Successful Partnership Results in Over $100,000 for Climbing Conservation and Access Initiatives
Boulder, CO (PRUnderground) July 24th, 2024 – Movement Climbing, Yoga and Fitness, the nation’s largest climbing gym operator, proudly announces the success of its recent partnership with Access Fund, the national advocacy organization dedicated to sustainable access and conservation of climbing environments. This collaboration, which kicked off with a special matching-gift fundraising campaign in June 2024, has resulted in over $100,000 to support the preservation and protection of America’s climbing areas.
In June Movement matched donations made to Access Fund, doubling the impact of every contribution. The funds raised will be used to ensure sustainable climbing access and conserve climbing environments across the country.
“Movement’s support during our June 2024 fundraising campaign helped Access Fund connect our message of responsible climbing mentorship with their dedicated membership base around the country,” said Dustin O’Reilly, Access Fund Strategic Partnerships Manager. “The Movement team consistently went above and beyond, building a strong partnership to exceed our campaign fundraising goals and help protect America’s climbing,”
Movement Climbing, Yoga and Fitness’s Chief Operating Officer, Stephanie Ko, who spearheaded the matching fund campaign as part of the company’s broader community initiative, Move with Purpose, emphasized the importance of expanding climbing access and preserving climbing areas for future generations. “At Movement, we believe climbing should be accessible to everyone who wishes to experience its transformative effects. By supporting Access Fund, we’re ensuring that these climbing areas remain open for all. This partnership is a testament to our commitment to sustainability and responsible climbing,” said Ko.
The Move with Purpose program focuses on reducing barriers to climbing and promoting environmental stewardship. Through this initiative, Movement not only supports conservation efforts but also fosters a sense of responsibility within the climbing community to protect and preserve natural climbing spaces.
The success of the June match fundraising campaign marks the beginning of a strong partnership between Movement and Access Fund. Over the coming year, both organizations will continue to work together to provide climbers with the tools, resources, and education necessary to become advocates for responsible outdoor climbing practices.
For more information on Movement’s Move with Purpose program and how to get involved, visit Movement’s Move with Purpose.
About Access Fund:
Access Fund is a national advocacy organization that leads and inspires the climbing community toward sustainable access and conservation of the climbing environment. Through education, stewardship, and advocacy, Access Fund works to protect America’s climbing areas for current and future generations.
About Movement Climbing, Yoga and Fitness
Movement is the largest nationwide community of indoor climbing gyms. Every Movement facility is committed to growing the climbing community through a shared vision to empower personal transformation. Movement gyms feature bouldering, top-roping, lead climbing, and amenities like yoga studios, functional fitness, cardio zones, and climbing gear shops. Each facility caters to participants of all abilities – from competitive athletes to weekend adventurers and families.
Graphic by Climbing Business Journal; all photos courtesy of Evan Pearce
Evan Pearce is the Senior Director of Movement Gyms Colorado. Pearce came from humble beginnings at what is now Movement Sunnyvale—his first industry position was as a front desk worker, which did include the occasional birthday party belay. He then became the assistant manager at the Sunnyvale gym, then became a manager at Movement Belmont, eventually working his way up to Senior Director in Colorado. All of these different career advancements and experiences gave Pearce the knowledge he shares in this podcast episode, especially regarding insights into working in and moving through certain gym roles, gym programming, and measuring success. He also mentions some summer camp hacks for tired kids.
Thank you OnSitefor your support!
And thank you Devin Dabney for your music!
Timestamps
00:00 – Intro 02:42 – Birthday parties 07:35 – Moving up the employment ladder 12:40 – Being a good front desk employee 20:07 – Advice for difficult situations with customers 29:17 – Deciding which programs are best for a community 35:26 – Curriculum for programs 40:01 – Adult vs. youth programming 41:46 – Tips for running a camp 50:03 – Assessing program success 52:58 – Movement gym operation 01:00:01 – Closing
Abridged Transcript
BURGMAN: …What was the key for you to move up the employment ladder in a climbing gym? Because I think that’s something that a lot of people who start at the front desk—or really start anywhere—would want to know. How do you do it? How do you move up the corporate ladder at a climbing gym?
