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The 2020 Olympic Dream Ends

Climbing Business Journal

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June 14, 2013

For those of us in the indoor climbing profession a hard blow was felt when the International Olympic Committee announced that sport climbing well not be one of the sports in the 2020 Olympics. Climbing was beat out in the second to last round by Squash, Baseball/Softball and Wrestling.

The International Federation for Sport Climbing (IFSC) states:

“First of all congratulations and best wishes to the athletes of the three selected sports for the final vote on 7 September at the 125th Session in Buenos Aires. Despite we climb day by day higher faster and stronger, we did not make it. Now it is time to go climbing again” says Marco Scolaris, IFSC President.

“We remain convinced that Sport Climbing would perfectly complete the Olympic Games program. We will continue our efforts to share our values and our lifestyle with young generations and develop new marketing opportunities in the outdoor marketplace, which is huge and constantly growing. Our mission remains to support the growth of Sport Climbing around the world and to organize state-of-the-art events bringing together the best international athletes. We can count on the young and vibrant climbing community as well as enthusiastic professional climbers to help us in this task.”

USA Climbing statement:

Though we are all disappointed by the IOC’s decision to eliminate sport climbing from consideration from the 2020 Olympic Games today, USA Climbing remains committed to supporting the IFSC and a future bid for the 2024 Olympic Games program. While we congratulate wrestling, baseball/softball, and squash for making the short list, we believe strongly that climbing offers the Olympic Games a truly different sport: one that celebrates human excellence in a basic physical movement and that it is uniquely vertical in nature. Sport climbing will someday add a completely new dimension to the Olympic Games as well as new and different athletes and audiences from around the world. Pete Torcicollo, President of USA Climbing summed up the feelings of the climbing community noting “We are obviously disappointed, but we continue to believe that our sport is a great fit for the Olympic program, and that climbing will be part of the games sooner than later.”

USA Climbing will continue to support the development of the bouldering, lead, speed, and paraclimbing athletes that will eventually compete in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We thank the entire United States climbing community for your support and continued dedication to the Olympic dream as well.

EP & IFSC 2020 Dream Event Commercial from Entre Prises Climbing Walls on Vimeo

Full IFSC statement here at ifsc-climbing.org

Get an “A”, Go Climbing

Innovation

Climbing Business Journal

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June 14, 2013

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Upper Limits in Bloomington, Illinois is offering a unique program to kids that are scholar athletes.

From the Upper Limits website:

Celebrate your Good Grades with Upper Limits! Summer is here and school is out; reward yourself for all of your hard work. June 1st – June 14th receive $1 off a daily climbing pass for every ‘A’ on your report card.

Maximum of $5 off, valid report card or transcript must be shown at time of payment to receive discount, not valid with other offers or discounts including discount nights. One time use per report card or transcript, offer only valid June 1st through June 14th 2013. Rental gear is additional.

School Fined Over Climbing Violation

Legal

Climbing Business Journal

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June 14, 2013

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Manningtree High School's climbing wall — Photo: hse.gov.uk

In Essex, England a high school has been fined £10,641 ($16,095) after a 14-year-old boy fell more than four meters (13 feet) from the school’s climbing wall.

The Health and Safety Executive reports:

The teenager was one of four pupils selected to try their first-ever ‘lead climb’, during a PE lesson at Manningtree High School on 17 October 2012.

He had managed to clip three bolts as he ascended the climbing wall but struggled with the fourth. A fellow student, similarly inexperienced, had been told to ‘belay’ the rope for the boy, keeping it taut or feeding more as necessary. After the climber grew tired, the instructor told him to let go of the climbing wall, which he did.

However, instead of being supported by the belay technique, he fell unrestrained over four metres and hit the safety mat on the floor. The student, now 15, suffered a fractured heel bone, which was later pinned and plated.

The incident was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which prosecuted Manningtree High School today (7 June) at Colchester Magistrates’ Court.

HSE found that prior to the lesson none of the four pupils were aware what lead-climbing was or the risks involved and none had been properly trained or prepared for the more advanced type of climbing that was being attempted.

In addition the school failed to have an adequate safety management system in place for lead-climbing and the instructor was not competent to teach or supervise lead-climbing.

Manningtree High School, of Colchester Road, Manningtree, was fined £9,000 and ordered to pay £1,641 in costs after pleading guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for failing to adequately protect the pupils against the risk of falls.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Glyn Davies said:

“A teenage boy sustained a totally preventable injury that required an operation, saw him on crutches for more than 14 weeks, and from which he is still recovering.

“Inexperienced pupils receiving climbing instruction during PE lessons are completely reliant for their safety on the competence of their climbing instructor and the adequacy of the school’s safety management system.

“Unfortunately in this case pupils were let down by Manningtree High School’s failure to ensure the climbing activity was carried out safely and sadly this resulted in one pupil getting hurt.”

Read the full article at Health and Safety Executive.

Stone Age Adds New Location

Expansions

Climbing Business Journal

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June 14, 2013

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Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest climbing gym, Stone Age Climbing has announced plans to relocate to a new location in the Albuquerque area. According to the Albuquerque Journal the company will move into a site more than twice the size of its existing location.

Gym manager Curran Lemp tells the Journal, “We’ve been beyond our comfortable capacity here,” Lemp said of the gym’s current location near Interstate 25 and Comanche. “We’ve really seen an increase in the interest in rock climbing and the core rock-climbing population in Albuquerque.”

