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Team Reunites, Gets Ready to Open New Gym in Portland

Newly set bouldering walls at Tomo Bouldering Club
Longtime friends Joel Velasco, Chris Marsaglia and David Sumada are nearing the opening of a new bouldering gym in Portland, where a focus will be on “mastering the movement” and “encouraging people to embrace the challenge of climbing, to go on this journey of getting better,” said Velasco. (All photos courtesy of Tomo Bouldering Club)

Tomo Bouldering Club
Portland, Oregon 

Specs: Joel Velasco, Chris Marsaglia and David Sumada plan to open their new bouldering gym, Tomo Bouldering Club, in Portland, Oregon, in late January or early February this year. Velasco, Marsaglia and Sumada met nearly 15 years ago while working at The Circuit Gym in Portland. They quickly became close friends and helped build their community, making a lot of friends in the gym. Then, they moved on in separate directions. “There are only so many positions in climbing gyms, and depending on the size of the gym, it’s hard to get upward mobility,” Velasco said. “So, we all moved out of Portland at different points, pursuing our own career paths.” Marsaglia became an assistant manager in Washington while pursuing coaching and instruction; Sumada pursued routesetting, held multiple head setter positions, and even routeset in Japan; and Velasco also pursued coaching, ending up as a manager in Washington. “And then, the three of us made our way back to Portland at different times,” Velasco recalled.

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Marsaglia and Velasco had tried opening a gym with other groups of people, but the projects ended up not working out. Eventually, the idea behind Tomo gained traction. “There was a point in the project when we needed a routesetting expert, so we lured [Sumada] back to Portland from Seattle and got the band back together,” Velasco said, “and the rest is history.” He described the remainder of the opening process as striking while the iron was hot: They had a lender willing to lend to them and a landlord willing to lease a building, and it was the right time of their lives to take a business risk, Velasco explained. At the time of planning, Velasco said they had not heard of other gym operators announcing new facilities in Portland, so they held a focus group to identify wants and needs of Portland climbers. The team then found a building with the right zoning, occupancy category, square footage and ceiling height for their vision, an opportunity they did not want to pass up.

A climber works on a new problem at Tomo
“One of the amazing things about climbing is movement. As you climb and get experience, you can feel what good movement is and what not-so-good movement is,” Velasco said, noting the gym’s intention of focusing on “quality movement.”

The building the trio found was conducive to their model, Velasco said, in part because it had a large mezzanine that would allow them to hold community-focused events. The gym will include 5,000 square feet of climbing wall surface in a 15,000-square-foot building—including the mezzanine space—with bouldering walls reaching 15 feet. Tomo will also have 20-degree and 40-degree spray walls, a Kilter Board, a Moon Board, a campus board, hangboards and weights. The gym will also offer coaching.

According to Velasco, a central goal of the operating team is focusing on challenge and progress, “and encouraging the community to pursue mastery and look at climbing as a journey.” They want their space to be a spot for climbers to find community and hang out, while also being a place to “get reps in and practice your craft,” Velasco said. “Our intention is to really focus on quality movement and encouraging people to embrace the challenge of climbing, to go on this journey of getting better.” The ownership team also plans to pull from Sumada’s experience in Japan, regarding the approach taken to climbing. “[Sumada] described a mentality in Japan that looked at climbing as something to be mastered,” said Velasco. “There was less of a transactional relationship with the climber and the climb…It’s more about learning the movement and mastering the movement, and with that comes the progress of accomplishing new grades.”

A group of climbers sits on the mats at the new gym
“Working at a climbing gym together and being climbers in the city was something that intersected all of our personalities. But we were also into lots of other things that we related over, like board games or anime or running,” Velasco shared. “So, we want the space to be available for those other aspects of the climbing community to relate to each other.”

Walls: EP Climbing
Flooring: Flashed
CRM Software: Approach
Website: www.tomoboulderingclub.com
Instagram: @TomoBoulderingClub

In Their Words: “Ask for help, because I think people will be really surprised at how willing and eager their communities are to help them reach their goals, especially for a business as exciting as a climbing gym. I definitely learned that. I was doing so much work on my own, and then I started reaching out to folks and even other gym operators. If they’re just a little bit outside your market or even a friend who’s in your market, they’re really willing to share information and help. So, ask for help. That’s my biggest piece of advice.” Joel Velasco, Co-Founder, Co-Owner and Director of Business Operations at Tomo Bouldering Club

Naomi Stevens

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.