PEARCE:…It was very much that I was always looking for the next challenge. I want to grow. I was on the front desk and I was like, “I want to teach the classes.” And when I’m teaching the classes, I’m like, “I want to teach the more advanced classes”. And then, “I want to coach on the comp team.” That seems like it’s a really cool challenge to help kids grow and grow in their climbing skills and sort of as people, as well, which is always a great focus for our youth teams. And then I just kept looking for what was next for me that would inspire me, that would try to push me to grow. I personally never thought I’d enjoy managing people, and I just found that I take so much joy and appreciation in watching people grow in their careers, grow in what they can achieve…
The other thing I think that has been really key for me is I’ve really always tried to approach all my roles with the idea that I don’t already know how to do this. And now that for me is a little bit of a personal switch—I think that I approached a lot of my life in my twenties with the idea that I’m pretty smart, I should figure this out. And I learned differently through growing up as a person. And a lot of my things, I really try to just push down any overconfidence that I may have and really listen to the people around me and try to take feedback as well as I can and grow from all the feedback that I get…
Let’s dive into that a little more, with how to do it, how to do these roles and go into them with an open mind—a beginner mind, so to speak. Let’s take, for example, the front desk position…What goes into being a good front desk staffer. And certainly in your role, what did you learn as you went into it at the very beginning?
I think for me, it was very much, “Check your ego at the door.” You want to do a good job, you’ve got to try to a) provide the best customer service you can, really try to relate to your community and build connections in your community. Because I started on the front desk later in life. I mentioned going to grad school at Stanford. So I’m like, “I’m 33 years old and I have a PhD, but I work part-time on the front desk at a climbing gym.” And I was doing this because I like climbing and this is where I wanted to be, and I tried to not put myself above that. And I think it’s a very easy thing for people to do. But I cared about getting all the towels cleaned and folded and in neat piles so that it looked nice for people. and I cared about doing a good job of dusting the fitness equipment. And not everyone’s going to care about it, but I really wanted to do a good job. And I think I had a few jobs after finishing grad school where I had to learn, and I approached them with a little bit of a “too-sure-of” an attitude. So when I got this job, I just really wanted to do it the best I possibly could…
…There are times when somebody at the front desk is going to have to deal with a very serious situation, maybe a customer that’s not just upset but really angry—justified or not. You said you kind of have a “go-to” line when somebody forgets their shoes or something. So, what’s your go-to strategy or your go-to methodology when handling those really serious situations? Maybe not even as a deskie—if you’re in a managerial position, what’s your strategy for handling that?
…The thing that I have found most impactful is actually from one of my gym directors for our Englewood location, his name is Mike Downey. He’s a really amazing communicator, and he handles these really hard conversations super well. And one of the things that he always focuses on is trying to help that person understand that the thing that’s important to them is also important to you, that you are curious and care about what’s important to them. Because most of the time when someone’s really worked up about something, it’s because something was important to them. Whether it’s permanently important or temporarily important doesn’t matter, but something is really important to them, and there’s something conflicting with that thing that’s important to them. And even just for them to know that you care that it’s important to them—whether it’s as important to you or not. If you understand and know and care that it’s important to them, that helps…Find out what’s important to them, and make sure that they understand that you hear that.
As a gym manager then, are you wanting to have those conversations yourself because you know how to handle them? Or is that something you would like to see your front desk staff handle? I guess this is more about your personal managerial style, but what’s your preference?
I think that there’s a heavy emotional burden to a lot of these [conversations]. When I was the gym director, I had more experience, more time, and I’d spent more time working on these things and working to be better. And oftentimes I’m going to handle it personally better—it’s not going to take the same kind of toll on me that it would take on one of my team members, so I would prefer to have that conversation…I think as a leader in your gym, you often don’t want to stick your front desk with all the hardest conversations. Some of them are going to hit them. But if they feel like they have to do it all the time and that their leader is never stepping in to help them and support them, then they’re just going to not care about the job as much, they’re not going to feel as much faith in their leader. And that’s really something that’s important to me for me to do and for my team to do as well, to make sure that their team feels supported…
Pearce (left) says that programming and membership building go hand in hand: “If you’re creating programming, your goal should really be to build your customer base. Selling your classes is great, but the more that your classes can support membership at your gym, the better.”
A larger aspect of the managerial role, or certainly your role—Senior Director role—is you’ve created a lot of programs and you have a lot of experience running programs at gyms. Especially nowadays, with gyms having so many different amenities—and even beyond the amenities, just the different activities and programs that kind of all of those amenities could lead to—there’s so much under this umbrella of gym programming or potential gym programming…You can’t do it all, right? Your gym cannot have all the programs. So, how do you decide what programs are best for a given gym and a given gym community?
