Squamish Climbing Magazine sat down with own with Jeremy Blumel, a member of the co-op board at the Squamish-based Grand Wall Bouldering Co-op and asked him a few questions about the future of the facility.
The co-op is under pressure from the soon to open Ground Up Climbing center which is slated to open November 15th. To help guage the interest in keeping the co-op open the board sent out a survey to all its members. “With a new commercial facility opening up, we need to know that we have enough committed citizens to make our climbing state run smoothly,” Blumel told the magazine.
Do you think that the Co-op and Ground up can co-exist in a community like Squamish?
“I think that in a community like Squamish, a for-profit climbing gym and a not-for-profit climbing co-op can flourish together. The climbing gym brings in the new interested people who want to explore what climbing is, the kids have a place to meet buddies, be physically active and learn what climbing has to offer a Squamish youth and the hard cores, in whatever discipline you choose have a new training ground to learn in. Set routes, new plastic holds, varying angles; all these things add up to an amazing new bit of terrain when the rains descend. The Co-op offers the psyched, self-motivated climber an open training slate with which to experiment and apply new training ideas, meet like-minded folk, and just circuit around whenever they want. The creativity of a non-set hold canvas really appeals to many of us who like to create problems. The Co-op also offers a model that works for people from a wide range of economic groups. We’re cheaper, and you can go for as long as you want, whenever you want. However, it smells like feet and has a chalky aire about it.”
In the 2014/15 season the co-op had 120 keys out which translates to members. Blumel said that they only need roughly 60 keys out to stay in business.
Rumour has it that the Co-op has enough cash in its war chest to stay open with very little members. Is this something that the co-op has considered?
“We have some gold in our coffers and have considered this but then it makes the next year especially tight. If we run in the positive we can keep gauging interest year by year and add improvements when they make sense. If we close, then we need to decide what happens to the current surplus of cash. If we have a small number of members then the continuing price would have to be adjusted to cover our costs. Once that amount gets too close to Ground Up’s price the advantages won’t be as worth it.”
Climbing Business Journal is an independent news outlet dedicated to covering the indoor climbing industry. Here you will find the latest coverage of climbing industry news, gym developments, industry best practices, risk management, climbing competitions, youth coaching and routesetting. Have an article idea? CBJ loves to hear from readers like you!
