Not-for-profit small town climbing gym
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Does anyone have any experience starting a "private" or "member-owned" or "co-op" climbing gym? |
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There is something kind of like this in Juneau AK. The local for-profit gym was closing, so a few of the local climbers with other jobs bought the place so they would have a place to climb. My understanding is that they are not really out to make a money, just have a place to climb. |
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No idea but the Squamish Bouldering Co-Op seems to be what you'd model it after. |
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Oreamnos wrote: Does anyone have any experience starting a "private" or "member-owned" or "co-op" climbing gym? Have you ever tried to herd cats? Your town is too small to support even a tiny Co-op. I think what you should do is simply create a home wall for anyone to use perhaps with a small mandatory donation for upkeep.However for a model check out the Minnesota climbers Co-op |
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check out http://www.summitclimbing.org/ |
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Awesome! Thanks everyone for the names and links of other places already doing this. I'm glad to see it's actually a viable model! :) |
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The Cube Climbing Center, Nelson BC. Developed after the local gym lost its space. The Cube rents space at Selkirk College. Their address is620 Tenth St. and you can find them on the web. |
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These are great examples! Thanks for everyone's input! |
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John Wilder wrote: The original successful co-op was SLO-OP in San Luis Obispo, which ultimately went private late last year and now has two locations and a full size facility. Originally it was in a storage shed in town- totally home grown and alot of the gyms mentioned used them as a model. +1 on talking to them. Loved climbing at the last warehouse before they went private. Great facility with great volunteers and route setting. The new facility is nice but just doesn’t have the same feel to it. |
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JohnnyG wrote: There is something kind of like this in Juneau AK. The local for-profit gym was closing, so a few of the local climbers with other jobs bought the place so they would have a place to climb. My understanding is that they are not really out to make a money, just have a place to climb. Woah. People know about us. http://www.rockdump.com/ |
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Very interested to see what kind of info comes of this, we’ve been talking about doing the same in Moab for the last couple years. |
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Bringing this to the top again. Have there been any new coops on the scene that you know of?
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Aaron Gerry wrote: I'm writing an article about climbing coops (the history, the current state of things, etc.) so if you are part of a coop or know of one, please reach out! That's cool! Post a link where we can read it when you're finished. Thanks! |
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New Paltz had a coop, but it burned down. |
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Aaron Gerry wrote: Bringing this to the top again. Have there been any new coops on the scene that you know of? MWV co op is still a ways from being opened, sadly. They are getting closer, but there is a lot that still needs to be done. North Conways year round residency rate is something like 3k, but swells to almost 20 times that with seasonal influx of tourists. |
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Tradiban wrote: Yeah, it seems easy for a small group to pool money and build a nice woody, especially since many folks do it on their own. I'm no huge fan of bouldering but with the right setting(juggy easy ones) you can get as strong as you want with minimal injuries. Who has space in their mom's garage or attic? I believe the Dojo in W Mass is a co-op |
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Saltspring Island in British Columbia, Canada had a very tiny rock gym. I think it was open only two days a week and run by volunteers. |