That’s a good question. I think the number one thing, if you’re creating programming, your goal should really be to build your customer base. Selling your classes is great, but the more that your classes can support membership at your gym, the better. And I think that the climbing gym industry is really set on a membership model. Most of our gyms are making most of their money through memberships. I think there may be still a few gyms here and there where maybe birthday parties and day passes drive a big portion of the revenue, but that’s not what I’ve experienced. When you have classes that help people get into climbing or help people stay in climbing or help people get across a plateau so they feel like they’re still progressing as a climber, those are the classes that I think are most beneficial…So, the prongs that you would try to grow membership through programming are getting people over the hump of getting people into the sport, getting people over the skill hump that keeps them from progressing, and then getting people involved with the other people in the gym such that they build that community…
For a given gym, you have to look at what are the needs of your community. And it’s very interesting for me, I’ve worked on the West Coast—I’m all with Movement—but I’ve worked on the West Coast, I’ve worked on the East Coast, and now I’m in Colorado. And the communities are definitely different and the desires are really different. I can tell you in Colorado there’s way less demand for a class to teach someone how to top rope belay. In California, we would run five intro classes a night for top roping…And my gyms in Colorado run one class a night. Your community is different. So, our programming folks in Colorado are way more geared toward that second phase, where you’re getting people over the skills hump so they can continue to grow in their climbing, or you’re getting them connected with other people so that they feel a sense of community that supports their growth as a climber.
And when you’re creating these programs, how do you approach the curriculum for them? Are you creating these from scratch? …
…We’re really trying to leverage the knowledge of our team members and the experience of our team members around the country to continually advance and grow our curriculums. The curriculums that my team has had to work with are certainly well-resourced, and that’s been very nice. We have programs that do a really good job of bringing people through the different levels of climbing…I will say that the nuts and bolts of what you teach are important, right? Getting that right is important. But if you really want your programs to excel, in terms of taking people from non-climbers toward getting them hooked, then that’s where gyms can put their own touches on it, in terms of talking to your instructors about how you want them to interact, how you want them to create community within even an intro to ropes class—our intro to ropes classes where we teach people top rope belay. Even in a class where you’re teaching people top rope belay, you could still come out of there with people exchanging [phone] numbers so that they have a new climbing partner. And I think that is something that you’re not going to get from a nuts-and-bolts curriculum that you might find online or get through one of these organizations. And I think that is actually something that’s super crucial for gyms to look to include, so that they can grow appropriately.
Is there any difference in your experience between creating programming for children compared to creating programming for adults?
I think absolutely. It’s an interesting challenge because we don’t really ever try to create the same kinds of programs for kids and adults. Our adult classes are generally technique focused, goal focused—you’re learning how top rope belay, you’re learning how to boulder. And it’s not that kids don’t learn that as well, but the motif in which they learn it is very different. [As an adult], you’re learning heel hooks and toe hooks, finding a stable triangle, et cetera—all that stuff that you might learn as an adult. Adults are usually like, “I want to take this class because I want to learn that thing.” Some of them are like, “I want to take that class because that’s the next class in the progression.”
Kids are generally getting signed up for an after-school program and they’re getting signed up for a summer camp. And you teach them skills in that arena, which is a totally different arena, right. It’s not like they showed up and said, “Hey, I want to learn how to flag today.” The kids don’t care about that. They’re there to have fun because it’s their after-school thing. So, you program skills as something fun for them to do within their experience that will improve their experience on subsequent days. But you’re not nearly as goal oriented because the goal is different.
Well, it is getting close to summer camp season—or it is summer camp season for kids. Do you have any tips for running a camp at a gym? …
Train your instructors well. I think my experience has been that you’re usually scrambling for instructors. A lot of times what you get are folks that are like, “I’m home from college for the summer, and I just want a fun job.” And some of those people can be amazing, and then others are a little bit less knowledgeable about things they should be careful about or a little bit less willing to really wrangle children in difficult situations. And I’ve seen all different levels of ability come out. But I think if you set your expectations with your team really well at the beginning and help them know that you’re sort of following up on those expectations, you can really mitigate a lot of the chaos…
How do you assess whether or not [the program] has been successful? And how do you assess what needs to be changed or evolved the next time you do that same program?
It really depends on the program. Your adult programming, if you’re goal oriented, do your participants in your class, do they come away feeling like they accomplished the goal that they signed up for the class for? Did they feel like they got the value for their money? Because if they don’t, then they’re probably not going to want to take another class…And for some people, that might be the thing that they want to be able to keep climbing…
I think we all have access to a certain amount of data about our members and our program. I know that we use Rock Gym Pro, which a lot of gyms do, and you can see you can pull lists of who took what class. So, if you know how many of your intro-to-ropes-class folks are now members, that’s a pretty good metric about how successful that class was, both from a standpoint of teaching them the skills and then also getting them well introduced to the sport…Looking at all those, looking at what the average lifetime is for your members who take your various classes, that’s something that’s really helpful in terms of determining success. And like I said, I’m really leaning away from the money you make from selling your classes and leaning more into how are your programs growing your community and turning interested folks into climbers and turning casual climbers into lifetime climbers. That’s where your programs can really benefit your business…
Steamboat, Colorado’s local climbing gym—Steamboat Climbing Collective, a woman-owned business led by Karla Lankford—made a splash in the industry last month when it announced it had received the B Corp certification, putting a climbing facility on the list of B Corp-certified businesses. (All images courtesy of Steamboat Climbing Collective)
Steamboat Climbing Collective, located in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, was recently certified as a B Corporation. The designation—often referred to as B Corp—is overseen by B Lab, a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit. “To become a Certified B Corporation,” a press release stated, “companies undergo a rigorous review of the impact of their operations and business model on their workers, customers, communities and environment, and must meet a minimum verified score on the B Impact Assessment.” (A company’s “pathway to [B Corp] certification” can be viewed here, and the B Impact Assessment process is detailed here.)
