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    Climb Insider: gym news, manager beta

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    Just a few thoughts

    Congrats to new CT, NH and CA gyms that opened or will soon. Salute to one in OH that’s about to close. A discussion of French gym growth. A video about building costs. Tips on hiring consultants. Keynotes for the Summit in May. And check out the BBC podcast, it was fun talking with Hannah and I got to express a few thoughts about the growth of climbing.

    See The Freshest Job Posts Here

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    Head Routesetting at The Circuit – Climbing Jobs Weekly 2024 February 22

    image of the circuit bend

    CBJ hosts the most active job board for climbing businesses and organizations. Below are the latest posts from this past week…


    Head Routesetter

    The Circuit
    Bend, OR

    “We are looking for a self-motivated head setter that can help craft our culture, promote our values, and accomplish our goals. We need someone who understands the unique communities that form in climbing gyms and the needs of our customers who come in for so much more than a workout. There is no limit to what this job may entail- flexibility, understanding, and determination will be expected. Previous route setting and management experience is necessary, and experience setting within a large gym environment is preferred. Extensive business knowledge and customer service skills are required.”

    OnSite

    JOB SEEKER TIPS:

    ​9 Mistakes and Blunders to Avoid in Your Next Job Interview
    By CareerBuilder

    “If you’re interviewing for a new role, there may be something in your current role that you want to get away from. However, you should always use discretion and professionalism when talking about past jobs. Speaking too negatively about roles, even those that weren’t great experiences, can make it look like you’re a difficult co-worker or subordinate. Remain positive by talking about what experiences helped you to learn and become a better candidate for the job you’re interviewing for now.”

    Read the full article here


    LATEST JOB OPENINGS

    See all current jobs // Post your job
    FT = full time
    PT = part time

    RECENT/TOP JOB POSTS AT CBJ LOCATION TYPE
    Youth Team Manager at Movement Boulder, CO PT – coach
    Routesetter at CityROCK Colorado Springs, CO FT – routesetter
    Routesetter at Movement Englewood, CO FT – routesetter
    Customer Service Associate at Escape Minneapolis, MN FT – mktg/sales
    Head Routesetter at The Circuit Bend, OR FT – routesetter
    Facility Manager at 5.Life/Climb Nittany Boalsburg, PA FT – manager
    Customer Experience Manager at Mesa Rim Austin, TX FT – manager
    Youth Programs Instructor at Bouldering Project Seattle, WA PT – instructor
    Youth Programs Manager at Edgeworks Seattle, WA FT – instructor, manager
    Routesetter at Edgeworks Tacoma, WA FT – routesetter
    Outdoor Recreation Program Manager at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, WI FT – manager
    Youth Programs Director at Summit Madison, WI PT – instructor
    Sales Rep at The Hold Room Remote PT – mktg/sales

    Career Centers of Climbing Industry

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    https://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/bouldering-project.pngBouldering Project (pick location)https://boulderingproject.com/facilityUSA - MN, TX, UT, WA
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    https://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/central-rock-gym.pngCentral Rock Gymhttps://centralrockgym.com/careers/facilityUSA - CT, FL, MA, NY, RI
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    https://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/trublue.pngHead Rush Technologies // TRUBLUEhttps://trublueclimbing.com/about/careersproductUSA - CO
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    https://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/metolius.pngMetoliushttps://www.metoliusclimbing.com/job-openings.htmlproductUSA - OR - Bend
    https://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/metro-rock.pngMetroRockhttps://metrorock.com/facilityUSA - MA, NY, VT
    https://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/momentum-1.pngMomentumhttps://recruiting.paylocity.com/recruiting/jobs/All/df699b76-9e67-4daa-9236-27d597e75dbf/Momentum-LLCfacilityUSA - TX, UT, WA
    https://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/movement-2.pngMovement Gymshttps://movementgyms.com/careers/facilityUSA - CA, CO, IL, MD, OR, TX, VA
    https://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-OLC-jpg.jpgOLC Architecturehttps://www.olcdesigns.com/about-us/#teammemberserviceUSA - CO
    https://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-OnSite.pngOnSitehttps://www.theonsite.com/careersproductCanada - QC
    https://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/organic.pngOrganic Climbinghttps://organicclimbing.com/pages/employment-opportunitiesproductUSA - PA - Philipsburg
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    https://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/co-the-spot.pngThe Spothttps://www.thespotgym.com/careersfacilitiesUSA - CO
    https://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/trango.pngTrango // Tenayahttps://trango.com/pages/careersproductUSA - CO
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    https://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/co-ubergrippen.pngUbergrippenhttps://ugclimbing.com/jobs/facilityUSA - CO
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    Rise Above Consulting Launches Groundbreaking Turn-Key Consulting Network for the Climbing Industry

    Denver, CO 2/21/2024 – Rise Above Consulting, a pioneer in the climbing industry, is thrilled to announce the establishment of a turn-key consulting network, the Rise Above Consulting Network (RACN),  designed to provide unparalleled value to clients across various disciplines and areas of expertise. This groundbreaking initiative marks the first of its kind in the climbing industry, offering customized solutions to meet the diverse needs of its businesses and leaders.

    The newly formed consulting network brings together a team of seasoned professionals with extensive experience in retail, leadership, business management, marketing & sales, route setting, facility design & development, and other critical areas. This collaborative effort aims to elevate the climbing industry by delivering comprehensive services beyond traditional consulting models.

    We will:

    1. Deliver overwhelming value to the client. 
    2. Operate with honesty and integrity towards all stakeholders. 
    3. Bring a level of professionalism to the table that surprises and impresses. 
    4. Be willing & able to collaborate. 

    Key advantages of Rise Above”s Turn-Key Consulting Network:

    1. Multi-Disciplinary Expertise: Clients gain access to a diverse team of experts, each specializing in different aspects of the climbing industry. Whether it’s route setting, human resources and operations, financial planning, marketing strategies, or leadership coaching, The Rise Above Consulting Network covers it all.
    2. Customized Solutions: The consulting network recognizes the unique challenges and goals of each client. Tailored solutions are crafted to address specific needs, ensuring a personalized approach that maximizes results.
    3. Innovation and Best Practices: The Rise Above Consulting Network is committed to staying at the forefront of industry trends and best practices. Clients benefit from the latest innovations and proven strategies that enhance their operations and offerings.
    4. Comprehensive Training Programs: In addition to consulting services, The Rise Above Consulting Network offers training programs designed to upskill climbing gym professionals via programs that cover people management, route setting techniques and standards, business management, and more.
    5. Global Reach: Rise Above Consulting’s network is not limited by geographical boundaries. Clients from around the world can tap into the expertise of industry leaders, fostering a global community dedicated to advancing the industry into the future.

    Who is in the Rise Above Consulting Network & What Do They Do?:

    1. Rise Above ConsultingRise Above Consulting specializes in solving complex and high value operational challenges for businesses. Rise Above partners with passionate business owners & entrepreneurs to overcome operational and cultural challenges so they can scale success and drive high performing culture. Rise Above has 25 years of experience opening, growing and running climbing gyms with much of that career spent at the executive level. 
    2. Psychodynamic Strategy Group (PSG) – The PSG offers leadership coaching, change management and crisis management consulting. The PSG is led by Pete Ward, who studied Neuroscience at university and brings a passionate intellectual rigor combined with a fearless commitment to results into his career as a strategist and entrepreneur. Pete has real-world experience as a multiple-time founder, and a CEO in several industries. Some of the brands he has worked with include JP Morgan Chase, VIacomCBS, Spotify, Interbrand, The North Face, Adidas Outdoor, and The American Alpine Club.
    3. Chris Ryan StudioChris Ryan has been working on unique building projects that combine work and play for over 20 years. As a licensed Architect and contractor, Chris focuses on organizing projects with owners, including high-level financial planning & analysis (FP&A) combined with visualizations and strategy, to understand every aspect and develop your complete project from idea to open doors. Some of his recent clients include Woodward, Brooklyn Boulders, The Knot, and Salt Pump.
    4. Set KosakuPierre & Sarah of SetKosaku have a combined decades of world class route setting experience spanning across commercial gyms and international IFSC competition setting worldwide. SetKosaku believes in good climbing, pushing, teaching, and sharing. In an IFSC competition or in a climbing gym, SetKosaku will transform grabbing plastic holds on a wall to conveying emotions and memories. Climbers and businesses are at the heart of SetKosaku’s Why’s, What’s and How’s.
    5. Keystone ClimbingTodd of Keystone Climbing has been climbing, guiding, working in retail shops and managing gyms since 2004. Keystone offers gyms an efficient way to run their retail program by focusing on inventory and order management best practices to increase profits. Todd works with over 50 vendors to supply your retail program with the best gear your customers will love.
    6. Harness Marketing – HARNESS is an award-winning digital marketing agency specializing in outdoor brands and climbing gyms since 2015. We have demonstrated success across 12 industries worldwide with organizations of all sizes. Still, we find the most satisfaction in helping SMBs achieve a level of marketing sophistication and excellence previously reserved only for big corporations with sizable marketing teams and correspondingly large budgets. We work with our clients and their marketing teams to create a comprehensive marketing strategy to increase qualified traffic, generate high-quality leads, maximize conversions, and drive community engagement, all while making your brand look amazingly cool. Some of our clients include household brands and others that are on their way. 

