Specs: 30,000 square-foot (bouldering-only) facility just north of the popular Huntington Beach area of Southern California will feature 14-foot walls. Additional amenities will include a yoga studio and a training area with Kilter and Tension boards and hydraulic campus boards, as well as social lounges, work spaces, and a gear shop. The gym will offer various classes for adults and youth. It will be part of the El Cap family of gyms.
In Their Words: “I was born and raised in Orange County and this is where I fell in love with climbing. I’m eager to share that passion with all of our neighbors. My first goal is to build an amazing, community-driven team. Over the next couple months, we’ll be hiring for the front desk as well as climbing, fitness, and yoga instructors. Come join us!” —Do Nguyen, Director
It was recently announced that Momentum Millcreek in Salt Lake City, Utah, plans to expand. The 24,000-square-foot facility will take over adjacent space that was previously occupied by Planet Fitness. As a result, the Millcreek gym will grow in size by 60 percent. The new space will be used for additional bouldering walls, a yoga studio, and a training area.
Momentum Millcreek currently offers bouldering and roped climbing. It also offers amenities like weights, cardio equipment, and a kids area.
The expansion of Millcreek takes the place of a previous project—a plan to open a new Momentum gym at Salt Lake City’s Trolley Square shopping area. At the time of this writing, the Trolley Square project has been shelved indefinitely. The expansion of the Millcreek gym is expected to be completed in the first half of 2020.
Specs: 22,000-square-foot bouldering facility scheduled to open in 2020 will include routes for all levels of climbers, as well as a fitness area with training boards, cardio equipment, and weights. The gym will have the potential to expand into a full-service, 40,000-square-foot gym with roped climbing once it is up and running. Of note is that one of the largest shopping malls in the Pacific Northwest, known as Westfield Southcenter, will be just north of the gym. The sprawling shopping area includes a movie theater, numerous retailers, and many restaurants. Other, preexisting Stone Gardens locations include gyms in Seattle and Bellevue, Washington.
Walls: Walltopia
Flooring: Flashed CRM Software: Rock Gym Pro Website:www.stonegardens.com
In Their Words: “Founder and CEO Keith Magnuson opened the first Stone Gardens in Seattle in 1995, expanded that gym several times, and opened Stone Gardens Bellevue in 2011. He chose to open the third gym in Tukwila, Washington to support the ever growing local climbing community, provide more jobs for the area’s climbers, and offer current employees opportunities to advance within the company. Keith chose to make Stone Gardens Tukwila a bouldering only gym for now because the building’s layout and clear-height make it a perfect fit for that use.” —Michael May, Assistant Climbing School Manager, Stone Gardens Bellevue
It is that time of year when students around the country say goodbye to summer and gear up for the start of a new academic year at colleges and universities. While mention of college sports often conjures up thoughts of football on crisp autumn days or basketball tournament brackets amid the frenzy of March Madness, the sport of climbing is being offered by more schools every year—often in the form of recreational university clubs. There is also an annual Collegiate National Championship competition sanctioned by USA Climbing.
To explore climbing at the collegiate level a little more and get an overview of how it looks in the university context, CBJ turned to College Outside. Through its membership program, College Outside helps university programs and educators obtain gear for outdoor adventure. Additionally, College Outside keeps track of schools’ roster lists and tracks which university climbing programs are most engaged with the services that College Outside offers. As a result, CBJ is able to provide a sampling of the top university climbing programs in the United States based on that data.
“Since the Olympic committee sanctioned climbing and motion pictures like Free Solo hit the big screen, there is no doubt that climbing is trending upwards,” said Alaina Imberger, College Outside’s Director of Membership. “At College Outside, we certainly notice the growth of clubs and teams across the country. Climbing is special. It allows this generation of young people to experience a competitive sport in the collegiate arena, that also builds a bridge to the outdoors and encourages them to spend more time in mother nature.”