Other companies that are certified B Corp, particularly in the broad sphere of the outdoor industry, include Patagonia and Cotopaxi. The total number of global B Corp-certified businesses is more than 8,000. However, Steamboat Climbing Collective is currently the sole climbing gym in the world that’s B Corp-certified, according to the listings in B Lab’s directory, and may very well be the first ever to have received the certification.
“This achievement shows our ongoing efforts to integrate sustainability and social responsibility into every part of our operations,” said Steamboat Climbing Collective’s owner, Karla Lankford, in the press release, adding, “We hope to inspire others in the climbing industry to embrace similar practices and collectively work towards a more sustainable future.”
Karla Lankford, pictured at Steamboat Climbing Collective
Lankford told CBJ that reporting to stakeholders, as a matter of full business transparency, was a big mental and logistical step in the gym’s journey toward its eventual B Corp status: “It’s one thing when you say you are giving to charities and write a check occasionally, but it’s another when you say you will be donating 1.1 percent of your gross and showing that is what you did.”
Some of the specific things Steamboat Climbing Collective did to receive the B Corp certification included creating an alternate transportation program that rewards members who bike or carpool, purchasing merchandise made from organic materials, offering benefits such as paid time off and professional development opportunities, giving employees 6-12 weeks of fully-paid primary parental leave, offering pay-what-you-can programs, prioritizing local vendors, and opening all the financial books to anyone who wanted to see them.
An Evolving Movement
Beyond the climbing industry, it should be noted that the B Corp certification has received some pushback in recent years. Earlier this year, for instance, the BBC published an article titled, “As greenwashing soars, some people are questioning B Corp,” and last year the Financial Times ran an article on “The struggle for the soul of the B Corp movement,” citing a “growing focus on multinational corporations.” Nestlé subsidiary Nespresso’s earning of the B Corp certification a couple years ago, in particular, garnered criticism, some of which was aimed at the B Corp designation.
On the other side, proponents of the B Corp designation point out that, while there’s always room for improvement, it does represent a widely recognized effort to set ethical standards in business based on measurable criteria—somewhat similar to the USDA Organic and MSC labels in the food industry—and those performance requirements have been evolving over time. And according to the B Lab website, “The majority of the 4000+ B Corps are small- to medium-sized businesses,” like Steamboat Climbing Collective, although “more large enterprises are engaging with [the] movement.” Lankford understands the concerns about businesses claiming to be more environmentally friendly or socially responsible than they are, and she told CBJ, “No certification is without its challenges, but the B Corp’s strength lies in its dedication to transparency and genuine impact.”
Lankford added, “No system is perfect, and there can be missteps along the way. Issues are addressed, and steps are taken to correct them, strengthening the certification.”
Steamboat Climbing Collective isn’t the only climbing gym in the industry to be pursuing more ethical practices, of course, and other climbing gyms have even used the B Corp certification as a guiding light while doing so. “I also use the B Corp Certification guide to steer our business practices, though I’m not sure we’ll ever get that certification (even though we qualify) because we’d have to do some reclassification that I can’t justify the time and finances on. The paperwork isn’t important, it’s the practices that are,” wrote Kristin Horowitz, CEO and founder of The Pad, in a 2021 article.
“B Corp’s strength lies in its dedication to transparency and genuine impact,” Lankford concluded, while also challenging other climbing gyms to take the B Corp assessment and see where they can improve…or apply for the certification themselves. “The certification process is challenging and requires companies to meet high social and environmental performance standards, accountability, and transparency. Most importantly, it involves an in-depth assessment that a third party verifies.”
Olympic athletes from around the globe are converging on Paris, with more than 10,000 expected at tomorrow’s opening ceremony. Climbing begins August 5th. Curious about ANYTHING related to Olympic climbing? Check out our A-to-Z resource, the most comprehensive webpage you will find anywhere.
Routesetters: don’t miss our annual Grip List Survey, you could win a drill or shoes!