    “We are thrilled to unveil The Rise Above Consulting Network, a pioneering initiative that sets a new standard in the climbing industry. Our goal is to empower businesses with the knowledge, skills, and support they need to thrive by delivering overwhelming value across multiple disciplines and areas of expertise. Working with the Rise Above Consulting Network means there is no opportunity or challenge that can’t be met.”Gavin Heverly, Founder & Principal of Rise Above Consulting

    For more information about The Rise Above Consulting Network, please visit: 

    https://www.riseaboveconsultancy.com/consulting-network

    About Rise Above:

    Rise Above Consulting is a Colorado-based company with the values of: Integrity, No Ego, Work Hard & Make It Better. With a passion for excellence and innovation, Rise Above Consulting strives to drive the climbing industry into the future. The Turn-Key Consulting Network is the latest milestone in RIse Above’s journey to redefine the climbing industry.

    Contact:
    Gavin Heverly
    Founder & Principal
    rise.above.consult@gmail.com
    978-317-6635
    Rise Above Consulting
    10155 E 59th Ave. Denver, CO 80238
    https://www.riseaboveconsultancy.com/

    “We are very enthusiastic about collaborating with the Rise Above Consulting Network. Since we started SetKosaku it’s been a challenge to work together with people having similar ethics and objectives to ours. This network will allow SetKosaku to achieve and reach our long term goals in line with the professionalism and overwhelming quality we want to deliver. We believe the RACN will change the industry for the best and are so excited to be part of it” – Pierre Despagne, Co-Founder of SetKosaku

    I feel fortunate to have seen the evolution of climbing from a fringe activity to the thriving business community that it is today. And somehow, climbing hasn’t lost its soul along the way. The Rise Above Consulting Network are some of the best professionals that I have crossed paths with and represent the maturity of climbing in its present form. I’m pleased and honored to be a part of this group and of the evolution of the climbing business community.”  – Pete Ward, Managing Partner of Psychodynamic Strategy Group

    “This network is about helping clients reach their goals of creating truly world-class facilities at every level. There are so many aspects of starting and operating a facility, and each client is unique with their situation, team, and experience. This network will be able to support owners in a tailored fashion, with a group of professionals that can rely on each other and our collection of unique experiences, to provide answers that fit and enhance each client’s unique vision.”  -Chris Ryan, Architect and Owner of Ryan Studio, LLC


    CBJ press releases are written by the sponsor and do not represent the views of the Climbing Business Journal editorial team.

    New Bouldering Gym in New Hampshire Is Fully Adjustable

    Slab Walls at GraniteWorks
    GraniteWorks opened this month near downtown Keene, New Hampshire, with four adjustable climbing structures and a focus on beginner and advanced climbers alike. (All photos courtesy of GraniteWorks Gym)

    GraniteWorks Gym
    Keene, New Hampshire

    Specs: GraniteWorks, a bouldering-focused gym, opened in Keene, New Hampshire, this February. The 2,400-square-foot gym features approximately 1,200 square feet of climbing, consisting entirely of adjustable walls and boards—three Kilter/Lemur Adjustable Slab walls and one Kilter Board on an adjustable Lemur frame—in addition to hangboards, peg boards and fitness equipment. According to Abigale Hansen, co-owner and General Manager of GraniteWorks, 2023 was the time “a lot of the pieces just fell into place” for the business. She and co-owners Shaun Kozlowski and Scott Hansen found what they believe to be “an absolutely amazing space in a developing work/live community,” Abigale said, with the help of Hilary Harris, the gym’s consultant. “With Hilary, Scott and Abby, and myself on board, we had a great spread in experience and knowledge to make something happen,” Kozlowski said.

    Elevate Climbing Walls

    In 2010, Kozlowski moved to the Keene area and discovered the nearest climbing gym at the time was over an hour away, and he felt Keene had a great community to support climbers. So, Kozlowski began to consider opening a gym in the area. “This looked like a lot of walks around the community for years to locate a space that could work for the community, a few failed attempts to make a space/opportunity happen, multiple rejections from financing firms, [and] giving up,” Abigale described. Kozlowski moved back to Keene in 2020, after a short time away in Connecticut, which sparked a rebirth of the effort. Then, he hired Rockwerx as a consultant and gym builder, was contacted by Harris and notified of an available property, partnered with Abby and Scott Hansen, and began to make GraniteWorks Gym a reality.

    Kilter Board at GraniteWorks
    In addition to the three Slab walls, GraniteWorks has a 12×12 Kilter Board Original Layout.

    After working with Rockwerx, which helped the team complete a demographic study of Keene and the surrounding area, the owners found that “due to the size of the city and the population, Keene was better suited to sustain a bouldering gym.” And part of the impetus behind opting for adjustable walls was a goal of catering to both beginner and advanced climbers, given the space they had to work within. “It can be changed spur of the moment, so if we have more of an advanced crew there that day, and they all want to see a little bit harder [climb], we can make that happen,” Kozlowski said in an article at The Keene Sentinel. “Or, if we have a school crew that needs easier walls, we can make that happen, too,” However, Abigale did note the gym has the potential to expand in the future, if met with a demand for top roping.

    GraniteWorks was built in a preexisting building in an industrial part of the city. “This space offered us enough room and head height, it was within walking distance of the downtown [area] and the local college and other schools, and it’s a part of a growing work/live community,” Abigale said. “We feel that there is great opportunity for success in Keene due to the absence of other gyms, as well as close proximity to many colleges, schools and camps.”

    Routesetter Bundle from Chalk Cartel

    While the gym is up and running currently, getting to that point wasn’t easy for the team. “The permitting process was a bit of a bear, and so is financing,” Abigale explained, noting they also faced supply chain issues. Developing the market for climbers has been another challenge, but GraniteWorks won’t be alone in that respect. Climb Monadnock, another new bouldering-focused gym located near the downtown area, opened in Keene last December. “Thankfully we have a lot of climbers in the area, but developing interest and participation from non-climbers will take some time,” she added. “We have been doing a lot of networking with our community’s Chamber of Commerce to get the word out, and talking with multiple schools to see how we can partner and support their Rec. and P.E. offerings.”

    Abigale’s words of advice for gym operators looking to open a facility in 2024: “Don’t do it alone! Get a good team, spend the money for good connections, and work for the good of your community. It’s so much more rewarding.”

    GraniteWorks event with Hannah Grimes Center
    The GraniteWorks team—pictured at a sneak peek event with board members and staff of the Hannah Grimes Center in town—hope to partner with more local organizations in the Keene area.

    Walls: Kilter
    Flooring: Kilter
    CRM Software: GloFox
    Consultant: Rockwerx
    Website: graniteworksgym.com
    Instagram: @GraniteWorksGym

    In Their Words: “All the challenges have been overcome because of a great team, advisors and community we have. That may sound a little cliché and simple, but it’s the reality. Our advisor, Hilary, has been paramount in the permitting and business development of this gym, Kilter has been extremely supportive in the financing process, and our community is so pumped and willing to help with whatever we need to help us get going. There is an old African proverb that says, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone; If you want to go far, go together,’ and we have definitely experienced this!” – Abigale Hansen, GraniteWorks co-owner and General Manager

    Trango Holds, a leading manufacturer of world-class climbing holds, adds to its world-class line Khan collection

    image of khans

    The joy of gym climbing is discovery. Anyone who trains in their local climbing gym knows that fresh routes and new holds are not only a means of getting strong and developing technique, but also for staying motivated and having fun. Plus, new holds are essential for climbing competitions from the local level to the Olympic Games. Trango Holds works with a talented team of shapers to ensure that route setters and climbers have something new to look forward to, every day, all year round.

    Trango Holds (formerly known as eGrips) is proud to introduce new holds in the wildly popular Khan family. The Khan holds are developed by Trango shaper, Roy Quanstrom. The holds get their name from a high-level boulder problem in Ticino, Switzerland. “I was fortunate to climb The Jungle Book on my trip to Ticino,” relates Quanstrom. “It is one of the best problems in the world, and I named the Khans after Shere Khan, the tiger from the eponymous movie.” 

    image of khans

    Trango’s Khan hold line is known for its versatility. The first Khans were launched in early 2021; now the popular “franchise” is expanded with more holds, including an array of “jugs” that are designed to delight routesetters and climbers alike. “I’ve learned a lot more about shaping since the first line of Khans,” acknowledges Quanstrom. “I wanted to take some of the techniques I have learned and put it into this beloved line. Route setters will know, they’re excited because this update is primarily jugs!”  

    Quanstrom has been a routesetter for more than two decades. While his first love is outdoor climbing, he quickly developed a passion for training at his local climbing gym. While his first love is outdoor climbing, the adventure, comradery and solitude of the mountains, he also has a passion for the gym, training and routesetting.  He’s a former competition climber and a USAC Level 4 National Routes Setter on the US pro circuit. 

    The new holds include the following options:

    Fiberglass:
    Shaped primarily with a chainsaw, these feature-sized fiberglass shapes are intended to be more of a situation than traditional holds. Spin them 360 degrees for a different experience with every rotation. 

    Buckets:
    The younger siblings of the fiberglass options, these deep sloper jugs are simple, tweakable and nice on the eyes. These holds specifically add a missing piece to the original Khan line with their positivity and playfulness. 