Here’s a closer look at five of the top college climbing programs based on College Outside engagement and roster numbers:
Photo: Stanford Climbing Team
Top Performing Student/Climbers
Stanford University
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Specs: The climbing wall on the Stanford campus is 28 feet tall, with approximately 7,000 square feet of climbing space. Last year, the school saw 26,000 check-ins at the wall, with 5,000 of those being unique individual users. Additionally, Stanford’s climbing team is the reigning champion of USA Climbing’s Collegiate National Championship.
The climbing program at the university was spearheaded by climbers and Stanford Adventure Programs staffers Phil Sandlin and Andrew De Torres. It was those two who first shouldered the responsibility of teaching classes and managing the school’s climbing wall. But since then, the program has boomed in popularity and today there is a dedicated routesetting team at the school that aims for total route turnover every ten weeks. There is also a staff of certified climbing wall instructors to teach both academic and recreational climbing classes to students. The campus wall also hosts an annual bouldering competition called C.R.A.G. (Climbers Rage Against Gravity), as well as holiday-themed events.
“Stanford attracts, recruits, and admits some of the most high achieving students in the nation,” says Francis Liaw of Stanford Adventure Programs. “Though the focus may be on academics, the students bring that mentality across all aspects of their lives. Therefore, if they enjoy climbing, they are striving to perform at a high level, which is potentially a reason why we currently have a climbing team that is back-to-back collegiate national champions. Conversely, the university encourages the students to broaden their horizons, challenge themselves, and experience new things; and that provides the opportunity for students who considered climbing the space and support to give it a try. The culmination of these diverging ideologies widens the spectrum of patrons that uses our facility and creates that special/unique/at times challenging climbing community.”
Photo: University of Michigan Climbing Team
Community Is More Than A Wall
University of Michigan
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Specs: The University of Michigan does not have a climbing wall on its campus, but those in the Michigan Climbing Club—currently around 200 members—usually turn to a nearby gym, Planet Rock, for their climbing sessions. This creates a unique synergy between the commercial gym and the university. “A lot of students try climbing at Planet Rock and fall in love with it, but lack a community,” says Shalina Gupta, the school’s climbing club president. “That’s where Michigan Climbing Club comes in, and our social activities and friendly members get people to stay.”
The Michigan Climbing Club holds group climbing classes three times per week at Planet Rock and has recently added a climbing team. The club also focuses on outdoor climbing trips, making regular treks to Red River Gorge, New River Gorge, Stone Fort, and elsewhere. The university’s Central Campus Recreation Building is scheduled to get a climbing wall when it reopens from renovations in 2023.
When speaking about the club’s growth, Gupta says that the members range in commitment, but there is a core group that attends social groups around the university. “For recruitment, we attend Festifall, Northfest, and Winterfest,” Gupta says. “These are the University of Michigan’s organization fairs where clubs can set up booths, talk to interested students, and advertise mass meetings. Aside from that, a lot of people hear about rock climbing from their friends or movies and email us expressing their interest in joining.”
Photo: West Virginia University
Focus On The Outdoors
West Virginia University
Location: Morgantown, WV
Specs: The climbing wall at West Virginia University, constructed in 2001 within the school’s Student Recreation Center, is an elaborate structure that ranges from 35-50 feet in height. There are ten top rope sections on the wall, for a total of 3,500 square feet of climbing space. The wall gets frequented by approximately 250 climbers per week. There is also a bouldering portion of the wall that is statistically the most popular section.
Although the university’s climbing club does not offer much specialized programming at the wall and opts instead to focus its programing and education on nearby outdoor crags, a climbing team was recently established with the aim of competing nationally. All the outdoor programming works in conjunction with the climbing club—with each spurring interest in the other. It creates a portion of the student body that is psyched about the outdoors and then eager to maintain that psyche at the school’s climbing wall.
“I think what allows West Virginia University to have such a large and vibrant outdoor community is due to our fantastic first year trips (FYT) program that encourages students to take a 5-6-day trip in either the front- or backcountry the summer before their first year of college,” says Alex Kew, who heads up the university’s climbing wall. “This builds a love for the outdoors into students from the start and so they engage in other recreational activities across campus with that much more zeal.”