“Bridges Rock Gym is looking for part-time routesetters to help engage our customer base with fun, creative, and challenging boulder problems. You will report directly to the Head Routesetter, and support them in executing our Routesetting program in accordance with our Routesetting Policies and Procedures.We are currently hiring for one 24 hours/week position, and there is room for the right candidate to fill hours in other areas such as Coaching, Front Desk, etc.”
“When deciding where to conduct your virtual interview, pay attention to the lighting. If you sit by a window, make sure you’re not backlit. To get your device eye-level, you can stack books or boxes underneath. Make sure that you are in the middle of the screen so the interviewer can see you. Also, ensure you look into the camera to give the impression of eye contact.”
Rhino Boulder, the first commercial climbing gym in the Bromley suburb of London, opened last December with Thomas Broggi and Henning Muller at the head. (All photos courtesy of Rhino Boulder)
Rhino Boulder Bromley, United Kingdom
Specs: Founded, owned and operated by Thomas Broggi and Henning Muller, Rhino Boulder opened in December 2023 on Bromley’s High Street, in London. Broggi and Muller met at their local climbing gym, where Broggi was a customer and Henning was the gym manager. After becoming friends and going on climbing trips together, the two realized they both wanted to open a climbing gym. In 2019, they started to work on a plan, find funding, and decide where to open the gym, with the search for a suitable location being a large hurdle. After watching the market closely for three years, the team found a former supermarket in Bromley that suited their vision.
Broggi said the process of choosing a home for the gym came down to “a combination of finding an area that had a new market, a new community to create, and finding the right location,” noting he and Henning “wanted to create a new community and bring the sport in a new area that didn’t have any climbing.” While many other climbing gyms exist in London, Rhino Boulder is the first commercial climbing gym in the Bromley suburb, according to the gym’s owners. “We wanted an accessible location for all, close to trains and public transport and with ample parking facilities. It needed to be a minimum of five meters high, [tall] enough to host a bouldering wall, and [have] at least 10,000 square feet of floor space,” Broggi said.
The mall housing Rhino Boulder was particularly appealing because it is on High Street, a bustling area with several shops and restaurants within walking distance of the gym. “When we eventually managed to get our lease sorted and our build planned, we were in a rush to open before Christmas,” he said, describing December as a particularly busy time on High Street. The lease was signed on September 19th, and 12 weeks later the gym opened, on December 16th. “It was three very intense months to make everything happen and prepare for opening,” Broggi recalled. “A lot of fun, but not a lot of sleep.”
Muller (left) and Broggi (right), friends since meeting at a climbing gym years back, cut the rhino cake during their opening event, the “Rhino Rumble.”
The 11,000-square-foot bouldering gym has 6,000 square feet (557 square meters) of climbing on 14.7-foot (4.5-meter) walls. On the ground floor, Rhino also has a training area with essentials for climbers, like pull-up bars and fingerboards. On the second floor is a large cafe, with “locally sourced products, from coffee to beer,” Broggi said. There is currently a workspace in the café, and the team is setting up a dedicated coworking space as well with soundproof phone booths, dedicated working stations, and a meeting room.
Broggi says he and his team strive for excellence in the gym’s day-to-day operations, using their experience running climbing teams and coaching climbers up to the World Cup level to inform the gym’s routesetting and programming. “We didn’t hold back on our hold budget when we opened,” he detailed. “We made sure we had the wall properly designed for athletes.” Rhino Boulder currently provides instructed climbing and private coaching for youth and adult climbers and will soon offer performance coaching. Additionally, the gym offers party and group options and yoga classes.
Rhino Boulder’s climbing walls host several levels of youth and adult instruction, from “Little Rhinos” (ages 4 to 7) to “Adult Progressors” looking to up their game, per the gym’s website.
In Their Words: “We learned that planning pays. We have spent a lot of time planning for the team because, between one thing and the other, we couldn’t find a place for many years. And meanwhile, we were planning, planning. But then the moment we signed the lease, three months later, we had a running business. So, it paid a lot in terms of sparing costs at the beginning and trying to be fast and prepared for all the issues that do come out inevitably as you get going.” – Thomas Broggi, Rhino Boulder Co-Founder and Co-Owner
Every year the Huntsman Senior Games in St. George Utah hosts more than 12,000 athletes competing in Olympic-style events such as cycling, swimming, volleyball, triathlon, shooting, archery, and more. This year, for the first time, climbing will be included as a medaled event on October 16-17, 2024. As there are not many climbing competitions focused on athletes aged 50+, this promises to be a unique opportunity for competitors from around the world to come together in a beautiful part of the country to test their skills against their peers.