Stone Age Climbing Gym opened at its current site in 1997. It expanded by 5,000 square feet with the 2004 acquisition of a neighboring warehouse bay, according to its website.

From the Albuquerque Journal:

The present site has 9,600 square feet of floor space and more than 12,000 square feet of climbing wall, according to the website.

Lemp said there will be no long-term closure associated with the relocation as the existing climbing walls aren’t part of the move. The new gym will be designed with all new equipment and feature a more open floor plan, he said.

“The layout and look and feel of the new facility will be totally new,” Lemp said.

Owner Bryan Pletta said Stone Age’s consistent growth necessitated a larger building. Founded in 1997, the gym currently boasts about 1,200 members but also offers punch-cards and day passes for less frequent users and has become a popular destination for birthday parties and other events.

Pletta said the new gym – including the property acquisition, development and build-out – will cost about $4.2 million.

“We’ve been slowly but surely growing every year,” Pletta said. “Over the last several years we’ve really been operating at capacity and have felt the need to get some additional space.”

Stone Age has about 9,600 square feet of floor space at its current home. The new space measures nearly 23,000 square feet.

Stone Age will have higher climbing walls – from 28 feet now to 43 feet – roughly two or three times as much bouldering terrain and a designated area for group events at its new site, Pletta said.

The search for a new Stone Age building began about three years ago and finally zeroed in on the Cutler location. Pletta said the old spa store building offered excellent visibility and access, a centralized location and high-enough ceilings.

Largest Paraclimbing Comp in USA

Climbing Business Journal

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June 10, 2013

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The Denver Post is reporting that June 10th, USA Climbing and Boulder’s Paradox Sports hosted the largest-ever paraclimbing competition in U.S. history, with athletes from around the world. The compitition was but on in conjunction with the IFSC Bouldering World Cup held that same weekend.

Not even two years ago there were few avenues for disabled athletes looking to compete in sport climbing. Sunday notched the first step toward creating divisions and competitions that can host increasingly talented climbers who are piggybacking an international push to include sport climbing in the 2024 Olympics.

The last two years have seen the International Federation of Sport Climbing hosting the first Paraclimbing world championships, and paraclimbing is establishing itself on the international climbing circuit, with climbers from more than a dozen countries competing in contests like the one Sunday at the GoPro Mountain Games.

Read the full article at denverpost.com

Triangle Receives Commerce Award

Climbing Business Journal

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May 23, 2013

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Andrew Kratz and Joel Graybeal who run The Triangle Rock Club in Morrisville, North Carolina will receive the 2013 “Steady Growth and Profitability Award” from the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. The company has grown from revenue of $366,000 in 2009 to $1.1 million in 2012 and is expanding its facility by more than 15,000 square feet. This expansion will nearly triple the amount of climbing terrain available.

Read the full article at bizjournals.com

Indoor Climbing Gaining in Houston

Gym Projects

Climbing Business Journal

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May 8, 2013

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The Houston Chronicle reports that climbing in the Texas area is exploding with 3 commercial climbing gyms and one more expected this year. Stone Moves, owned by John Muse who (the only active USAC National Chief to own a gym) is quoted in the Chronicle as saying, “There’s a generation of kids who are just going to climb inside, never going to climb outside. It’s like a whole different sport – people like to jump around a little more. The things you see here, you’re never going to see outside.”

Opening this year, inSpire which will have 17,000 sq feet of climbing and 45 foot walls. Not to mention the 6 Life Time Fitness gyms all with climbing walls that dot the Houston landscape.

Houston is just one of the dozens of metro areas around the country experiencing a climbing gym boom.

Read the full article at the Houston Chronicle.

Photo Essay: Volcanic Rock Gym

Gym Projects

Climbing Business Journal

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April 16, 2013

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Unreal Hawaii has a great photo essay of the construction and opening of Volcanic Rock Gym, a new bouldering gym in Honolulu owned by Justin Ridgely.

Justin, a former carpenter, built the rock climbing walls by hand with the help of several volunteers from the Hawaii rock climbing community. The place was built fast. Like, in under a month.

View the full photo essay at Unreal Hawaii.

Video: 2013 SCS Open Nationals

Competitions

Climbing Business Journal

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April 10, 2013

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On April 5th and 6th, the best Sport and Speed competition climbers in the United States descended on Boulder, CO to compete at the SCS Open National Championships for their share of a $6000.00 prize purse and a spot on the 2013 US Team.

Continue

Central Rock Opens in Boston

Gym Projects

Climbing Business Journal

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April 7, 2013

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Central Rock Gym, which operates three climbing gyms in Massachusetts and Connecticut, is launching its newest operation just outside Boston proper in Watertown, MA.

CRG bills the gym as “the largest, most advanced climbing gym in New England. With 28,000sqft of climbing area on walls reaching as high as 50’, 2 multi-function spaces, a dedicated workout room, a monster boulder dubbed “The Orb” and the biggest, baddest lead structure anywhere on the east coast, CRG Watertown will redefine what a true climbing experience is for New Englanders.”

The gym is slated to open in May 2013. Read coverage of the new gym on boston.com and wickedlocal.com

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The 2020 Olympic Dream Ends

Get an “A”, Go Climbing

School Fined Over Climbing Violation

Stone Age Adds New Location

Largest Paraclimbing Comp in USA

Triangle Receives Commerce Award

Indoor Climbing Gaining in Houston

Photo Essay: Volcanic Rock Gym

Video: 2013 SCS Open Nationals

Central Rock Opens in Boston

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