Photo: University of Massachusetts Climbing Team
New Team For New Family
University of Massachusetts
Location: Amherst, MA
Specs: Like the University of Michigan, the University of Massachusetts does not have an on-campus climbing facility. The main gyms that serve the climbing needs of the student body are Central Rock Gym Hadley and El Dojo.
The most prominent group of climbers at the University of Massachusetts are the members of the UMass Climbing Team. The 30-member squad that was started last year by student Brynne McConnell with the aid of another student, Nathaniel Murphy. The two were former high school varsity athletes—and in college they missed the challenge and team camaraderie of competitive sports. Soon they successfully got climbing recognized officially as a club sport at the university and held tryouts in the fall. Today, the team is a fun-loving but very structured group, with official practices being held at least two nights per week at Central Rock Hadley.
“My long term vision for the team was to build a close-knit community where all the climbers at UMASS can come together and learn from one another,” reflects McConnell. “Coming from a history of team sports in high school, all of my teams felt like small families and I hope that the UMASS team can grow into that. UMASS also certainly has the talent to grow into a strong program over the next few years. Being located so close to some of the best outdoor climbing in New England certainly helps as well. All in all, I really just hope that the team can open up students to more opportunities and introduce climbing to people who might not have discovered the joy of climbing.”
Photo: York College of Pennsylvania
Driven By Student Dedication
York College of Pennsylvania
Location: York, PA
Specs: The climbing wall on York’s campus is 32 feet tall and covers more than 1,000 square feet. There is also an attached bouldering area that is 11 feet tall. The various walls get frequented by approximately 120 climbers per week. The school offers climbing as an academic class, which meets at the wall once per week. (Homework for the class includes required additional climbing at least twice throughout the given week).
The college’s climbing club was started approximately five years ago and quickly entered competitions as part of the Mid-Atlantic Climbing Competition Series. Other schools that frequently participate in the series include Loyola University Maryland, the University of Delaware, Towson University, and others. York’s climbing club—and its team—are technically a student organization, so they are assisted by the college’s sport and fitness center but remain mostly self-sufficient. Several members of the club also work at the climbing wall, helping to set routes and organize competitions.
“The thing that makes York’s climbing community special is the passion and dedication of our students,” says Rachael Finley, Director of Campus Recreation at York. “Our students take ownership of our climbing competition, the routes, and the environment in the wall area. Through the mentorship of our Climbing Wall Manager, they are taught technical skills to keep the wall safe and create quality routes, but they also develop human skills to create an inclusive climbing environment and share their skills with others. Simply put, without our students, the wall would be worthless.”
Specs: 5,000-square-foot bouldering gym in Puerto Rico resides in what was once a vacant space following the ravage of Hurricane Maria in 2017. The facility features 13-foot walls, along with a yoga room, a training area, a lounge, a shower stall, and a retail shop.
Photo: El Bloque
Walls and Flooring: The walls were built by local artist and industrial designer Freddy Idoña; other parts of the gym’s architecture were overseen by another local, Jose Miranda. The foam flooring came from the Dominican Republic but was installed by the gym’s owner, Bryant Huffman, with the help of local friends.
In Their Words: “This dream actually started when the first full service climbing gym [Puerto Rico] was in its last days. I always felt the need for a space like this to exist here, and as a climber, what more could you ask for? Every year I worked a little here and there to always get shut down by the idea of the immensity of the project. It all came together after Hurricane Maria passed. The perfect spot got vacant and incredibly enough I had gathered enough throughout the years to start off. I worked in the movie industry for 14 years and basically took this on like a low-budget production, making ‘movie magic’ out of nothing, and this is what came out.” —Bryant Huffman, owner
It was recently announced that Evolv has been acquired by the Oberalp Group, an Italian company that also owns Salewa, Wild Country, and other brands focused on “mountain sports.” The acquisition marks a broadening of the Oberalp Group within the outdoors consumer market.