    Jugs:
    Setters know that the single most versatile grip is the jug. They appeal to  beginner climbers as well as to those looking to max out their power moves. The Khan Jugs go from vert terrain style jugs to double incut roof jugs. 

    Incuts:
    These comfy, single handed mini jugs are ideal for technical slow movement to gripping and ripping. They are suitable for every angle of the gym. 

    Finger Buckets:
    Mini mini mega jugs! If you are setting for kids, or enjoy patina roof crimping, you’ll want to try these. Shaped with the spray wall and comp boulders in mind, these sharp incut jugs are not built for comfort like their family members, these are built for grit. 

    Khan Holds are available from Trango.com

    image of khans

    About Trango:
    Founded in Boulder, Colorado in 1991, Trango is an athlete driven brand, dedicated to challenging the status quo of climbing and dedicated to advancing indoor gym technology. At Trango, we create innovative equipment that climbers trust. Our company is passionate about creating innovative, solution-oriented products that help climbers pursue the sport we love. You can count on Trango gear to deliver something extra, something special that will contribute to your day climbing, indoors or out.


    CBJ press releases are written by the sponsor and do not represent the views of the Climbing Business Journal editorial team.

    Open Board Positions at USA Climbing

    usa climbing header

    At USA Climbing, our mission is to support the well-being, development, and competitive excellence of our athletes as we advance the accessibility and growth of the climbing community nationwide. To advance this mission, we have had the tremendous benefit of drawing on the diverse experience and guidance offered by the volunteer members of the Board of Directors.

    Currently, we are seeking three new Directors to help further the mission of USA Climbing.

    View Open Positions


    CBJ press releases are written by the sponsor and do not represent the views of the Climbing Business Journal editorial team.

    EP Climbing Modernizes University of Texas San Antonio Climbing Wall with Exciting Resurfacing Project

    Bend, OR  — EP Climbing, a renowned name in climbing wall design and manufacturing, is thrilled to announce its collaboration with the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) on a groundbreaking project that resurfaced the university’s climbing wall.

    Originally constructed by EP Climbing in 2005, the Freeform Wall has stood as a central point for climbers at UTSA for almost two decades. Acknowledging the need for modernization to meet current industry standards and materials, UTSA enlisted EP Climbing to spearhead this revitalization effort.

    Returning to the project with a fresh perspective, EP Climbing introduced innovative design elements, creating new Mozaik walls that seamlessly fit into the existing space. The team demonstrated ingenuity by creatively reusing the original steel substructure from the Freeform Wall, ensuring both sustainability and efficiency.

    The revamped climbing walls now stand at an impressive 53 feet 5 inches for sport climbing, covering an area of 2,270 square feet, and a height of 16 feet for bouldering, totaling 386 square feet. To enhance safety and comfort, a new 12-inch flooring padding has been installed.

    The primary objective of this project was to bring the climbing wall up to modern standards, enabling route setting that aligns with current climbing trends and styles. Overcoming the limitations of the original Freeform Wall, known for its highly textured and contoured surface, EP Climbing successfully delivered a more versatile and dynamic climbing experience for the UTSA community, while increasing user capacity.

    Located in the Recreation and Wellness Center, the climbing wall attracts climbers of all skill levels within the UTSA community. This project’s execution during the winter break minimized disruption, ensuring a seamless transition for climbers returning to the facility.

    EP Climbing’s extensive expertise in climbing wall design and manufacturing positioned them as the ideal partner for this transformative project. Beyond constructing new climbing walls, the company specializes in updating, remodeling, and resurfacing existing climbing structures, ensuring they meet the highest modern standards.

    For organizations and institutions looking to revitalize their climbing facilities, EP Climbing offers tailored solutions for remodels and resurfaces. Reach out to EP Climbing for expert guidance and personalized consultations.

    About EP Climbing:

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    Old-School Foundation, New-School Shapes – CBJ Podcast with Mathieu Ackermann

    Mathieu Ackerman header image
    Image by Climbing Business Journal; photo courtesy of Mathieu Ackermann.

    Today I talk to Mathieu Ackermann, who is one of the shapers at Flathold, the other creative mastermind there being Manuel Hassler, whose name you will hear mentioned in this episode as well. But back to Mathieu. He is a fascinating subject because his shaping at Flathold combines a love for outdoor climbing with some formal art training and education, and all with an open embrace of what Mathieu calls the new school style of climbing and shaping. And speaking of that new school style, if you watched the Bern World Championships, you saw the unveiling of some clear, no-texture holds from Flathold. They made huge waves in the comp climbing world. So Mathieu and I talk all about the creation of those clear, no tex-holds, and we talk about how Flathold wasn’t even sure if the IFSC would allow those holds to be used at the World Championships. There’s a cool little story there. So let’s jump into my conversation with Mathieu Ackermann at Flathold.

    Thank you Approach and TRUBLUE for your support!
    And thank you Devin Dabney for your music!


    Timestamps

    00:00 – Intro
    02:39Mathieu’s Roots in Art
    05:31Where Does Mathieu Find Inspiration?
    07:37Approaching Hold Shaping as an Artist vs. Routesetter
    10:08Goals of Shaping
    12:08Paying Attention to Other Brands
    15:26The Journey from Idea to Hold Sales
    20:17Old School vs. New School Holds
    23:52The Story Behind the Clear, No-Tex Holds
    29:19Why Were the Holds Clear?
    32:28Spray Paint, Just in Case
    35:04Producing the Clear, No-Tex Holds on a Larger Scale?
    36:11How do you continue pushing forward with more ideas?
    43:25Where to Learn More
    44:57Closing

    Retail chalk from Chalk Cartel

    Transcript

    BURGMAN: Mathieu Ackermann, thank you so much for hanging out on the Climbing Business Journal podcast, across borders, across oceans, the United States meeting France meeting the United States. It’s really nice to have you here.

    ACKERMANN: Thank you. Thank you, too.

    I was reading on the Flathold website when I was preparing for this conversation and your biography on there, it says that before joining Flathold, you were a student at an art school and you were working on developing a procedure where you could mold natural objects like rocks and trees. And I read that, and it sounded so interesting. So, before we even get into the hold shaping and the work at Flathold, can you tell me about that procedure, that idea that you had in school?

    Yeah, sure. It’s a long time ago. But yes, I was student in an art school, and this is before I met my business partner, Manuel Hassler, who already was making holds, making shapes. And I didn’t really try to copy nature or stuff like that. And maybe our text is also pretty old on the Flathold website. But yeah, I was just starting climbing and I was just also learning how to mold in art school and doing some object, and I made some tests with clay and different stuff. And the idea was probably just like, I don’t know if you know the brand called Mimic, it’s probably a US brand. And it was not the time when you had this 3D scanner to scan a natural hold. And I was like, just teaching and learning climbing as well as art school. And I thought it would be cool to be inspired by nature and to take the basic of nature and find a way to duplicate nature in real holds. And then I met my business partner, Manuel, just by reading a small article in the city journals or really something small. And I contacted him through a friend who has his number and the money was already making shape. And finally this idea of copying nature was forgotten. Or, yeah, we just still are inspired by nature, but we didn’t really do this first basic idea to reproduce nature, like those Mimic, for example, now.

    Yeah, now that you are at Flathold and you’re part of a team there, where do you draw your main inspiration from? If it’s not predominantly nature, where do those ideas come from?

    I guess we are two shapers now, me and again, my business partner, Manuel. And probably it’s different for both of us. I will speak a bit from Manuel’s perspective, even if I’m not in his head, but I know he’s a strong, how do you say that, inspiration for me. And he’s an international routesetter, so I know that most of his inspiration and ideas comes from mostly the tool side of what you need as a setter, what would be cool to have. And it drove, I guess, all his shaper career. And on my side, I’m a setter, too, but just a national Swiss setter, so not so much experienced than Manuel. And I guess I’m a bit more inspired still by nature forms like trees, like plants. In the past, I guess we used a lot of these organic shapes, and I guess we continue to have a mix of organic shapes, but also focus on Manuel’s ideas and on the functionality of a hold. So, I think it’s a good mix between Manuel and I. Manuel the setter and me maybe trying to bring something different or more natural, organic stuff and it works well together.

    “I am personally an outside climber, so I learned climbing from the rock and not from the gym,” Ackermann (pictured) says, noting his experience has allowed him to observe the evolution of holds in time, and routesetting in competition. (Image courtesy of Mathieu Ackermann)

    That is exactly what I wanted to ask you in this conversation. One of the things I wanted to know was, since you do have an artistic background, formal training in art, like art school, education in art, do you approach hold shaping from the idea of being a routesetter, which you said you’ve done some setting, or do you approach it more of as an artist?

    No, I think artist is a big word and I guess we are all artists in a way. And I never consider myself as an artist because I just made a bachelor’s in fine art. But then I had to work, so I didn’t continue like a real career. I just think these experiences in art school brought me some knowledge for shaping for example, because I touch different materials, I draw a bit and maybe also try to use it in the graphic design or stuff like that. More in the visual identity of Flathold than as an artist, like a shaper. I think you don’t need to make an art school or a shaping school to be a good shaper. I think the first step is to understand what is a climbing hold and it has a functionality. So, it’s maybe more, let’s say like a designer who could understand. But it’s interesting because it’s a big mix between being a routesetter or a climber. Understand what is a climbing hold, what you need for creating movement, and a mix with bringing some artistic side that you can take inspiration from different perspective, different origin and do it well or do it your way. And I think all the shaper has in all own style. So it can come from really different ideas and maybe mine comes from my background for sure. But it’s not necessary that you need to be an artist to be a shaper.