The Climbing events will be Top-Rope, Lead, and Speed, with sub-categories for Men/Women, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Age group divisions will be in 5-year increments. The format of the competition will be citizen style, with 4 hours to climb as much as you’d like, and the top 4 hardest climbs will be scored. The senior games leadership felt that this would be the most congenial way to host the events and would lead to camaraderie, sportsmanship, and a great experience for all involved, including spectators. Lead and Top Rope events will take place on separate days, so athletes can compete in both events if they choose. The speed event will allow competitors to climb 3 times and the fastest time will be used.
To help get the word out to the members of your climbing community who are age 50+ we have included a link to the Huntsman Senior Games website here: https://seniorgames.net/sports/climbing
We have spoken with several gyms in the western region who plan to have a good number of people participate – those gyms have even said that they might provide logo apparel for their athletes so that there would be a sense of “home gym representation.” We think this is an amazing idea and heartily encourage it.
The best way to help promote this event will be to talk with your community members, gauge their interest, and encourage them to participate. Word of mouth among members is always the best way for these kinds of things to be advertised.
We are hoping for over 100 participants, and we will cap the participation at the first 200, so some urgency to register early may be advisable. Accommodations in St. George during the Senior Games events can be at a premium so early arrangement of places to stay is also a good idea.
St. George is located in Southern Utah and is a short drive away from a number of major national parks, including Zion, Bryce Canyon, The Grand Canyon, and Red Rock near Las Vegas. There are thousands of climbing routes within a 2-hour drive and hundreds within 15 minutes. The weather in October is the best time of the year with daytime temperatures in the 70’s.
CBJ press releases are written by the sponsor and do not represent the views of the Climbing Business Journal editorial team.
We are writing to let you know that the recently formed 12-member Strategic Planning Task Force will be holding three virtual listening sessions just for gym owners and operators starting later this month (see dates below). The purpose of these sessions is for you to provide input to the USA Climbing strategic planning process and share your ideas about the future of the sport and USA Climbing. The Task Force is offering a series of similar engagement opportunities during the summer and fall to all the various USA Climbing stakeholders.
The 90-minute sessions for gym partners will be facilitated by three members of the Task Force – Jen Zelen, founder and CFO of Rock Haven Climbing in Gresham, Oregon; Cory Hanson, co-founder and general manager of Rock Solid Climbing in Tucson, Arizona, and John Lynch, Regional Coordinator from Seattle, Washington. During the sessions, we hope to hear your hopes, concerns, and ideas about the strategic direction of USA Climbing. Among the questions we plan to ask are:
Where would you like to see competition climbing four years from now and beyond?
What should be the top priorities for USA Climbing as it guides the sport over the next four years?
What has USA Climbing been doing well that you want to see continued?
What are the key opportunities for USA Climbing to improve or to do new things?
What are the biggest challenges that USA Climbing will need to address as it strives to advance its mission?
If you would like to attend one of these sessions, please click on the “Register Here” link next to your desired session:
Friday, July 26 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. MDT – Register Here
Thursday, August 1 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. MDT – Register Here
Friday, August 16 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. MDT – Register Here
If you are unable to attend one of the sessions or would prefer to offer your input in another way, there will shortly be an online survey posted to the USA Climbing website that will be open to everyone in the USA Climbing community. We are also interested in holding one-on-one conversations with gym owners and operators; if you would like to schedule such a conversation, please send an email to strategic@usaclimbing.org.
We look forward to connecting with you soon.
Jen Zelen, Cory Hanson and John Lynch
USA Climbing Strategic Planning Task Force members
CBJ press releases are written by the sponsor and do not represent the views of the Climbing Business Journal editorial team.
No person is an island, as the saying goes, and that truism applies to Olympians. All the American climbers heading to Paris have had support along their journey from gyms, coaches, teammates, parents…including Emma Hunt, who got her start in competition climbing through the youth programs at Stone Summit (now Central Rock Gym). (Pictured: Hunt (left) fist bumps Oleksii Shulga (right), her coach, during the 2022 USAC National Team Trials at Stone Summit Kennesaw; all photos courtesy of Oleksii Shulga, unless otherwise noted)
When 20-year-old Emma Hunt became the first American climber to qualify for the Paris Olympics at last summer’s World Championships, the accomplishment was rightly praised as a fitting end result of significant sacrifice, training and dedication on her part. (Hunt, now 21 years old, also happens to be the women’s Pan American and United States national record holder for the speed discipline, which currently resides at 6.30 seconds.)
But that Olympic qualification also thrust Hunt’s training and gym background into the global spotlight, and specifically the speed program at two Central Rock Gym facilities in Kennesaw and Atlanta, Georgia—formerly Stone Summit, before the acquisition this year—through which Hunt had progressed as a youth climber. Along with that focus, Oleksii Shulga, who oversaw the speed programs at those gyms (and, thus, coached Hunt) prior to managing the entire gym team, was spotlighted as well. Shulga is now quick to point out the vital role that climbing gyms—and the staff therein—have played in the formation of all eight American climbers who will take part in the upcoming Olympics.
