality of Sweden, there are a lot of ways to stay active: skiing, snowboarding and other snow activities are common attractions, in addition to mountain biking, kayaking and—as of February 17th this year—indoor climbing. Åre Klätterhall, located in the Duved village, is a mixed-discipline climbing gym housing a total of 475 square meters (5,113 square feet) of climbing wall surface, evenly distributed between bouldering and roped climbing. The gym is owned by Tove Tvedten, Oscar Carlsson and CEO Peter Johansson, as well as a group of owners with connections to climbing or the Åre resort, Johansson told CBJ.
According to Johansson, Åre is Sweden’s biggest winter and outdoor resort, with a vibrant outdoor culture and outdoorsy community in the Åre Valley, between Åresjön Lake and the mountain Areskutan. However, Johansson noted, the city had yet to receive a commercial climbing gym, prior to the construction of Åre Klätterhall. “When I moved here two years ago, I saw the possibility of realizing a dream I’ve had since I started climbing some 20 years ago,” Johansson said. He found local climbers Tvdeten and Carlsson shared the same dream, and soon the trio were teaming up and starting the challenging search for a place to turn that dream into a reality. “There were only three facilities in the proximity of Åre’s main town that could house a climbing gym, and all of them were already occupied,” Johansson explained. Fortunately, in nearby Duved the team came across a new building occupied by Åre Sportcenter—a tennis, paddle and fitness center—that would permit gym construction over two of the five paddle courts. “[Duved is] Åre’s neighbor town and is closely linked to the main ski lift system in Åre,” said Johansson, adding that the town has cheaper rent and more families in the vicinity.
In some ways, the timing wasn’t ideal: At the project’s outset, Johansson said businesses were recovering from COVID, Russia had invaded Ukraine, and “the Swedish currency was at a historical bottom.” But in other ways, “it was the perfect moment,” he continued. “I had lots of time for planning and studying and had the fortune to meet my two future partners at the local crag. I had momentum going and decided to let it go as far as it would take me.” Additionally, the local climbing club—the home of the only public climbing wall in the city, at the time—was under a demolition contract according to Johansson, galvanizing the team into action.
Operating a climbing gym business in a resort town comes with a unique set of perks and challenges. In Åre, only 12,000 residents remain for the entirety of the year, Johansson reported, although the city sees 600,000 visitors annually. “But as the mountain and outdoor culture is so strong here, most locals fit right into a climbing gym’s target group,” he said—including visitors. During the gym’s first year of operation, the team has indeed been seeing tourism contribute to a large portion of the business’s income. On the other hand, “This also means we are more season-varied,” added Johansson.
In addition to climbing walls reaching 11.5 meters (38 feet), Åre Klätterhall features a café, fitness gym, campus board and sauna. Climbers can attend yoga classes, holiday camps, training courses or personal training sessions and—with help from one of the gym’s guides—climb on real rock outside. The gym offers annual and monthly membership options, as well as a monthly membership option geared toward tourists and seasonal workers, in particular.
Walls: Walltopia
Flooring: Walltopia
CRM Software: BRP
Website: www.areklatterhall.se
Instagram: @AreKlatterhall
In Their Words: “We totally underestimated the cleaning. We also underestimated operating the whole thing. We were kind of naive and thought that once we were open, everything would go smoothly. In a way it has, the climbing part of the business has. But the other parts of our operation (store and café) have meant a lot of learning, planning and optimizing.” – Peter Johansson, Co-Owner, Co-Founder and CEO of Åre Klätterhall
Naomi is a personal trainer and a routesetter who has also worked at climbing gyms as a youth team coach. After starting college at Colorado State University in 2017, she wanted to make new friends and found climbing, fell in love, and now climbing dictates most of what she does. Naomi earned a bachelor’s degree in Ecosystem Science & Sustainability, and when not climbing she enjoys baking, gardening and crafting.