    Is the goal, when you shape something, is the goal always the same? The goal is “okay, we want to create a shape that is new or is different,” or is the goal dependent on and maybe different depending on whatever shape you are working on?

    It’s pretty difficult to do something new and something different now because there is many many competing brands. There is many holds that have been already done and at the end a crimp is a crimp, a pinch is a pinch and a sloper is a sloper. So when we start thinking a range of holds, we still think basic about this basic vocabulary, which is pinches, crimps, sloper, et cetera. So, I think then the idea of making something new or something different is always what we want as a shaper, but I think we are all inspired with other brands or with other stuff that we see. So, it’s always hard to tell “Ah, this is really new,” because we see that the market is going pretty far from what it was ten years ago. And I think every brand inspires another brand and every human being inspires another human being. And we see movies, we see nature, we see pictures, and I think this is what is interesting. You can take what you think inspiring to transform the vision you have for being a shaper.

    Trango Holds Pardners

    Yeah. I’m always curious to hear from shapers how much other brands are on their radar. Meaning, are they kind of operating almost like the closed-out artist, right, where they don’t want to pay attention to the other stuff that’s going on, they just want to focus on their own art project? Or is it the opposite, and they are hungry to see what everybody else is doing, to see what other companies are doing, and to kind of soak it all in and take inspiration from what other brands are doing? It sounds like maybe that’s the case at Flathold. You do really pay attention to what other brands are doing and what kind of shapes they’re creating.

    Yeah, I think we are in the market, and we are interested about what is new and we watch the competition. Manuel is also setting with other brands. We saw the product, myself too. If I go to a gym, I see different product and different brands and it’s not like we are following everything to see. But yeah, if you are in the market, you can’t close your eyes and you can’t try to be blind. And sometimes it’s hard because you want to do your own stuff and sometimes you realize it’s close for another brand and you have to change the direction where you’re going to not be too close.

    And I can’t talk about many other brands because I know many other shapers, but not personally. And the only one we know is Laurent Laporte from Cheeta, and he’s a close friend and we shaped together sometimes. And it’s pretty funny because when he came to our workshop or when we exchanged, he’s also like, oh, sometimes he doesn’t want to see the new stuff to avoid to be inspired. We want to try to have this freedom, but I think personally that it’s probably lying if you try to stay in your own workshop and you just close your eyes and just do something because you are inspired by something else. And we can see on the market everything that is done has a history. So, if you take like, I don’t know, the dual texture holds that we made, it was already something like that in the past. We were not the first to do dual texture holds.

    And, yeah, we can be honest to say, “Yeah, were inspired. We saw the first dual texture holds somewhere else.” And I think it’s trying to take from the past to do something new. And this is what happened in art or in graphic design or in cinema and in many other artistic culture, I think.

    Can you talk me through the process, the conversation that you have with Manuel? Okay, let’s say there is no hold. You don’t have anything yet, and one of you has an idea for a new hold. And then what happens after that? How long does it take for you to have conversations until you actually maybe shape the first prototype, in terms, and then how much tweaking is done with that prototype? I guess going from the very beginning of an idea to actually finally having a hold that is available for sale. What is that process like?

    I think for us, it’s pretty natural, and we are not always shaping. So, it’s not like 100% what we do in the workshop. Manuel, on his side, is also setting, and we also developed many other stuff. So, we’re not making a meeting to discuss something. It’s more naturally like Manuel and I, we go on the foam, and sometimes you have an idea, you try something. It can be really fast, like, okay, I want to do like a couple of new volumes or try new holds. And sometimes it can take many years. We have old projects that are maybe three-year-old and they still are not born. So, it’s not that we have a process that we follow, like in a company where you have meeting, it’s more like spontaneously. And we like to keep this freestyle way of working and this freedom to just bring idea in the process.

    Does it ever happen that there’s a phone call in the middle of the night where you call Manuel or he calls you and you know, you wake him up from sleep and you say, I just got this inspiration, I just got this idea. I have to tell you about it. If it is spontaneous, is it that quick?

    It’s not in the middle of the night. But Manuel is a really creative guy in a way, for thinking about new process for climbing holds industry. And he’s mostly the guy who creates new stuff. I shape, but most of the time, the new idea or the new development comes from Manuel. And sometimes it can go in one night. In one day, he talks about something, and the day after he tries a small prototype and it works in the first day, but then it’s another world to finalize the product and to sell it. Because there is a big gap between having a creative idea. It can be like shaping a simple shape. This is maybe the fastest way, but in term of new development of new idea, to bring something different, there is a gap between when you have the idea and make the first prototype and when you sell the product or when it’s finished.

    And most of the time, even for normal holds, I remember like I shaped the Damage Control holds that are one of the dual texture range from Flathold. And I remember it took so much time to make this shiny surface, to polish it. Shaping is pretty fast, but then doing the dual texture took me a long time. And after the molds were done and after I saw the first final product, it was maybe two years. And you just have the feeling that they are already old school because you are already doing something else. But the holds that you shaped two years ago, they just arrived on the market. And it’s just sometimes a strange feeling to have the feeling, “it’s not so cool. It’s old, it’s old school now.” But then finally when you climb on it, and it’s always a pleasure to see the final product and also to see that the people liked it or to see it in the gyms.

    OnSite

    Speaking of this idea of new school holds versus old school holds, Flathold in particular seems like always in the conversation when you’re talking about this new school style of climbing, competition style climbing, where it’s very dynamic, very coordination heavy, a lot of parkour influence, all of that stuff. And there is, inevitably there’s sometimes a rift there with some people saying they love that style, and other people, maybe people that are more anchored in only the outdoor style of climbing. They say they don’t really like that modern competition style. How do you feel about it as someone who is at Flathold, and because of that, you’re so tied closely to this new school style. What do you think about that rift in opinions between the new school and the old school?

    I am personally an outside climber, so I learned climbing from the rock and not from the gym. So, I really see the evolution of how evolves holds in the time and how evolves the routesetting and the competition. And we can also probably see in our old shapes, old range that it was more like this kind of old school shapes where you had to put one finger on a little stuff and it was more complex to hold. And it evolves to something more clean in term of shapes. And yeah, maybe this is a good example or comparison to what is also the competition climbing. It was maybe pretty complex and was more inspired about nature. The first competition, they were even outside, and then the climbing was like this endurance climbing. And now it evolves more to a way that people called parkour.

    And personally, I also like to climb on old school stuff, and I like to see this. But I think the way that the competition climbing is going is probably like the way the shapes are going. It’s a process which is influenced in many ways. The holds, the shaper, the setter, the athletes. And altogether, I think we drive this transformation about climbing, but I don’t think that we choose for the setting perspective or the shaping perspective, or the athletes goes that way or the setter. It’s a big mix that creates transformation. And I personally like how it works, it goes. And it’s true that I’m also sometimes surprised, or I could imagine to see more old school boulder in a new school climbing circuit. But I think it depends about the setter and it will continue to evolve from competition to competition.

    When we’re talking about this new school style, I think the epitome of that, in my opinion, is probably those clear no-texture holds that Flathold produced for the recent World Championships, 2023 World Championships in Bern. I don’t think they were the first holds ever to have no texture, but it was just kind of the whole package of them being clear, having no texture, being used at a competition of that magnitude, a competition that eventually, through the course of the seeding and the points and whatnot, would lead to an Olympic qualification portion and all that. So let’s talk about these no-texture clear holds. How did these come about?

    Yes, I think it’s a good question and answer also in a way that you last question, because this is exactly a process. And this process came from – we have a friend who is a setter in your team. His name is Pierre Broyer, French setter, and he’s a good friend of Manuel. And both together they set many international competition or national training. And yeah, Pierre is pretty focused on this new school of climbing. And he was like not developing. He was just following this vibe of creating these dynamic coordination moves. And his idea, or the idea he wanted to explore and go ahead with was to this kind of campus move coordination. So, where you start without the foot and you have to make a swing to use the dynamic of your body and of this swing to continue to do many moves at the same time. And he started probably two years ago to take this idea, which was not his idea. It was already we saw for many competition. Like, I remember in Meringue, maybe five, six years ago, when Laurent and Manuel made this five-jump coordination. And Pierre just continued to explore this idea. And at the same time, he did also slab and many other styles, but it was his main focus. And he tried to put this move in many competition. And he told me, like, yeah, it works one time. How do you say that? One time on two? Or sometimes it missed, sometimes it works.

    And when it didn’t work, it was because the climber, they usually stop in the middle of this dynamic coordination move. They can hold the swing and stop instead of continuing. And it was always a big challenge for him. And Manuel and Pierre talked together and they just realized after many competition and many tries, that they need to have really positive holds to be able to have the power and the dynamic to go far in the coordination move, but without the texture, because the texture always helped the athletes to stop on the holds in the middle or to do another beta, like a toe hook or heel hook or something like that. And Pierre just called us, he called Manuel and said, do you think there is a way to take an existing hold with texture, a good one, and to do it completely shiny?

