Teton County Parks & Recreation Center
Jackson, Wyoming
Specs: In May 2024, the Teton County Recreation Center opened its expansion project to the public, adding full-service indoor climbing offerings for residents of the Jackson, Wyoming region. Teton County encompasses Grand Teton and part of Yellowstone National Parks, with many other outdoor recreational spots in the Northwestern Wyoming region. According to Logan Edgeman, the Climbing Supervisor at the rec center, despite the name, the climbing wall is not just for new or recreational climbers. “Though a small town, we have a large demographic of experienced climbers in Jackson Hole who have made great accomplishments in the climbing scene both in the Tetons and around the world,” Edgeman stated. “We are very grateful to have such a strong community of active climbers to share knowledge and climbing accomplishments with.”
According to Edgeman, the original rec center opened in 1995 with a basketball gymnasium, multipurpose room and an aquatics facility. “While in the planning process of a master plan expansion,” Edgeman said, “[Teton County Parks & Rec.] recognized there was a need for a [commercial] climbing gym in the community,” which would supplement the outdoor boulder park in the area and Gym 22, a general fitness gym with a Kilter Board. “The climbing gym addition was heavily supported by our community of local climbers and the Teton Climbers’ Coalition,” Edgeman continued.
For members, the rec center functions as a standard commercial climbing gym would. Facility rates are structured similarly to those of a commercial gym, with day pass, punch pass and three-, six- and twelve-month membership options. Every entry to the rec center includes access to the climbing gym. Routesetting also mimics that of a commercial gym—a team of local climbers manages the routesetting in the gym, with boulder/route turnover every three to six months, giving climbers one to two months of projecting. The rec center contracted a team of professional routesetters to provide the crew at the gym with training on fundamentals and best practices for routesetting. “Training our routesetters was huge for understanding the best practices and industry standards for commercial gyms,” Edgeman explained. “From eye protection and proper technique for rigging systems to best practices and policies that foster coverage and collaboration, we feel like we are on a good stride and only getting better at routesetting in our facility.”
The two-story climbing facility features nearly 10,000 square feet of climbing wall surface, split among bouldering and 50 auto belay, top rope and lead stations. Climbers can boulder both downstairs and upstairs, in addition to campus boarding, hangboarding, and climbing on the Moon Board. For climbers looking to work on their crack climbing skills, the gym features a 37-foot vertical crack climbing station. The rec center also houses two basketball courts, an aquatics center, a multipurpose room for birthday parties and other programs, exercise studios, a conference room and a fitness center—part of which overlooks the National Elk Refuge.
Many climbing programs are offered in the new space, such as workshops, clinics and youth programs that foster development in indoor and outdoor climbing. The rec center partners with the Mountaineering Club of Teton County School District to provide climbing for middle and high schoolers and hosts a climbing club for elementary schoolers. “We partner with the Teton Climbers Coalition, Exum Mountain Guides and Jackson Hole Mountain Guides to facilitate a series called the ‘Safe Climbing Initiative,’ which holds sessions every other week to build on beginner to advance skillsets that will transfer directly to our outdoor climbing community,” Edgeman said. Sessions include “everything from lead climbing and anchor building clinics to self-rescue training and hauling/rigging skillsets,” he added, “as well as Spanish-facilitated courses for those interested in skill development with Spanish as the primary language.”
Walls: EP Climbing
Flooring: UCS
CRM Software: Civic Rec
Website: www.tetonparksandrec.org/1337/Rec-Center
Instagram: @TetonParksandRec
In Their Words: “The impact that the new climbing gym has had on our community members and active climbers has been incredible to see unfold. We once again have a climate-controlled space to climb year-round in the Tetons while building on the small-town community that we have here in Jackson Hole. Being able to foster training, development and community access to experienced climbers and those new to rock climbing has been an important (and popular) feature to our expansion of the Recreation Center.” – Logan Edgeman, Climbing Supervisor at Teton County Recreation Center