“The specific people, the business owners, the team owners, the team managers, all these people are an important part of any climber we see right now,” says Shulga, who has continued to support Hunt and her Olympic aspirations as her personal coach, after she graduated from the gym’s youth program. “To [get an athlete] to the Olympic Games requires a lot of factors—good coaching, program in place, the heritage, the legacy, many many things, and they need to be maybe not perfectly lined up, but they need to be in a good position to ‘produce’ the right person.”
Shulga is one of the mentors who helped Hunt find success in competition climbing and reach the Olympic stage, sharing his knowledge of the speed discipline, traveling to international events, and celebrating milestones along the way. (Pictured: Shulga and Hunt after Hunt won her first international gold medal, at the 2019 Youth World Championships in Arco (left), and her first gold medal at an IFSC World Cup, in Salt Lake City this year (right).)
Shulga highlights Hunt’s physical and mental talent when talking about the Pan Am record and the historic Olympic berth, but Shulga also believes that Stone Summit, as a facility, possessed a well-structured program and amenities which helped Hunt develop her skill set when she was just a member of the gym’s youth team. For example, the facility in Atlanta, which spans 45,000 square feet and has 30,000 square feet of climbing, includes a 10-meter speed wall, and the Kennesaw location, a 32,000-square-foot gym which also has 30,000 square feet of climbing, includes a 15-meter speed wall.
Given the standardization of the speed route and the subsequent lack of hold variation on the wall, speed is not a discipline with as much variety as bouldering or lead, Shulga notes. Regardless, Stone Summit had long made speed a priority. “Usually for a gym owner, it is a waste of space,” Shulga, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, says of a speed wall in a commercial climbing gym. “To me, as someone who is very passionate about speed climbing, I’ve been to many gyms with speed walls, and I see people in the United States just neglecting the [speed] walls. Bouldering culture is big; it’s the subculture that has developed in gyms, even more so than in Europe, but from a business perspective, speed climbing seems to be something that not many gym owners are interested in.”
Both the Kennesaw and Atlanta facilities have speed climbing walls—a factor which allowed Hunt to hone her specialty over the years and the Kennesaw facility, in particular, to host national competitions. (Pictured: the 2022 National Team Trials at Stone Summit Kennesaw; photo by Jason Chang @theshortbeta, courtesy of USA Climbing)
Yet, Emma Hunt’s upcoming Olympic appearance will be the payoff, and the “proof,” so to speak, that speed can be a worthy investment for a gym, even if commercial participation might be limited. Such a payoff often requires that gym owners and managers make a leap of faith and look beyond short-term profit margins when deciding to devote valuable wall space to speed.
“The gym owners—especially gym owner Daron Pair [prior to the Central Rock Gym ownership change], he was absolutely supportive of any decisions I made, or that [team owner] Claudiu Vidulescu made, as far as using a speed wall, setting technical sections of the speed wall,” Shulga explains. “I had full access to whatever I needed to do, as long as it was effective for training—even though it was not related to customers, it was related to the team program.”
There is no denying that speed, as a discipline, has had a rocky road of cultural and commercial acceptance in the larger climbing world. Prior to the Tokyo Olympics (in 2021), Adam Ondra publicly chastised speed climbing—a point that Shulga is quick to point out—particularly when speed was included in a novel, three-event “combined” discipline. At the upcoming Paris Olympics, in contrast, speed climbing will be featured as its own discipline—not combined with bouldering or lead climbing like it was at the Tokyo Olympics—and Shulga stresses that this separation has helped some gym owners become more accepting of speed. “In the U.S., there has long been this whole concept that speed is a ‘step brother’ of climbing, but now it’s in a different place because of growing support from gym owners. Still, not many teams operate on the level we do—we are very lucky, as far as having full support.”
A Well-Structured Program
A gym possessing a speed wall is only part of the equation, according to Shulga. At Stone Summit, much of Emma Hunt’s development in the years preceding the Paris Olympics took place off the wall. In fact, depending on the training cycle, Shulga says that up to 30 percent of Hunt’s training in the lead-up to Hunt’s Olympic berth entailed the use of other gym amenities, specifically cardio equipment and free weights. (Shulga says he personally prefers the amenity of exercise bikes, as opposed to treadmills, since they entail less rigor on an athletes’ knees.)
Part of Hunt’s training for Olympic qualification took place off the wall, and having additional amenities at the Atlanta and Kennesaw facilities made it easier to complete that training in one place.