    And, yeah, Manuel just answers that. “Why not? Let’s try.” And we have a workshop where we can experiment. We have different machines, different stuff, and we have, for example, this kind of vacuum machine. And we thought, “yeah, why not?” To try to take an existing hold, in this case, Damage Control and Lucha Libre, and to vacuum it with a plastic just to make it slick. So, the idea of making it clear, transparent was not the first goal. The goal was to create a tool that will be useful for Pierre to go ahead and maybe finish this idea or to push this idea at his limit. And I think it was what happened, and it was the main idea that we explored together.

    How and when did the idea of making it clear, how did that come to you? And did the potential or the possibilities that could come of that, was that part of it? Like, I know people were immediately saying, “Oh, these holds could light up or something at some point down the road.” There’s a lot that you can do with clear holds.

    Again, this was not an intention to – we didn’t think about, “Oh, let’s do transparent holds. It will be cool.” We first thought about, we want to create a product that is useful for this idea of Pierre and these coordination moves. So, we just arrived to transparency. And firstly, we tried with a small plastic we had at the workshop, which was black, but it was too thin to use it. It was not strong enough. So, we had to keep it on the existing holds and try to test it to see how it feels. And surprisingly, were like…You take really good holds. We put it on the wall in 30 degree or 35, because we knew that for the idea of Pierre, it was the angle we need. And we realized if you put this hold completely horizontal, you can make a pull up, but if you just twist it for a couple of degrees on the left or on the right, it becomes really hard just to hang on it. And, yeah, it was how we realized that the idea can potentially work.

    And then Manuel find a way to do a final product that we can use. And we needed something stronger and thicker. And we find recycled PET or PET plates that we use in this vacuum machine. You have to make it warm and then to suck the plastic on the hold. And, yeah, it just became to be a transparent holds. And this was also a problem because we knew for many months that were sponsoring in this event and in Bern, they had a code of colors. They wanted to keep the color of the holds the same than the identity they built. So, we just buy some spray for all the raw color that they need, because we thought they will put some color, and we just bring these holds for the setter to firstly create the idea. And then we thought they will probably spray it in a color; they will not accept to keep it like that. And finally, their organization, they thought, “Oh, why not? It’s interesting. It’s something new, it’s something different,” and this is how it happened.

    image of clear holds in Bern world championships
    “We didn’t think about, ‘Oh, let’s do transparent holds. It will be cool.’ We first thought about, we want to create a product that is useful for this idea of Pierre and these coordination moves. So, we just arrived to transparency,” Ackermann says about the clear holds pictured above. (Image courtesy of David Schweizer)

    So, you really had spray paint cans in your equipment ready to spray the holds a certain color if the IFSC didn’t let you use the clear?

    Yeah, yeah. I personally buy the spray cans with the good raw number, and we tested it in our workshop with black, and we thought it’s nice as well because it’s really shiny, and you spray it on the back so you can change the color. It becomes a bit different, but nice. But finally, without the setter, they didn’t want to, or they proposed this transparent color, and the organization, they said, “Yeah, it’s cool. It’s a nice problem.”

    Elevate Climbing Walls

    Were you surprised that they accepted? I mean, I guess, are the organizers of the IFSC, are they usually maybe less open to that idea of a new, something different?

    I was surprised because I had contact for many months to organize the choice of holds that we send as a sponsor. And I knew they are pretty picky with the colors. And I think it’s good. They wanted to make a clear identity. So, I really thought, no way, they will probably not accept. And this is why I buy these spray cans. But finally, they just thought it’s an interesting problem. It’s for the final and it’s for the show. And I think it also brings something unique because we made these holds as unique pieces. We made a choice of good holds. Manuel and Pierre made this choice. And then we had probably only eight holds that we tested in advance, and we knew that it will works for these moves, but we didn’t add so much holds, so we just came with this. And they are unique. And I think this is also why the organization, they like this idea to have something really special, something unique only for this event, and also something that is pretty fair for all the athletes because they never touch these holds and they never saw these holds. So, it was a surprise for everybody, I think.

    Do you have any desire to produce them at some point beyond just those eight exclusive pieces, or is this something that you’d like to just forever keep as a World Championship exclusive?

    I think we discuss about it with a producer because it was surprisingly pretty popular, or I think there were a lot of reaction about this holds, some like, some doesn’t like it. But yeah, we heard a lot of people who thought it’s cool. So, I guess the gym, they still need the color, the classic color to make the sequence they have. But probably we will make maybe just a limited edition of these holds or just a small batch because people ask at us and why not to make just limited edition about it.

    I think of those holds as very, I guess, to use the artistic word, almost like postmodern, because you think they’re kind of the anti-style of traditional holds, because you think the old school style of a climbing hold, it would be something with color and something with texture, right. And shape as well. And these clear holds, it’s like, let’s take away the color and let’s take away all the texture. So, you’re sort of removing these two pillars of what people always kind of thought or conceptualized of what an artificial climbing hold was. And so I can’t help but wonder, how do you continue to push creatively? I guess, what is next once you take away the color and you take away the texture, that is so innovative? How do you continue pushing forward with more ideas?

    On this theme, like transparent, shiny holds, the idea is probably not to continue to do something more extreme, to do invisible holds, you know, it was kind of mistake. And this mistake was just driven by the routesetting aspect and the movement that Pierre and Manu wanted to create. And, yeah, randomly it became to be a really special and nice product. And also, they choose the holds for the functionality of it in the movement, and they choose holds that are really good enough, have no thumb on it. And also randomly, it was our dual texture holds, like the Damage Control and Lucha Libre, and both have different texture. And what’s really interesting in these transparent holds as well is that the transparent PET, it took the texture of the holds. So, where there is texture, you can see inside the plastic that there is a kind of texture, but the texture is not where you feel it, on the other side, where you touch it; it’s just inside. And it creates a kind of strange mix between texture, transparency, and also between matte and shiny. So, it’s more kind of experimentation. And I think this is also the way we work. And sometimes you are inspired, or you discover something new by doing it for another purpose. You want to do something for the setting aspect, and it opens other door for creativity. And I don’t know because it was just last month that we did it. So just really, just before the competition. And, yeah, now we will see. We can explore. And this is what is good also in our workshop is that we have some machine, we try to explore in different way, and we try to keep our mind open and to see what comes next.

    Trango Holds Pardners

    Yeah, maybe that is the future. It sounds like it. Maybe to continue mixing the different elements of texture and color and surface and shape and all of that. Try to keep them less and less as separate entities and try to think, how can we further integrate all of these different elements together in new ways?

    Yeah, but I think there is still, as I said earlier, like the gyms and the market has still some weight. And on our side, we never try to think about new shapes or developing new ideas based on what potentially the customer needs. We always thought, “Oh, we need this,” or “This would be interesting.” And sometimes it’s the opposite. The gym, they will never ask for transparent holds, but maybe now they see that. Why not? It could be something else. On my side, I don’t really like the color that we have in our industry, because I understand the way it works. And this is better to have clear, separate, bright colors. But if I would build a gym, I would personally try to do something else with other colors, other identity. There are so many nice colors on the raw palette that sometimes it’s a bit a shame to just stay with red, blue, yellow and black.

    Maybe we will also try, or we have now a small set that we will also sell in a limited edition for the setter and just make a special color. And we know that this will be cool for the setter because they can probably use it in different way. But still, even in the like it was in Bern most of the time, the organizer, they ask for a range of color they want. Like in Germany, in Munich, they want the color of the flag. In USA, I think USA Climbing also has a palette of color, so we will try to put something else, and I know that also SoiLL, I like SoiLL, they use some kind of new colors in the catalog they have. And I think it’s interesting to bring something new in term of color and aesthetic. But I think the future of climbing is probably not based on color and transparency. It’s more about new ideas. We see now a lot of competitors and we do as well, like holds that you can combine and maybe the wall will be also more versatile that you can move in the future. There is all this wood volume that you can stack on each other. So, I think in terms of movement and setting experiences and climbing experiences, there is much more to do with new ideas than just new colors and transparent holds.

    I love it. Mathieu, I really appreciate you taking some time to talk about this because now my mind is set on the future. The future of how holds could look, how they could evolve. And this is a really exciting thing to think about, especially now with shaping and holds getting arguably a bigger spotlight than ever with these big competitions with of course, Paris Olympics coming up. Before we get out of here, can you tell people if they want to know more about your work or Manuel’s work or Flathold, where is the best place for people to go to stay in touch and to follow all that Flathold is doing?

    Yeah, I think the best way is to follow us on social media, even if we are not so, how do you say that, so prolific or we are not really focused on making everyday news. We try to keep it clean and when we have something to say, we publish it on Instagram mostly. And otherwise, we make some video about setting on our YouTube channel and I guess this is the way to see where other new stuff or the website.

    Great, Mathieu, thank you so much. We’ll get you back on the next time Flathold surprises everybody and comes out with another cool design, another cool shape. We’ll get you on again to chat. Thank you so much.

    Cool. Thank you too to invite us.

    Thanks for checking out today’s episode, and thanks to Mathieu and Flathold for sharing some insights about the creative inner workings there. Be sure to give Flathold a follow on social media, and if you want to go back and watch the World Championships portion on YouTube that featured those clear no text holds, it was the men’s Boulder final round from 2023. Aside from all that, hit the like or subscribe button for this podcast if you want more episodes like this and follow CBJ on social media. Once again, I’m John Burgman. Thanks for listening.