Evolv will remain based in Los Angeles, California, and founder Brian Chung will remain with the company. In a statement, Chung said, “I am extremely honored and excited for Evolv to become part of the Oberalp Group and look forward to strong global growth in the future. I have always had the highest respect for the Oberalp Group of brands for making industry-leading product and for the company’s commitment to sustainability which are values that Evolv shares.”
As Chung referenced with global growth, the Oberalp Group will work to expand into new markets in Europe and Asia with Evolv—particularly as climbing gains exposure around the world with the upcoming 2020 Olympics, according to a press release.
“We only do what we understand and are enthusiastic about. And that is the mountain, even in the form of a climbing hall,” said Christoph Engl, CEO of the Oberalp Group. “Our approach is focused on one theme—mountain sports. This is why the Evolv brand fits so well into Oberalp’s brand strategy. The acquisition of Evolv—with a clear focus on climbing shoes and a leadership position in its segment—was a logical step.”
American professional climbers who currently work with Evolv in some capacity include Daniel Woods, Kai Lightner, Ashima Shiraishi, Paul Robinson, Steph Davis, and Alex Johnson.
History was recently made at the IFSC World Championships in Hachioji, Japan, as 18-year-old Brooke Raboutou (USA) and 31-year-old Sean McColl (CAN) became the first ever American and Canadian climbers to qualify for an Olympic Games. McColl and Raboutou were among six men and six women to provisionally earn a berth to the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo, taking place next summer.
The other competitors in the women’s field who provisionally qualified for the 2020 Olympics include Great Britain’s Shauna Coxsey, Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret, Switzerland’s Petra Klingler, Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw and Austria’s Jessica Pilz. In the men’s field, Germany’s Alexander Megos, Austria’s Jakob Schubert, Kazakhstan’s Rishat Khaibullin, France’s Mickael Mawem and Italy’s Ludovico Fossali qualified as well. Four athletes from Japan will also receive berths at the IFSC World Championships, following the conclusion of the event later this week.
Raboutou, a native of Boulder, Colorado, and a product of the training at ABC Kids Climbing, has been a well-known name in competitions from a young age. Born to decorated competitors Didier Raboutou and Robyn Erbesfield, Brooke Raboutou quickly carved out an identity of her own with victories on the national and international circuit. Most recently, she won a youth world championship in lead climbing last year and earned a spot on the American Overall National Team earlier this year. She has also been active on the IFSC’s World Cup circuits.
McColl is a 3-time combined world champion and 2-time combined world cup season champion. Competing on the international circuit since 2001, McColl is a veteran athlete who has won multiple IFSC World Cup events and is currently ranked 8th in the world in lead climbing.
Photo: Eddie Fowke / IFSC
At the IFSC World Championships, McColl and Raboutou’s Olympic berth came as a result of their performances in the qualifying round of the “combined” discipline. The discipline multiplies scores from separate speed, bouldering and lead portions. Raboutou placed 6th in speed climbing, 10th in bouldering and 7th in lead for an overall placement of 9th. McColl placed 18th in speed, 15th in bouldering and 3rd in lead to finish in 10th place overall. A cap of two men and two women per country receiving the Olympic invitations — and an abundance of Japanese competitors—meant that Olympic slots ultimately went to McColl and Raboutou.
Soon after, Raboutou wrote on her Instagram, “In a few days I should get a letter with my ticket to the 2020 olympics!!!”
“I have had the dream of going to the Olympics since before I can remember; that becoming a reality now, in the sport of climbing that I love so dearly is just…unbelievable,” wrote McColl on his Instagram.
McColl and Raboutou’s Olympic qualification leaves at most three spots for the USA and three spots for Canada on the Tokyo 2020 roster. The next competitions with Olympic qualification implications will take place in Toulouse, France, in November, with Continental Championships around the world to follow next year. A total of 20 athletes per gender will eventually take part in climbing at the 2020 Olympics.
