Ashleigh Hawes
Posted by Jayden McLaren on Saturday, October 31, 2015
Vertical Ninja Route
At Boulders Climbing Gym in Victoria Canada a new ninja warrior style course was built. But this course goes up!
Here’s a speed version of the route.
New Wall coming to Utah
KUER, a public radio station in northern Utah reported last month that a new climbing wall is being constructed specifically to help those in drug recovery.
Salt Lake City’s nonprofit sober gym and community center, Fit to Recover is building the wall that will be housed in the cross-fit type gym.
The Petzl Foundation and Momentum Climbing Centers provided seed funding, volunteer labor and materials. Members of the gym have been helping out as well.
Fit for Life executive director Ian Acker told KUER, “Exercise is secondary. Climbing is secondary. The primary focus is community.”
Acker expects the climbing wall to be finished next week. But he’s got more plans after that. In the next 2 years, he wants to franchise and put one of these spots in 5 or 6 cities around the country.
Obe Joins Metro Rock
Massachusetts-based climbing gym operator, MetroRock announced on Nov 2nd that Obe Carrion would be joining its management team affective November 20th 2015. Carrion is a well known climber and coach who gained notoriety in the late 90’s and early 2000’s bouldering scene. He discovered climbing in Allentown, PA in the early 90’s and was quickly hooked. Within a few years he had established himself as a nationally ranked climber culminating with his 2002 ABS National Championship.
His life in front of the spot light transitioned to a life of coaching and mentoring a wide range of kids and adults. Carrion has been a Team Coach for The Rock Club in New Rochelle, NY and Team ABC in Boulder, CO and a personal coach to many including young superstar, Ashima Shirashi.
From Press Release:
In 2010, he began a collaboration with Mad Rock Climbing that ultimately took him to California. But after several years away from the East coast he wants to be back nearer to his family and closer to his routes. With facilities in Boston, MA, Newburyport MA, Essex, VT, and Brooklyn, NY MetroRock is looking for Obe to assist in the design and structure of its coaching programs. Please help us in welcoming Obe to MetroRock.
Australia Buzzes with Bouldering
Apparently Australians like to boulder. From the Grampians to the Blue Mountains, the climbers of Oz have plenty of options for pebble wrestling. But it seems they also like to pull on plastic.
According to recent CBJ research there are currently a total of 46 climbing gyms in Australia serving the country’s 24 million people (522,000/ppl per gym). That means that Australia has more climbing gyms per capita than the United States (746,000/ppl per gym) and just behind Canada (493,000/ppl per gym).
The first gyms in Australia opened in 1993 – 1994, and the industry saw moderate growth through the 2000’s. Many gyms still carry the hallmarks of that era: dead vertical walls and 90 degree roofs, shredded rubber flooring and classic “graffiti” color schemes can be seen from New South Wales to Western Australia.
But in the last two years it’s bouldering gym operators that have begun to move the Australian climbing industry forward. In fact no full service climbing gym has opened up in Australia since 2013 and none have been publicly announced for 2016. But in that same timeframe, 3 bouldering-only facilities opened and two more are expected to open in 2016.
Cox-Taylor listed all the typical advantages to opening a bouldering gym in lieu of a full-service traditional gym: lower capital costs, lower operating costs and easier access to real estate in what Australians call the Central Business District or CBD. As important as those factors are to the development of a climbing gym, Cox-Taylor was primarily interested in a bouldering-only model from a business perspective: he was convinced it would be successful.
The first evidence for this theory came after Urban Climb added 1,690 square feet of bouldering to the original 11,000 square feet of climbing terrain. The popularity of the bouldering terrain, and what it did for their business as a whole, convinced Cox-Taylor bouldering was a good business model. The other proof came from visits to London and US bouldering facilities, where he witnessed first-hand how bouldering gyms have taken off.
“I can’t speak for others who have started bouldering gyms in Australia,” Cox-Taylor summarized, “But those two things combined gave me a lot of confidence in bouldering as a strong aspect of the business and what it can do for climbers and what it can do for our community.”
Urban Climb isn’t the only operator sold on bouldering. Just down the coast from Brisbane lies Sydney and it’s newest addition to the climbing scene, 9 Degrees Bouldering gym run by Dr. Martijn A. van Eijkelenborg, a Dutch/Australian who holds a PhD in Quantum Physics. With their La Marzocco espresso machine boasting beans from local Sydney roasters and an interior design aesthetic borrowed from Grandma’s living room, 9 Degrees has been getting a lot of press lately and is the hipster-est of climbing gyms. It’s not all about the looks however. Van Eijkelenborg hired routesetting savant Niklas Wiechmann from the German bouldering gym Stuntwerx to put up the first set of boulders.
