The quality of a gym’s routestting can make or break its popularity. Set too difficult and no one will be able to climb; set too easy and people will become disinterested. Additionally, safety while working at height is of utmost importance. With a plethora of rigging options and gear on the market, it’s imperative that gym owners and head routesetters choose wisely to help mitigate risk while on the job. With this in mind, we sat down with The Front Climbing Club’s Head Routesetter Eddie Morillas to talk routesetting, working at height and what it’s like to set for multiple gyms with a new location opening on the horizon.
This past summer, Petzl America went on a North American routesetting tour to demonstrate our best practices and techniques with routesetters for working at height. What we encountered was surprising: A community hungry for ways to mitigate fall risk, increase comfort when suspended for long periods and build better systems for hauling and positioning wall equipment. The boom in climbing as a sport --- and the accompanying boom in the establishment of new climbing gyms --- has been met with routesetters and gym operators who are increasingly serious about the rope access work they perform. This is great news, because the truth is that routesetting is a high-consequence work-at-height activity that demands to be taken seriously.
In 2018, Dustin Buckthal founded Sugarhouse Holds, an indoor-climbing hold production company built in Utah, inspired by Utah and on a mission to spread the love for Utah climbing throughout the climbing community. Being one of the more geologically diverse states in America, it’s hard to blame him. In order to help spread Utah climbing adoration, Dustin searched high and low for someone capable enough to execute on his mission. Which leads to Kegan Minock, the shaper behind Sugarhouse Holds (a Vertical Solutions subdivision).
A climbing gym business can be risky in many aspects. It’s important for gym owners to start addressing those risks early on in their project, and to consider all facets of risk management. Those risks range from the subtle fallout from a simple overstocking of your retail space all the way to a customer or worker injury at your gym.
Crux Climbing Center is a 22,000-square-foot facility located in South Austin’s Dawson Neighborhood. With unique services and gym designs like the Future Wall and 24-hour access, owner and Austin local Kevin Goradia has made Crux a competitive player in Austin’s climbing gym community. Continue reading to hear how this gym came to fruition, how it succeeds in the community’s tight-knit scene and how it plans to expand elsewhere.
The concepts that lenders use to gauge the creditworthiness of a potential borrower are called the 5 Cs. If you’re needing to raise money through lenders (banks or investors), you’ll need to understand the Cs and how they affect your chances of receiving a loan.
If you’ve been itching to see what a monster, industrial renovation looks like, then you need to head to 1330 Conant Street in Dallas, Texas. Along with an army of construction workers, engineers, architects and the likes, you’ll find Chris Whittaker – the founder of Oso Climbing Gyms and the mastermind behind the renovation.
With near perfect year-round temperatures, beautiful sandstone around every corner and Zion National Park just next door, St. George is a hotbed for outdoor rock climbing. Now, the city is getting its very first climbing gym thanks to co-founders Chris Horton, Jacquelyn Horton, Jeff Compas and Jenny Compas.
Life was going well for Grayston Leonard - he was a route setter at a popular gym ten minutes from his house in L.A. Things were easy, but he saw an opportunity, and took the bold step into gym ownership...
A recent update from the new Front Climbing Club on South Main in Millcreek, Utah. Good things are coming!
It was a Wednesday afternoon and the sounds of rain pitter-pattered on rooftops across town. Like any other rainy day in Hood River, an Oregon town of 7,600 which borders Washington on the Columbia River, most people were at home or work, or any number of the eateries, breweries or coffee shops around town. Except for Conor Byrne and Jen Altschul. They weren’t sipping IPAs or a dark roast. They were touring history...
We believe rock climbing gyms can help positively shape a community, which is why we're excited to partner with Method Climbing by helping them build Newark, New Jersey's first rock climbing gym.
A brief video capturing why our clients choose to work with us, and what we bring to the table.
The new Adjustable Training Platform (ATP) from Vertical Solutions is the first product in the forthcoming Optimatrix series of training products specifically for climbing.
The VS Team worked crazy hard to get this gorgeous bouldering gym ready in time for owners Mack and Bryan to throw their grand opening. No stranger to successful climbing businesses, Mack and Bryan also own and operate Butora USA, so this gym had to be top notch to match their brand. Check out the drone fly-through to get a good scope of how unique this project is!