General Manager at Brooklyn Boulders Hacienda in Hueco Tanks, TX
Route Setter at Brooklyn Boulders in Somerville, MA
We often publish news about major hires at larger climbing businesses as well. If you are a manufacturer or chain of gyms that just hired a new C.E.O. please send us your press release!
Specs: 4,000-square-foot facility combines coffee shop culture with traditional climbing gym offerings. The climbing features include bouldering walls, a MoonBoard, a peg board, a campus board, and an “aggressive” pull-up area (constructed to be “marine-proof,” as the gym is right next to a military recruiting station). The gym brews locally roasted coffee and sells a roast specifically made for the gym itself. It also offers an array of fruit smoothies and sandwiches with specialty bread from a local bakery. Climbing Café also sells branded t-shirts designed by the owners, with approximately a dozen different shirt designs featured at any one time. (And most of the revenue gets invested back into the local community.)
In Their Words: “One important objective for us includes mentoring and training our employees for their future jobs/careers, with a clear understanding that this will hopefully be their most-fun job they know they’ll have to leave.” —Sam Morgan, Owner
Fresh Futurist flooring at First Ascent Climbing & Fitness – Humboldt Park in Chicago.
[Branded Content]
Futurist customers are noticing that when they hire Futurist they get an excellent product and service. “Many commercial climbing gym clients have struggled with flooring and come to us to purchase their third or fourth flooring system,” said Futurist Climbing Flooring & Mats, Inc. president, Timy Fairfield. “What we are starting to see is that experienced multi-facility climbing gym operators eventually become tired of wrestling with their climbing flooring systems and start to seek service-backed superior products.” The future of flooring is here, in fact it’s been here for years.
The Futurist Story: Let’s Not Reinvent the Wheel
Fairfield began competition climbing at a young age and matured into a professional rock climber; he is a 12-year veteran of the US National Competition Climbing Team. Ten years ago, he and business partner Ernest Coletta started Futurist Climbing Consultants, a company that advises on gym design and operation, because they care about the direction the industry takes as the sport grows.
As Fairfield and Coletta’s work with gyms deepened, they recognized the importance of quality flooring to the overall function and feel of a gym and the profound effect quality flooring has on climber safety, confidence, and longevity. Deciding that the market left something to be desired, Futurist Climbing Consultants branched into a separate second business, Futurist Climbing Flooring & Mats, which focuses on product design, technology development, manufacturing, and installation of gym flooring for indoor roped climbing, bouldering, and training areas in commercial, institutional, and private facilities.
“When we set out to develop climbing flooring, we did not want to reinvent padded floors or introduce bouldering flooring from consumer crash pads,” Fairfield said. Instead, they partnered with one of the largest gymnastics manufacturers in North America, which had 35 years of experience. “Working with them put us ahead in terms of quality, speed of delivery, clarity of material selection, and manufacturing precision.”
Building upon technology already at use in gymnastics, martial arts, and track and field, Futurist was able to develop flooring that advanced the industry’s safety guidelines. The company then devised a way to produce and install flooring quickly. The company has now been in business for ten years and has been responsible for a number of firsts in the climbing flooring industry.
“The way bouldering is evolving towards more gymnastic and dynamic climbing means higher falls, more varied body positions in the air, and more radical landing positions,” Fairfield said. “For that, you need good flooring.” Good flooring starts with comfort and safety for climbers. Good flooring also is good business.
Product: A Surface for Radical Landing Positions
Futurist offers stable, single layer foam floors with vinyl covers and minimal seams. Carpet can be added over the vinyl for increased durability. They will not consider any design that incorporates drag mats. Futurist climbing flooring products are tested by an independent third party company, Sports Labs USA. Sports Labs has contracts with the NFL, FIFA North America, USA Track & Field, and conducts testing for gymnastics products. They are also experienced in evaluating products for athlete safety.
Futurist mats supporting climbers at Mesa Rim Climbing & Fitness.
