Memories From America’s First Climbing Gym…is a series of candid reflections and spirited tales about the early days at Vertical Club, the first commercial climbing gym in the United States. Authored by Rich Johnston, co-founder of Vertical Club (now Vertical World), and originally published between 2007 and 2009, the stories chronicle memorable moments from the gym’s past, from backstories that sparked the journey to run-ins with industry legends and rock stars along the way.
In this second installment, Johnston recounts the moment the idea of starting a climbing gym first popped into his head—when he was climbing Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, which “is the tallest mountain in the Western Hemisphere and also very accessible,” making it prone to “too-quick-of-an-ascent” tragedies, says Johnston. Fortunately, Johnston did survive the ascent and, during the trek to the top, had a conversation with Vertical Club co-founder Dan Cauthorn that ultimately led to the historical moment of the gym’s creation.
The first chapter in the Memories From America’s First Climbing Gym series can be read here.
[Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article was first published on June 13, 2008.]
Dan [Cauthorn] and I were huddled in a tent at about 16,000 feet on Aconcagua in January of 1987, waiting out a rest day to advance higher to next camp. When hanging out on a mountain with not much to do and nowhere to go, the mind tends to wander, and wander it did.
I remember sitting in the small tent waiting for the next blast of the notorious viento blanco (white wind). You could hear the next blast coming from far up the mountain as it thrust itself through a narrow slot between two peaks. We could actually count out the time as to when the wind would hit our tent and flatten it with a force that I had never experienced. The sound was amazing as we held on to the sides of the tent, hoping that the technical info in The North Face tent brochure was actually true.
It seemed at times as though God was tapping on my shoulder, saying, “Hey western civilized compulsive white guy with fancy Gortex, best you go home to your cubicle before you get spanked.” But then my ego got the better of me.
I actually had second thoughts from the moment we got to base camp at over 14,000 feet. When we arrived in base camp, a member of the Spanish team was gasping his last breath of life. He fell victim to pulmonary edema, and he was the Doctor on the expedition…I came to learn that there were many shallow graves of past anxious summit conquerors on the mountain…While we were there, an Argentine went to the summit without acclimating, he sat down at the summit and started disrobing until he died of cerebral edema.
Let me get back to Dan and I being huddled up in the tent. As I mentioned, the mind does wander with hours on end of waiting for the next move. I knew that Dan was a rock climber, and I had no knowledge of the sport, so I was curious about what rock climbers did with their time during the offseason, when the weather turns to crap. How do they stay in shape? He didn’t have much of an answer, other than “hang out in the basement, drink beer and do pull-ups.”
That is when the infamous moment hit me, and I asked, “What about an indoor rock climbing gym? Has anyone ever built one of those?” Dan gave a pause and said, “Never heard of that.” The conversation didn’t go any further, but for some reason I couldn’t get that concept out of my head. I didn’t know squat about the industry, but it really intrigued me.
After Dan and I returned from our climb, I settled into my cubicle at the office. I still couldn’t get the idea of a rock climbing gym out of my mind. I started to do research on the industry by getting subscription numbers from magazines, sales numbers of rock shoes at the local outdoor stores, and just talking with people in the rock climbing scene. Little was to be learned. Back then, when you went into a store selling climbing gear, you would see maybe two ropes, a pair of Boreals and a pair of Sportivas, a few biners and a Chouinard bod harness.
I got myself a pair of rock shoes and started to hang out at the UW [University of Washington] rock. That was the place to hang out and get to know people. In mid-summer of ’87, I still couldn’t shake the idea of creating a place for people to climb after work and during the winter.
I called Dan up and asked to have breakfast with him at the Shanty down on Elliot Ave. That is where I popped the question to Dan, asking him to get involved with building an indoor rock gym. I told him that I would give him 15% of the company if he signed on and headed up the project. That is like offering someone part ownership in a hound dog that can’t smell and probably won’t hunt. Dan was intrigued enough to take on the challenge. He had nothing to lose, and it definitely had a taste of adventure.
There it is. That is where the grand idea of an indoor rock climbing gym came from. I think I am going to avoid hanging out in a tent with lack of oxygen. I can’t take any more ventures based on wacky ideas.
Keep pulling.