But Stone Summit’s programming was also structured and organized in a manner that allowed Emma Hunt to thrive. The Stone Summit team was—and still is, with its Central Rock Gym rebranding—quite large by any standard: composed of more than 300 total youth climbers (spread across the two facilities), with up to 40 coaches in the program. Some of those coaches are salaried, while many are paid hourly on a part-time basis. The team is broadly divided into a recreational tier and a competitive tier; the recreation tier has six different “clubs” (meaning, levels), while the competitive tier is split (by age and USA Climbing qualification level) into four different levels—the highest of which being the “elite” team.
Shulga says that the various categories within the whole team are fluid—and that climbers are constantly moving into different levels and tiers—although they are only allowed to move to a different level within the competitive team once per season. As Shulga explains, “It’s important to understand that in each tier and level, the kids build up relationships with the other kids on their team and with the coaches—those factors are important too. If you move a kid too often or too early, you need to understand the social dynamics and friendships; it could be difficult for a kid to move, even if they might be ready to move up in terms of climbing proficiency. It’s not always good to do it.”
The youth program at Stone Summit helped prepare Hunt to compete in international events, and to do so on a team. (Pictured: Shulga (top) with Emma Hunt (left) and two of her U.S. Youth National teammates Mia Bawendi (middle) and Kiara Pellicane-Hart (right), at the 2019 Youth World Championships in Arco)
The frequency of practices within the team’s program is also unique. Team owner Claudiu Vidulescu holds practices for youth climbers five days a week (and sometimes on Saturdays), but there is variability there as well. As an illustration, climbers on the elite team are required to attend a minimum of four of those weekly practices. It was actually in that leeway that Emma Hunt’s dedication first started to shine. Shulga remembers Hunt as a youth climber not only attending the team practices eagerly, but also being open to private lessons. And even when Hunt “aged out” of the team program, she sometimes showed up to participate in team practices—a perk that is offered to all alumni of the Stone Summit/Central Rock Gym youth team in Georgia.
A Family Dynamic
Shulga acknowledges that such an expansive team program comes with challenges, from turnover of hourly coaches to an occasional lack of understanding (from parents and would-be coaches) of how the team operates and how team members can progress from one level to the next. Shulga came to the United States from Ukraine in 2016; his key experience at the time had entailed overseeing a team of just 12 youth climbers in Ukraine, so he struggled with a learning curve himself. “It took me a while to grasp all the levels and learn what I can do with the coaches at the lowest level, compared to how I can help the coaches at the very top,” he admits.
“I didn’t think of Emma as the only one who might go to the Olympics,” says Shulga. “There were—and still are—so many good, talented kids.” (Photo of Emma Hunt at the 2022 National Team Trials by Jason Chang @theshortbeta, courtesy of USA Climbing)
On the flip side, Shulga says that the team members, themselves, don’t usually seem overwhelmed by the breadth of the gym’s team program. Shulga likens the team to an extended family, and says, “When you have a big family, you need to make sure you’re giving attention to every single family member.”
Shulga remembers giving equal attention to everyone, even as Emma Hunt began setting national records.
“I didn’t think of Emma as the only one who might go to the Olympics,” Shulga reflects. “But she was a hard worker, and her talent was working hard and smart—she believed there were no boundaries; I recognized that right away, and it worked out for her really well. I’m glad that my experience and my passion for coaching worked for her. But there were—and still are—so many good, talented kids.”
Editor’s Note: As mentioned, Stone Summit/Central Rock Gym is just one of the climbing gyms that helped a Team USA athlete reach the Paris Olympics. The other gyms—and respective Olympians—are: Pacific Edge in California (Natalia Grossman), ABC Kids Climbing in Colorado (Natalia Grossman, Colin Duffy and Brooke Raboutou; as well as Garrett Gregor, IFSC Head Routesetter for the bouldering portion of the Paris Olympics), New Jersey Rock Gym in New Jersey (Jesse Grupper), Hoosier Heights in Indiana (Piper Kelly), Movement Plano in Texas (Sam Watson), and Planet Rock in Michigan (Zach Hammer). For more information about the climbers qualified for the Paris Olympics, head to CBJ’s Paris Olympics Media Resource for Climbing Gyms and CBJ’s Paris Olympics A-to-Z Guide.
Comp season is at a high. As everyone eyes the Paris Games in just a few weeks, we’re still in the middle of World Cup season with Briançon finals today and tomorrow. Last week wrapped up USAC Youth Nationals with over 800 athletes, and all of USAC, CEC and GB Climbing have announcements about next year. And a bunch of great athlete interviews and profiles below!
Managers – don’t miss the AAC’s toolkit, they’ve made it easy to offer pay-what-you-can options for your gym.
Routesetters – don’t miss our annual Grip List Survey that opened today. Please share your thoughts, maybe you’ll win a new drill!
