Can someone please open a gym in Johnson City????

I, like most, don‘t have the time, money, or dedication to do this; but I’m still gonna ask!  Other than my seasons in Wyoming and North Carolina, I’ve lived most of my life near JC and just landed a full time job here, so I‘ll be around for a while.  Folks don‘t realize the goldmine of a location JC is in for a climbing boom.  It’s central location in the south is amazing.  Rocky Fork: 30 min, Hidden Valley: 55 min, Guest River Gorge: 1.25 hr, Ship Rock: 1 hr, Linville: 1.5 hr, Rumbling Bald: 1.5 hr, Brevard area: 1.5 hr, Red River Gorge: 4 hr, New River Gorge: 3 hr, Obed: 3 hr, Chatt: 3.5 hour.  

Also, if you live in the area, and we haven’t climbed, HMU!  Cheers.

Dan Daugherty wrote:

I think your post pretty well explains why a climbing gym isn't needed there. If I had that much climbing that close to me, you'd never see me in a gym.

Close? That is FAR af to drive for climbing

Dan Daugherty wrote:

I think your post pretty well explains why a climbing gym isn't needed there. If I had that much climbing that close to me, you'd never see me in a gym.

I never said one was needed.  Personally, I just want one in the area.  I know it probably won‘t happen but just wanted to bring it up.  I think it would help the community though.

Curtis Baird wrote:

I never said one was needed.  Personally, I just want one in the area.  I know it probably won‘t happen but just wanted to bring it up.  I think it would help the community though.

The closest sport climbing for me is 3 hours, if I could climb at hidden valley in less than an hour I’d never go to the gym. 

Dan Daugherty wrote:

I think your post pretty well explains why a climbing gym isn't needed there. If I had that much climbing that close to me, you'd never see me in a gym.

This is why there are no successful gyms in the CO front range or SLC.

Yeah, we have some good friends who just recently moved (back) to JC.  There's def a lot around there.  We've been up a few times this summer to visit (and climb!)  Hope to see ya out around there sometime.  I like that little taco spot in town also.  

You're totally right. A gym in JC would do well, the area is growing rapidly and the ecotourism economy in the surrounding areas has experienced tremendous growth as well. Typically someone with a lot of capital would invest in a gym. You might start asking around at business meet and greet-type meetings. I grew up near there and when I first learned about indoor climbing, I spent hours trying to find a gym. The closest one was three hours away. I def would have gotten into climbing much sooner if I had better access. 

By comparison, we have a really nice gym in Lexington KY. RRG is just under an hour away. The gym does well with locals. It also sees a certain amount of business from visiting climbers that are experiencing bad weather.

Doug Chism wrote:

The closest sport climbing for me is 3 hours, if I could climb at hidden valley in less than an hour I’d never go to the gym. 

It is the south and it rains quite a bit. On another note, Johnson City is pretty central - you get the best of both worlds and quick access to both Southern and Northern Pisgah, High Country Crags, Cashiers, etc. I enjoy living in Boone because there's a shit load of crags that are all within 30min (including approach) but I do with it was closer to Cashiers and Southern Pisgah. Being able to leave work at 5pm and being racked up and climbing by 5:30 at Ship is pretty rad though. 

Dan Daugherty wrote:

I think your post pretty well explains why a climbing gym isn't needed there. If I had that much climbing that close to me, you'd never see me in a gym.

Yeah that's a good point.  It's why places like Lexington, Boulder, Denver, Lander, Chatt, barcelona, paris, and many places with nearby climbing destinations are known to be vacant of climbing gyms. 

Rob D wrote:

Yeah that's a good point.  It's why places like Lexington, Boulder, Denver, Lander, Chatt, barcelona, paris, and many places with nearby climbing destinations are known to be vacant of climbing gyms. 

Uhhh Boulder, Denver, Chatt and Lexington all have gyms. Denver/Boulder metro has like nearly two dozen climbing gyms and hosts the largest in the US. Pre-COVID the gyms were regularly packed with gym climbers, weekend warriors, and folks that want to get stronger to project outside.  

I do think JC would be a great place for a gym. I used to live in Knoxville and Lexington, both have great climbing nearby and successful gyms. JC being a college town would probably help too. 

My sarcastic response did point out the giant error in your theory (even if I was being a smartass).  I think you'd be hard pressed to find a city near good climbing that doesn't have at least one gym, if not multiple.  My point was that you posted something as fact without thinking about whether you were right or not. 

JC would be a great place for a gym.  Strong local community, strong climbers, growing city that's reaping some of the benefits of tech having a presence in the southeast (which brings in young people), and with the recent exodus from northern cities I've seen quite a few climbers from up here heading down to live in Chatt, JC, Lexington, etc.   If the argument for why a gym doesn't exist is that there is no need for it because of outdoor climbing, that would absolutely be the exception to the rule, not the rule itself. 

Even considering nearby cities of similar size, Boone which is about 1/3 the population has a gym (they benefit from the uni though) and asheville NC has two (slightly bigger city).  Chattannooga is obviously quite a bit bigger but their climbing gyms don't seem to struggle because of the proximity of good climbing.  Chattanooga has basically year round climbing and have managed to have great gyms.  

Whoops, my bad Rob. We're on the same page! 

Lots of caving near JC too.....

Rob D wrote:

 Chattannooga is obviously quite a bit bigger but their climbing gyms don't seem to struggle because of the proximity of good climbing. 

Chattanooga has about 3x the population of Johnson city.  But if you look at the greater surrounding areas of Johnson City vs Chattanooga, they're actually really close:

Tri-Cities Region (formerly Tri-Cities Metropolitan Statistical Area) = 480-500,000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-Cities,_Tennessee

Chattanooga Metropolitan Statistical Area =  520,000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chattanooga_metropolitan_area

I would drive from Boone to JC at least once a week if they had a nice gym with rope climbing.