    Video Roundtables To Be USA Climbing’s Newest Tools for Decreasing Training Center Pushback – Latest Updates

    USA Climbing Gym Partner Task Force
    USA Climbing is now planning a series of roundtable discussions with climbing gym owners to address concerns around the planned National Training Center in Salt Lake City. (Pictured: members of the USAC Gym Partner Task Force presenting in the video update)

    [Editor’s Note: This story has been updated from the original piece published on January 2.]

    In the latest update to the ongoing and far-reaching industry conversation about USA Climbing’s proposed new National Training Center, USA Climbing recently released a 15-minute YouTube video update from its “Gym Partner Task Force.” The video features members of the task force introducing themselves and addressing some of the exposition that led to the task force’s creation.

    The video is a precursor to what is being deemed Phase 2 of a process, with Phase 1 being the current gathering of feedback, objections and suggestions from gym owners and operators related to the proposed Training Center. The feedback is predominantly being collected online through USA Climbing’s National Training Center survey.

    “The purpose of our task force is to identify ways to rebuild trust with the owners and operators of gyms around the country—and we acknowledge that we are currently in a trust deficit with many of you,” task force member Steve Struthers states in the YouTube video’s opening.

    CWA Summit Pre-Conferences

    Later in the video, task force member Kyra Condie says, “We know that many of you are eager to move beyond surveys and engage in direct dialogue with us, and we’ve already had a lot of one-on-one conversations with gym owners since the task force has started—but we are really looking forward to hearing from more of you, and so we’re ready to deepen that engagement through a series of video roundtables.”

    The roundtables will run for approximately 90 minutes and be comprised of 10-12 gym owners—with specific topics being in focus for each session. USA Climbing explained to CBJ that gyms possessing a USA Climbing membership will be invited (via email) to participate in the roundtables. Completion of the aforementioned National Training Center survey will not be a prerequisite for roundtable inclusion.

    An email sent later by USA Climbing to a number of gym owners specified the following dates and times (in MT time zone) for upcoming roundtable discussions, while also offering the gyms an opportunity to pre-register:

    • Wednesday 2/21 from 10:30 a. to 12:00 pm
    • Friday 2/23 from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm
    • Tuesday 2/27 from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm
    • Wednesday 2/28 from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm
    • Thursday 2/29 from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm

    The email from USA Climbing also explained that the agenda for each roundtable will include a review of the results of the gym survey and an “interactive discussion of emerging ideas related to the proposed components of the [National Training Center] project—athlete development, event hosting, and community access.”

    Some time of each roundtable session will also be devoted to discussing the relationship between USA Climbing and gyms. “We are planning to do more engagement around this topic in the months ahead,” the email added.

    Stay tuned to CBJ for continuing coverage of this story.


    Task Force Survey Does Little to Lessen Gyms’ Concerns About New National Training Center; Shocking Board of Directors Resignation

    Published January 31, 2024

    2022 USAC Youth Regionals at Mesa Rim North City
    Gym owners around the country continued to express anger and frustration following USA Climbing’s recent task force survey regarding the planned National Training Center, and on Monday the lone gym representative on USAC’s Board of Directors, Alice Kao, resigned. (Pictured: a USAC Youth Regionals Lead/Top Rope event held at Mesa Rim North City in 2022; photo by Jason Chang @theshortbeta)

    [Editor’s Note: This story has been updated from the original piece published on January 2.]

    This week marks the official halfway point of USA Climbing’s self-imposed 45-day pause on plans to develop a new National Training Center. Yet, there is still anger and frustration among gym owners as to the lack of communication from USA Climbing during the pause. There are also growing doubts about the effectiveness of a task force, which was put in place by USA Climbing to gather feedback from gym owners about the National Training Center’s development.

    “We were really optimistic when we heard about the task force,” Jeffery Bowling, Creative and Business Development Director at the Touchstone gyms, told CBJ. “Unfortunately, the only communication from the task force is the survey they sent out [January 25].”

    The online survey referenced by Bowling invites climbing gyms to offer feedback on the National Training Center, and USA Climbing has indicated that a similar survey will soon be open to feedback from competitors, parents and coaches. But Bowling feels that many aspects of USA Climbing’s proposed National Training Center—such as its commercial component, as well as the center’s ability to host events—have already been decided, at least according to the verbiage of the survey.

    “It seems like the task force is already working in a framework for the [National Training Center] that many of us fundamentally oppose,” Bowling elaborated, speaking on behalf of multiple gym owners. “It was my hope that the task force would take a much bigger picture view of this project and see how it could work for all stakeholders. Instead it seems to be asking us to accept that many aspects of this project are already set in stone and are not open for discussion.”

    Other gym owners and operators feel similarly. Wes Shih, co-founder of Sender One, explained that the task force feels like merely a veneer, asking for feedback but in a manner that forces only positive responses. In that framework, Shih detects a level of bias that makes the task force’s efforts feel incomplete at best and disingenuous at worst, in his opinion.

    Elevate Climbing Walls

    Dustin Buckthal, CEO/CFO of The Front, told CBJ, “Our perception is that USAC is intent on forming a counter-coalition to defend its existing commercial-based plans, rather than genuinely considering any alternative paths to a National Training Center. The initial engagement from the much-awaited task force was merely an online survey. This survey was seemingly designed to support their predetermined agenda rather than to sincerely gather diverse opinions or collect insights that could contribute to alternative visions for a National Training Center.”

    Buckthal added, “So far, this disjointed process hasn’t been the dialogue and transparency we had hoped for when USAC promised it.”

    Adding to frustrations with USA Climbing’s task force survey was a public statement from a task force member last week, which read: The Gym Partner Task Force looks forward to continued opportunities to thoughtfully address the many perspectives regarding the Training Center, this Task Force’s work, and the broader engagement between USAC and its gym partners. The Task Force is currently communicating directly with USA Climbing’s gym partners to collect feedback, build connections, and engage those partners in the development of this project’s vision.

    “That all sounds very nice and responsive,” Jon Lachelt, co-founder and general manager of Ascent Studio, said to CBJ about the statement. “How the ‘engage those partners in the development of this project’s vision’ actually plays out is the key to our contention with USA Climbing. The ‘vision’ seems already to have been set.” Lachelt added, “The vision that has already been presented will by definition have the [National Training Center] in direct competition with their supposedly ‘partner’ gyms. It’s hard to believe that USA Climbing will be able to correct this misstep in such a way that satisfies their gym partners and still fulfills USA Climbing’s commitments to the legislative stakeholders.”

    When pressed for more information regarding that statement from the task force, USA Climbing explained that the task force has thus far had conversations with “about 10 gym partners,” and through the survey received “more than 40 responses.” Those responses will be analyzed this week. “We recognize the urgency that many gym partners are feeling around this project,” Steve Struthers, one of the members of the task force, told CBJ. “Our focus, as volunteers with additional Board and non-USAC responsibilities, has been on setting up a plan for gym partner engagement, a communication of that plan to the gym partner community, and the development of our initial [National Training Center] survey.”

    CWA Summit Pre-Conferences

    In another significant development, Alice Kao, CEO of the aforementioned Sender One, resigned from the USA Climbing Board of Directors on January 29. In a letter of resignation, Kao wrote, “While I started my tenure with hope and optimism, I have now lost all confidence in this Board’s ability to lead USA Climbing and steward competition climbing in the way this sport deserves.”

    Kao was the only member of USA Climbing’s Board with direct ties to the ownership of a climbing gym, and she was also a previous recipient of the ‘Small Business’ Person of the Year award from the U.S. Small Business Administration. At a representative level, her exit from the Board puts additional figurative distance between USA Climbing and the commercial operation of gyms—a disconnect that lies at the heart of many gyms’ objections to the National Training Center.

    Further in her resignation letter, Kao condemned USA Climbing and its Board of Directors for failing to uphold its core values, including Integrity and Teamwork, as well as Inspiration and Excellence. “This Board has made ongoing decisions to steer financial and operational resources away from youth climbing, which provides USA Climbing most of its annual budget,” Kao explained. “This disproportionate focus toward the elite levels of our sport needs to change. This Board has capitalized on the love so many constituencies have for this sport and for their own communities while at the same time denying them a voice in decision making.”

    The USA Climbing Board of Directors responded to Kao’s resignation with their own statement after CBJ reached out. They pushed back on Kao’s comments, and listed a variety of current and future initiatives to demonstrate they are “continuing to engage our many stakeholders to solicit advice, feedback, and to grow the sport we love for years to come.” Additionally, they signaled intent to fill the vacant Board position with a gym owner.

    As illustrated in Kao’s letter, increasing frustrations from gym owners are evolving into larger, more substantive mistrust of USA Climbing. When asked how the National Training Center controversy has affected his gym’s relationship with USA Climbing, Jon Lachelt of Ascent Studio said, “Unsure at this point. Unrelated to this project, our gym does not have any USA Climbing comps on our calendar for 2024 yet, so we haven’t had to make any specific decisions about hosting a comp for [USA Climbing]. That said, it’s certainly been in our consciousness as we plan for the fall.”

    Lachelt’s comments came just a week after Ian McIntosh, CEO of the Mesa Rim gyms, chose to forgo the tentative hosting of a Divisional Championship youth competition in objection to the National Training Center’s proposed commercial gym component.

    Stay tuned to CBJ for continuing coverage of this story.