Van Eijkelenborg sharred the sentiments of Urban Climb’s Cox-Taylor by telling CBJ, “Anyone who does their market research properly will see that boulder gyms are the way to go. They have much greater potential for a return of investment, and judging from the trends in Europe and America, they have a great future ahead of them.”
Urban Climb Milton PreviewHave a sneak peek at Urban Climb Milton! #mindblown
Posted by Urban Climb on Monday, September 14, 2015
Bouldering Sells
One of the major players leading the push to modernize the Australian climbing scene is Alex Cox-Taylor, Director and Co-Owner of the Brisbane-based Urban Climb, which by next year will be the largest gym operator on the continent. Cox-Taylor is originally from London but took over management at Urban Climb in 2007 and quickly initiated a series of expansions to the original facility, which opened in 2004. Part of that expansion plan is two new bouldering gyms in Brisbane scheduled to open in 2016 (the only new gyms that have been announced in the country). Cox-Taylor admits that his plans are ambitious but told CBJ in a Skype interview that, “Every time we’ve added something new to what we have, we’ve been able to make the most of that. We’ve grown quicker than expected, that’s for sure.” Cox Taylor said that Urban Climb has hit capacity on several occasions recently and instead of raising rates on his members he and his team decided to expand to other areas of Brisbane.New SteadOne membership 3 Gyms – now that's value.
Posted by Urban Climb on Sunday, September 13, 2015
The Urban Factor
You can think of Australia as one giant desert surrounded by a handful of large cities, and with big cities come big real estate prices. These metro areas already have a number of well established, if aged, full-service climbing facilities This geography and urban density, which is similar in many ways to Canada, may be why bouldering gyms are taking off rather than traditional gyms. “It is hard to find suitable buildings for full service gyms due to the heights required,” said van Eijkelenborg. And as their name would imply, Urban Climb actively looked for property close to the Brisbane CBD. Their two new facilities are actually quite close to each other in the heart of town. Even though Urban Climb’s new Milton bouldering gym is just across the Brisbane river from their original location, Cox-Taylor said there is a physiological barrier to crossing it. “We want to be where people live, where people work so we can become a part of their lifestyle.” That’s why he chose property in neighborhoods that are surrounded by universities and apartment dwellings. “We want to be where lots of people live on our doorstep,” Cox-Taylor said. Down in Melbourne, the second most populous city in Australia, one company is single-handedly bringing bouldering to the masses. The city’s iconic bouldering institution the Lactic Factory which was the city’s first bouldering gym, was bought by “a bunch of psyched boulderers” who took on the task of updating the facility. “It wasn’t long before it became apparent we were going to need a bigger space to accommodate the masses of Melbourne boulderers that would regularly descend on our little gym,” their website states. That’s when they decided to open Northside Boulders. A mere 22 minutes from the Lactic Factory and smack dab in the middle of town, both gyms are holding close to the urban market strategy.Island Time
The real question for van Eijkelenborg is, why has it taken so long. He believes that a 5 to 10 year delay is often found between the emergence of a new trend in Europe or America and its uptake in and somewhat isolated Australia. “This certainly applies to the climbing industry,” he said. Bouldering gyms are now a recognizable and trusted business model in the US and Europe. Even Japan has a healthy urban bouldering scene, arguably prompted by the large, dense cities and astronomical real estate prices. Van Eijkelenborg believes that the climbing industry in Australia is just starting to embrace what others around the world have been doing for years. “Until recently all climbing walls were generally of a ‘home-made’ style, designed and put together in a different way for each gym by different local builders resulting in walls of varying shapes and quality,” van Eijkelenborg said. Quality holds and professional wall builders have been difficult to get ahold of in Australia. Now, thanks to importers and retailers like ICP which is a distributor of Flatholds, IBEX, and also a sales rep for Walltopia, Australian gym developers have access to the latest products. ICP also puts out their own brand of climbing holds that are easily the most popular grips in Australia. “With a one-stop shop looking after your walls, holds, features and volumes, starting a gym is now easier than ever,” van Eijkelenborg said. With many of the obstacles starting to fade away, opening a climbing gym in Australia, whether a boulder gym or a traditional gym, should only get easier. But like all emerging markets it’s going to take some serious and experienced entrepreneurs to get in the game. Van Eijkelenborg of 9 Degrees thinks that Australia is primed for a climbing gym explosion. “There are a lot of interesting business opportunities across Australia, and more 9 Degrees boulder gyms are likely to spring up around the place,” he said. “I think we are clearly at the start of the boulder gym revolution in Australia.”Teknik & So Ill Now Available In Germany
Flow Climbing, a German-based equipment and clothing supplier for northern Europe has announced that they will be the “Official distributor in Germany for the amazing climbing holds from Teknik handholds out of Canada,” they stated on their website.