Although there are no enforceable US climbing flooring standards, Futurist voluntarily follows the European and UK standards and has adhered to their own strict parameters in pursuit of establishing their community standard in over 100 commercial and institutional installations nationwide to date. One of these community standards is a 1 inch of foam pad thickness per 1 foot of fall height parameter, which was taken from gymnastics safety standards. According to Futurist, the company was the first flooring manufacturer in the industry to advocate this guideline. An EU standard they follow is the definitions of fall zones, of which there is no known US standard.
All of Futurist’s products are pre-fabricated offsite in the USA by their experienced manufacturer, which enables floors to be installed 3-5 times faster than the industry average. Futurist staff generally installs 1,500 – 2,000 square feet of bouldering flooring per day. “We aren’t going to move in and set up shop with a sewing machine in our clients’ facilities,” Fairfield said. This limits the disruption to a gym’s business, allowing facilities to remain open more days during installation or maintenance.
Futurist installers are fully briefed and trained on the unique details of each job, ensuring a smooth installation. The staff are known for being efficient, courteous, and professional. Many of them have been with Futurist from the beginning and have a deep understanding of flooring systems.
From the moment a customer calls, Futurist pays attention to the customer’s experience of the entire process—understanding their flooring options, financing flooring, and the installation process. The Futurist philosophy is that the customer deserves transparency in every aspect of their purchase.
Precision: No Need for Accurate Blueprints
The Leica BLK360 imaging laser scanner used by Futurist.
In order to produce flooring offsite that fits each gym’s specific dimensions, extremely precise measurements are required. If a measurement is just slightly off, components will need to be reordered or rebuilt, installation will take longer, and the cost will be higher to the client. Also many buildings do not have accurate blueprints. Futurist solved these problems with more precise measurements by becoming the first flooring company to implement measurement by laser scanning, according to Futurist. The company uses a high-speed 3D laser cloud point scanner that measures millions of points three dimensionality. This device is set in several places throughout a facility and takes detailed scans of the entire space. Futurist uses this data to accurately design and fabricate flooring that fits perfectly when installed. The cloud point scanner is small (think French press) and is shipped to clients who scan their own interiors and then ship it back.
Futurist professional installers are detail-oriented, which customers consistently value. “We absolutely love our new flooring,” said Kristin Gloystein from University of Oregon. “It looks beautiful and is a tremendous upgrade to our facility….. The small detail work and care with things like anchoring and edging makes it perform just as well as the day it was put in, even after months of use.”
Pricing: Extended Service & Financing
Gym floors receive a lot of wear and tear, especially with increasing gym popularity. Floors need to be replaced far more often than walls. “Unlike climbing walls, the climbing flooring supply partnership is a long play rather than a one-time procurement decision,” Fairfield said. Futurist developed flooring with premium materials that are meant to last, and because of that, the company offers what Fairfield says is the longest warranty on foam in the industry: 5 years. Floors that perform and last provide good value to the gym. Futurist also provides an optional extended service and maintenance plan that warranties beyond the foam to all the materials in the flooring system.
Futurist flooring ready for bouldering at Triangle Rock Club – Durham.
Futurist offers a unique financing option: 100% financing to qualified clients up to half a million dollars, and this can be used for more than one gym at a time. If a gym chain owns three facilities, all three can be financed on one loan at a lower interest rate, and Futurist delivers all three floors. Financing requires purchasing the extended service plan so that the product will be inspected and maintained to meet the same duration as the term of the loan.
“Triangle Rock Club was one of Futurist’s first customers to participate in the 100% financing option. This was a tremendous benefit,” said Joel Graybeal, the managing partner of Triangle Rock Club in North Carolina. “Futurist’s expertise in climbing flooring systems and their commitment to professional and timely installs has definitely helped us better serve our customers, which has in turn helped us grow faster.”
Futurist believes in improving the value to climbing gym owners and operators, improving the customer experience, and reducing injuries to climbers. “Futurist is service based, not sales based,” said Fairfield. “When we entered this market, we weren’t interested in producing the cheapest flooring. We were interested in producing the best.”
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This story was paid for and produced by the sponsor and does not necessarily represent the views of the Climbing Business Journal editorial team.