    National Training Center Pushback Affects Comp Schedule and Multi-Million-Dollar Loan for The Front

    Published January 25, 2024

    Preparing to set routes at The Front SLC
    A $2 million loan to The Front for a sizable expansion project in Salt Lake City has been put on pause, amid ongoing pushback around USA Climbing’s plans for a new National Training Center in the area. (Photo by Hayden Hulsey of The Front’s South Main location, courtesy of Proxy Climbing)

    The 45-day pause that effectively put USA Climbing’s ambitious plans for a new National Training Center on hold has been in place for over two weeks. But the pause has not stopped the hot-button issue of the Training Center’s development from continuing to have ramifications and reverberations in multiple areas of the climbing industry.

    For instance, as reported last week by BuildingSaltLake.com, a director from the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency (SLCRA) notified CEO/CFO of The Front, Dustin Buckthal, that a previously approved $2 million expansion loan for The Front was being paused. The move was noteworthy because SLCRDA is also enwrapped in the lease procedures for the aforementioned USA Climbing Training Center in Salt Lake City—a plan that Buckthal publicly opposed, particularly due to the Training Center’s proposed commercial gym (for-profit) component.

    “Your opposition to the [National Training Center] project has expanded from a narrow opposition to the commercial gym component to opposing the project wholesale,” a missive to Buckthal from the SLCRA stated.

    Buckthal went on record saying that he does not, in fact, oppose the wholesale concept of a new national Training Center, but feels that a commercial component of a new Training Center would be in direct competition with the commercial operations of The Front, which is also based in Salt Lake City.

    In a January 19 message to USA Climbing’s gym partners, USAC CEO Marc Norman affirmed that the loan pause “was a decision solely made by the [Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency]…”

    Trango Holds Pardners

    Reverberations are also being felt outside of Salt Lake City. Mesa Rim, which operates gyms in Texas, Nevada and California, was “penciled in” as the host for an upcoming Divisional Championship—but recently chose to forgo any such hosting duties in its facilities.

    Ian McIntosh, Mesa Rim’s CEO, was one of the many gym owners who publicly opposed the new Training Center’s commercial gym component earlier this month. McIntosh told CBJ that he is yet to see any “meaningful engagement or clear change in strategy” by USA Climbing. “We are not hosting any competitions that were not already under contract at this time,” McIntosh explained. “I am deeply committed to supporting youth climbing and it saddens me that USA Climbing is moving in a direction that is not in the best interest of 99 percent of youth climbers in this country. My goal in taking a stand on this issue is in large part to ensure that all youth climbers get the support they need from USA Climbing in the future.”

    A USA Climbing task force was created to gather feedback from gym owners amid the 45-day pause in the Training Center’s development. In his January 19 message, Norman indicated the task force will be reaching out to USAC’s gym partners this week.

    Stay tuned to CBJ for further updates as the 45-day pause continues.


    USA Climbing’s Plans for a New National Training Center Paused Amid Protests from Gym Owners—Latest Updates

    Published January 9, 2024

    2023 Youth Nationals scene by Daniel Gajda
    USA Climbing’s plan for a new National Training Center in Salt Lake City has been paused for at least 45 days while a task force gathers stakeholder feedback. (Photo of the 2023 USAC Youth National Championships in Salt Lake City, courtesy of USAC, photo by Daniel Gajda)

    Talks between gym owners and USA Climbing—pertaining to USA Climbing’s plans for a new Training Center in Salt Lake City—have continued this week. Development of the Training Center remains a hot-button issue.

    Most recently, on January 9, USA Climbing’s board of directors and the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City—commonly known as SLCRDA—agreed “to pause the process for securing a ground lease for a National Training Center site,” according to a USA Climbing letter.

    OnSite

    The pause will remain in place for at least 45 days as discussions continue between all relevant parties. As part of the ongoing dialogue, USA Climbing also announced the creation of a task force to “gather, analyze, and assess valuable feedback from gym owners…[and] explore ways to build and rebuild connections and trust between USAC and its core partners.” Another primary goal of the creation of the task force is to engage gym owners in the ongoing development of a new training center. The five members of the task force are: Maureen Beck, Kyra Condie, Laura Domoto, Deana Labriola, and Steve Struthers.

    That recent update comes on the heels of a group call hosted by Climbing Wall Association on January 4, during which a number of gym owners expressed their ongoing concerns about the Training Center—and, in particular, expounded on their objections to a would-be commercial gym component of the Training Center. USA Climbing’s Board of Directors hosted a meeting for gym owners that same day, January 4.


    Gyms Unify in Protest of USA Climbing’s Plan for a New National Training Center

    Published January 2, 2024

    2023 USAC National Team Trials at Mesa Rim Austin
    USA Climbing’s plan for a new National Training Center in Salt Lake City has been under scrutiny by gym operators around the country. (Photo of the 2023 USAC National Team Trials at Mesa Rim Austin, courtesy of Mesa Rim)

    USA Climbing’s National Training Center development project, which has been in the works for some time, has recently received intense pushback from a number of prominent climbing gyms. Specifically, many gym owners have expressed increased displeasure and concern that a commercial gym portion of the new National Training Center will draw customers away from preexisting commercial climbing gyms—particularly those gyms in the Salt Lake City area where the National Training Center will reside. Some climbing gym owners also feel that the commercial gym portion of the National Training Center could potentially monopolize the hosting of large-scale American climbing competitions. And behind these concerns is a belief that USAC has been proceeding with the National Training Center development without close enough consultation with gym owners, a key stakeholder group known to have been fundamental to the organization’s solvency and growth over the years.

    One of the first formal expressions of such concerns came on December 10, when several executives at The Front Climbing Club (CEO Dustin Buckthal, Chief of Staff Justin Wyse, and Director of Routesetting Eddie Morillas) collectively authored a letter to USA Climbing declaring opposition to the National Training Center’s commercial climbing gym component. “The Front has been a strong supporter of USAC events, staff, and athletes for many years, but we have consistently communicated our opposition to USAC opening a commercial climbing gym in Salt Lake,” the letter stated, adding, “…a publicly funded, directly competing commercial climbing gym mere blocks from established, local gyms is not in line with USAC’s  mission or recognition of ‘the critical role that climbing gyms play in our organization.’”

    The letter stressed that The Front does support the need for a larger, dedicated training space for the USA National Team athletes—but would suspend USA Climbing events/competitions at The Front gyms “until we have assurances that the project will be in line with USAC’s mission and not a direct threat to our business.”

    Routesetter Bundle from Chalk Cartel

    Further developments after that initial letter from The Front included a Zoom call with Climbing Wall Association representatives and multiple gym owners. And on December 21, USA Climbing President and CEO Marc Norman responded to the mounting concerns with a letter of his own. Norman stated, “Our vision for the [National Training Center] is not that of a typical commercial climbing gym. The [National Training Center] will be different, it is not solely focused on generating revenue. It will be purpose built to host major National and International events with spectator capacities ranging from 1000+ in the indoor comp spaces to 3500+ in the outdoor comp spaces. It will provide high-performance athletes with dedicated training, locker rooms, and recovery spaces—not only for elite adult athletes, but also paraclimbing athletes with an accessibility focus throughout.”

    Norman’s letter also explained that the National Training Center would exist and operate as an LLC separate from the USA Climbing governing body organization—and that “income generated from the [National Training Center] will be reinvested into the sport nationwide.”

    More recently, on December 28, another letter was collectively written and signed by operators and owners representing 75 gym locations in total—including Robyn Raboutou of ABC Kids Climbing, Jon Lachelt of Ascent Studio, Ian Anderson of Climb So Ill, Jon Shepard of First Ascent, Jason Haas of G1, Ian McIntosh of Mesa Rim, Wes Shih of Sender One, Kristin Horowitz of The Pad, Jeffery Bowling of Touchstone, and others. “To be abundantly clear: We oppose the USA Climbing gym project as currently envisioned,” the recent letter stated. “We cannot and do not support a poorly vetted, unilaterally executed decision by USA Climbing to radically shift its direction from its core mission to undertake a commercial endeavor that conflicts with USA Climbing’s own non-profit structure, history of grassroots development of competition climbing, and cooperation with the national commercial climbing gym community.”

    OnSite

    That recent letter by myriad gym operators also elucidated gyms’ concerns related to “a growing inability of USA Climbing leadership to manage its operations, communicate with and serve its constituents, and carry out its core mission and primary responsibilities – all with an absence of  accountability.”

    The situation remains ongoing, with those aforementioned gym operators requesting that USA Climbing pause the National Training Center development project for the time being. According to the December 28 letter, “there is currently a USA Climbing Board meeting scheduled for January 3rd, where the Board plans to discuss and approve what USA Climbing plans to present to the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency on January 9th for the purpose of receiving a site for the gym project.”

    Stay tuned to CBJ for updates and further coverage of this story.

    Nomad Walls: Reimagining Climbing Experiences

    Nomad Walls' work at Riki Bloc
    Nomad Walls’ work at the new Riki Bloc gym in Rimouski, Québec. Repurposing an old church with an architectural roof meant the team had to get creative to fit this much climbing inside the building, while keeping an open feel and preserving the natural light. (Photo courtesy of Nomad Walls)

    Nomad Walls, a wall builder based in Montreal, has been striving to redefine climbing experiences from its early start. The team’s first brainchild, Nomad Bloc, was a completely mobile outdoor bouldering gym assembled on a massive trailer, which unfolds like a climbing-style Transformer using electric actuators. This seasonal gym, now located at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, was their way of offering new climbing experiences to the community. “We wanted to sling modern-quality climbing out in the open, right in the heart of the city,” says Babacar Daoust-Cissé, CEO and co-founder of Nomad Walls.