Flow also announced back in September that they “Are pleased to announce that we have teamed up with So iLL to once again bring these amazing shapes to the German market.”
Earth Treks Moves Closer To DC
Earth Treks Climbing Centers will be opening one of the Nation’s largest gyms in the Washington DC metro area next year. ET announced last week that they will be bringing 35,000 square feet of climbing surface to an undisclosed location within the DC beltway. All that climbing and fitness space will be housed in a 45,000 square foot building.
According to the Earth Treks press release announcing the new gym the footprint of the building will be more than 50% bigger than Earth Treks’ Rockville, Maryland location — which was ranked as the 2nd biggest climbing gym in the nation in 2014. Rockville is just outside the DC beltway and is considered by many to be one of the busiest gyms in the country.
Chris Jenkins, ET’s Chief Operating Officer, told CBJ that, “We keep finding, and the industry is finding, that bigger gyms work.” Earth Treks operates four other gyms in Maryland and Colorado, two of which are in the top 15 largest gyms in the US. “We have other big gyms and they are exceedingly busy and full. So the logical conclusion is to go bigger,” Jenkins said.
The large building size was more a result of what was available in the local real estate market than finding the ideal gym size. “I don’t know if we’d go to 45,000 square feet,” Jenkins said in describing the perfect size gym. “But I’m pretty confident that we’ll fill this space pretty quickly,” he added.
Though the location was not specified, ET is expecting that the new location will take considerable pressure off the busy Rockville facility and give their members a better experience. “We have customers that will find it convenient to go to both the new location as well as the Rockville location,” Jenkins said.
Currently the only climbing gym within the DC beltway is Sport Rock’s Alexandria, Virginia facility, which is just south of the District, and will most likely be the strongest competitor for the new Earth Treks facility. Sport Rock also runs a facility in Sterling, Virginia. Despite the close competition it seems ET is counting on the advantage of having multiple locations within the same metro area, which provides a valuable benefit to members. “We think it’s better to share customers with ourselves as opposed to our competitors,” Jenkins told CBJ.
Where Others Have Tried
Gym operators have been looking to get into the lucrative D.C. market for years but have been stymied by high real estate prices and lack of suitable building space. Earth Treks is keeping the exact location of their new facility a secret for now, so it remains to be seen how far District residents will need to travel to get their climbing fix. By the end of next year D.C. climbers could have multiple new places to climb. Earlier this summer a combination beer garden, bouldering gym and coffee shop was announced to much excitement. The project, a joint venture between a prominent D.C. restaurateur, a real estate investor and Steep Rock Bouldering of New York City, is located in the industrial area of Northeast DC. Alas, no further details have been revealed since the announcement, and the project seems in flux with the original coffee partner recently announcing that they are pulling out of the project. Residents of the District will have to wait a little longer to see when they will actually get a commercial climbing facility within their fair city. But with major gym operators opening up in dense urban cities like Chicago and New York it seems only a matter of time. Until then the over 6 million people living in the DC metro area will have to be content with taking the Metro Train to one of the outlying climbing gyms. But as Jenkins said, “We’re not done yet. We do have other things up our sleeves.”Fitness Industry Trends Report 2015
Yoga, treadmills and small group training are here to stay and if you’re not providing them in your gym, you missing out. At least that’s according to a recent report released earlier this fall by the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), the American Council on Exercise (ACE) and ClubIntel.
The International Fitness Industry Trend Report explores the offerings of fitness professionals and gym operators around the world and quantifies the data to reflect growth in trends over the past two years. Though it was an international study over 90% of responses came from the USA.
The study measured adoption and growth rates from 2013 to 2015 across multiple health and fitness categories including: equipment, facilities, programs, services, training protocols, and technology. The report broke down each trend by its level of adoption: niche (fad), emerging, growing or mature.
Though the study focused on traditional health and fitness center operations, the implications for climbing and bouldering gyms should not be overlooked.