    Nomad bouldering wall at Montreal's Olympic Stadium
    Nomad has partnered with the Olympic Stadium in Montreal to raise climbing experiences in the city to another level. (Photo courtesy of Nomad Walls)

    Breaking the Mold

    For the experts at Nomad Walls, innovation isn’t just a buzzword; it’s at the core of everything they do. The team of professional engineers and designers at the company are constantly seeking to push the boundaries of what’s possible in climbing wall construction. Soon after developing their first colossal mobile wall, they moved on to designing a custom, self-standing modular bouldering solution for another Olympic venue with a space optimization challenge: the Richmond OVAL. The crew at the OVAL needed a bouldering wall they could partition and move around whenever a big event for another climbing discipline was taking place.

    To materialize all these wishes, Nomad Walls came up with the Nomad Escalate: a fully modular solution made of standardized bouldering wall units that can be stacked one after another. This self-supporting solution can be built up to any wall size required by simply combining as many units as desired.

    Nomad Escalate at the Richmond OVAL
    Nomad Escalate walls in the background at the Richmond OVAL, the official National Training Center for Canadian athletes. (Photo courtesy of CEC)

    The modularity means clients can split their Nomad Escalate walls into fully functioning, separate comp or training walls. It also means they can expand those walls over time, without needing to pay for additional design fees, by simply ordering new units.

    Each Nomad Escalate unit can be partially disassembled and moved manually, but Nomad Walls also designed a specific tool to move multiple units at the same time. (Video courtesy of Nomad Walls)

    “We were outside the box from day one and never really felt the urge to step in it,” laughs Nomad Walls Director of Engineering and co-founder Frédérik Coallier. The professionals at Nomad Walls are not just experts at bringing dreams to life; they’re tearing up the rulebook. The team believes that, through creativity, the popularity of climbing will only keep on growing and the hype for the sport will continuously renew itself.

    Climbing for Everyone, Everywhere

    The team quickly realized that a solution like the Nomad Escalate had the potential to bring climbing practically anywhere and unlock amazing climbing experiences. So, they distilled the design with the aim of making the installation as simple as it could be. The result was a bouldering wall that can be put in a box and shipped anywhere, one that comes with an easy, step-by-step, Ikea-like user’s manual.

    This creation allowed Nomad to bring modern-quality climbing to the Cree First Nation of Waskaganish in Northern Quebec. Previously, the cost of sending a team to remote places to build a climbing wall was often enough to hinder any project. But with an assemble-yourself free-standing solution, Nomad Walls has been helping break down those barriers and seeing climbing communities grow to their full potential.

    Eeyou Bouldering gym
    The Eeyou bouldering gym in Waskaganish, QC. (Photo courtesy of Eeyou Bouldering)

    This solution not only tailors to remote area needs. Nomad Walls also worked with a client team in a larger city who long wanted to introduce their community to climbing but simply couldn’t find a building where they could permanently install a wall. The Nomad Escalate allowed them to finally bring climbing action to the residents of the municipality, with the capability of periodically moving the wall from the school gymnasium to the local Curling Club.

    Since its debut, Nomad Walls has identified urban outdoor artificial climbing as arguably the best marketing tool to get newcomers into climbing, believing it to be an incredible way to showcase the sport to non-climbers. People who have never before thought about climbing can walk by an outdoor climbing wall and simply be drawn to it. These structures can be operated on their own, but they can also be great expansion assets for existing indoor facilities, provided those facilities have land or even a parking lot available nearby. It’s no news to any gym owner that check-ins usually dwindle during the summer months as climbers seek ways to enjoy the warmer weather outdoors. One of Nomad’s clients recently added an outdoor bouldering wall to their infrastructure and quickly saw this common dip flatten out.

    Canyon Escalade walls
    Canyon Escalade’s new outdoor bouldering wall expansion, featuring the signature roof. (Photo courtesy of Canyon Escalade)

    Climbers at Heart, Builders by Design

    Nomad Walls is deeply rooted in the climbing community. “We started as climbers; we designed our first walls for ourselves, which we have been operating for over five years. Everything we have learned, we have put it back into the development of products that benefit our community,” says Maude Pelland, Chief of Operations and co-founder of Nomad Walls.

    The team at Nomad first created their outdoor bouldering gym with the goal of contributing something fresh to Montreal’s vibrant climbing community. That objective quickly led to new reflections on how to keep the beloved sport of climbing relevant and exciting.

    “What sets Nomad Walls apart is not just our commitment to innovation and quality but also our passion for the climbing community,” explains Daoust-Cissé. “We understand the thrill, the camaraderie of a climbing gym, and the joy of conquering a challenging route. It’s this understanding that drives us to create climbing walls that enhance the overall experience for both beginners and seasoned climbers alike.”

    In their desire to see the climbing community flourish, Nomad Walls joined forces with Climbing Escalade Canada (CEC), the national governing body for competition climbing in the country, as the organization’s official wall builder and flooring supplier partner for 2022-2024. Nomad supplied the bouldering walls for the first-ever Canadian National Training Center, which helps further growth and excellence in climbing.

    The Nomad Way

    The experts at Nomad Walls understand that every client is unique and deserves a bespoke design, one that encompasses all elements of the vision. Furthermore, they know firsthand how overwhelming starting a new gym can be, so they make it their mission to accompany clients from the ideation of a project to its completion.

    “More than manufacturers, they felt like true partners during the whole conception and installation process. We were so impressed by their attention to every detail, leaving nothing to chance,” shares François Genin, Director of the Riki Bloc gym, about working with Nomad.

    Community at Riki Bloc
    Community members showing up in full force at the launch of Riki Bloc’s new location. (Photo courtesy of Riki Bloc)

    Coallier likes to describe their approach as “supportive elevation” that’s always in service of the client: “We have so many funky design ideas, but we don’t feel our role is to push our ideas onto our clients. We prefer to act as a sounding board and ultimately come up with an aesthetic visual that truly reflects your desires. Your vision, our expertise!” explains Coallier.

    Fresh bouldering walls at Bloc 9.81
    The Bloc 9.81 team wanted a clean, classic design with one bold element that would create a bang. (Photo courtesy of Nomad Walls)

    Nomad Walls believes that every climb should be an experience worth remembering. That’s why the professionals at Nomad are committed to delivering not only innovative designs but also unmatched quality. “Our climbing walls are crafted with precision and built to withstand the test of time,” states Daoust-Cissé. Whether it’s a sleek indoor bouldering wall or a towering outdoor climbing structure, Nomad Walls’ staff ensure that every project is a testament to their commitment to excellence.

    Making the move into the already competitive indoor walls market, Nomad knew they had to bring their A-game. “We have incorporated feedback from countless end-users as well as gym operators,’’ says Daoust-Cissé. Gathering this feedback has allowed Nomad to develop new wall and mat features which improve the safety and durability of their clients’ assets.

    Creating a unique, elegant visual design and carefully selecting the wall geometry to give routesetters more freedom with their craft is only the beginning. There is much more to factor into the equation to truly shape a memorable experience, such as the general flow of customer traffic through the facility, the ergonomics of the furniture, the lighting, etc. Nomad seeks to guide its clients through a thoughtful, holistic approach so that from the moment one of their customers walks through the door, they are simply blown away by how seamlessly everything functions.

    The team also strongly believes in sharing knowledge. “When it comes to outdoor climbing structures, we have so many lessons learned and best practices to share with our clients to make their life as smooth as possible,” says Pelland. Many of these countless insights have also been valuable for future indoor gym operators.

    Aerial view of Canyon Escalade
    Whether indoors or outdoors, Nomad Walls has the expertise to bring just about any gym project dream to life. (Photo courtesy of Canyon Escalade)

    The company being owned by three engineers means the team doesn’t shy away from design time, either. “You can be sure we will go the extra mile to make sure your project has the ‘wow factor’ that will leave your clients wanting more!’’ says Coallier. The team’s engineering expertise also translates into what they believe to be some of the best space optimization in the industry. “With rents being one of the biggest expenses of most commercial gyms, we understand that every inch counts,” says Pelland.

    Despite being relatively new on the scene, the Nomad crew is confident they can measure up to any wall builder out there. “For us, being a small company simply equates to amazing customer service and seamless delivery on all fronts,” says Daoust-Cissé.

    What’s Next?

    The team at Nomad Walls thrives on dreams and wild ideas, and they’re hoping the next one will come from a client who is wondering what’s possible. In the meantime, their next venture is a smaller, fully adjustable bouldering wall that’s towable with a pickup truck, set to hit the streets in Spring 2024. They feel this solution will be an ideal tool to bring climbing to all kinds of events.

    “We are also very excited about a new wall technology idea we have had for a while now that we feel would push routesetting to new levels,” shares Coallier. While keeping the details under wraps, this teaser hints at Nomad Walls’ continuous pursuit of elevating the climbing experience.

     


    This story was paid for by the sponsor and does not necessarily represent the views of the Climbing Business Journal editorial team.