Brooklyn Uprising
Brooklyn, New York

Specs: Brooklyn Uprising is opening this spring in the DUMBO neighborhood of New York City, owned by Creative Director Emily Kollars and Business Director Tyler Tringas. Described by the owners as a “neoclassical” bouldering facility, the gym will blend old-school training with modern design, and contemporary features inside the space are being set up with outdoor climbing movement in mind. The owners are intentionally positioning the gym as a specialized, not-one-size-fits-all facility, in part because they’ve seen a demand for more specialization as the industry matures. Instead of an all-in-one model, they hope to provide “a boutique experience,” said Kollars, while “maintaining a connection to the outdoors,” per the gym’s homepage.

The idea for Brooklyn Uprising began about two years ago, when the owners wanted to give back to their climbing community and perceived a gap in the market of “locally owned and operated” gyms, Kollars stated. About 18 months ago, the duo began looking for a space and found what Kollars said was “not at all an obvious selection” for a climbing gym. “It’s this beautiful old building that originally was a torpedo manufacturing space and then eventually evolved into paper manufacturing, and then most recently it was an architecture firm,” she said. “So, it’s sort of unusual in its layout.” As a result, the team had to closely analyze the interior to maximize the gym’s climbing and training space. Kollars, for example—who comes from a design background—surveyed the space and created a 3D model to help with “looking at basically every possible iteration of wall layout,” she recalled.

Brooklyn Uprising was built in “a really special space” for Kollars and Tringas, Kollars said, in a neighborhood where they have both lived for several years. On the Brooklyn coastline, with a “view of the Manhattan skyline,” the gym is in a large, historic building with an “atrium skylight in the main area,” Tringas detailed. The building itself is “city-block-sized,” with classic artists’ lofts located above the main gym area, “filled with creative folks and studios,” Tringas told CBJ. The team is excited to provide building tenants and DUMBO residents new “opportunities to come in and be a part of a climbing community in New York City,” Kollars added.

Brooklyn Uprising will have amenities, programs and routesetting targeted toward training for individuals 16 and older. The 6,200-square-foot facility will have 3,500 square feet of climbing on walls reaching 15 feet, including a Tension Board 2. “We like to think of every gym as being its own crag,” Kollars said, where a distinct voice is developed through routesetting. The routesetting at Brooklyn Uprising will be focused more on outdoor movement and less on competition-style climbing, with the aim of helping climbers develop skills used to send their projects outside. Alongside the bouldering, climbers can access different fitness amenities at the gym, like squat racks and free weights, in addition to hangboards, a sauna, and co-working and lounge space. Brooklyn Uprising will also offer mental and physical coaching and training.

The owners plan to host community-focused events at Brooklyn Uprising as well, such as live music, dance parties and workshops, while incorporating member feedback into decisions for new offerings. “We want people to be able to have their voice heard and recognized and responded to so that this space is truly our space,” Kollars said. “Not just [Tringas] and me dictating what it will be and how it will be, but we want it to be something for our community.”

Walls: Walltopia
Flooring: Climbmat
CRM Software: Owner/Contractor
Website: www.bkup.nyc
Instagram: @BrooklynUprising

In Their Words: “Brooklyn is my home. I’ve been in New York for about 17 years, and Brooklyn is really very special to me. And to give a gift, essentially, to our climbing community here in New York, I think doing it in a space that really resonates for me personally felt like an important decision.” – Emily Kollars, Brooklyn Uprising Co-Founder and Creative Director

The post “Neoclassical” Bouldering Gym Opening in Brooklyn’s DUMBO Neighborhood this Spring appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

Rifle Climbing Center
Rifle, Colorado

Specs: Rifle Climbing Center (RCC), a bouldering-focused gym owned by Karissa Dunbar and Jason Marshall, opened in February 2025 in downtown Rifle, Colorado, just 30 minutes outside of one of the state’s renowned sport climbing destinations. According to Marshall, the gym was created because there wasn’t a gym in town for locals to train, and after the nearby Monkey House Carbondale closed in 2023, Dunbar and Marshall were making an hour trek to Eagle or Grand Junction to climb indoors. “I wanted a gym nearby, and nobody was opening one, so I took it upon myself to open one,” Marshall said.

The town of Rifle has an interesting demographic of climbers, compared to other cities, Marshall explained, where there is a high concentration of advanced and expert-level climbers, as well as people who have never climbed before, but not many folks in between. Because “a lot of people go up to Rifle Mountain Park just to picnic and watch climbers and wish they could try it,” Marshall said, RCC acts as a gateway into climbing for many people, so the pair has made a concerted effort to help “build a whole new community of climbers.”

With that goal in mind, many programs and amenities at the facility are catered to newer climbers or designed to accommodate parents climbing with young children, such as the shorter, kid-friendly wall and gated toddler play area. Programming options include homeschool climbing sessions, after-school programs, birthday parties, “Parents Night Off” childcare events, and school partnerships with local gym classes. “Our eighth-grade gym teacher brings his classes here, so we get about 60 kids over two days who have never climbed before,” Marshall said. “And we’ve had a lot of luck with homeschool groups—that’s a demographic we didn’t expect.”

At the same time, RCC does cater to seasoned climbers. There are four different training boards at the gym, including a MoonBoard fixed at 40 degrees and a Kilter Board, Tension Board 2 and So iLL Connect Board that all reach at least 65 degrees. There are also weights, cardio equipment, hangboards, and amenities designed for traveling climbers and remote workers. “When we built it, we were thinking, what did we want as climbers when we were on the road?” Marshall recalled, so the couple realized having showers was a must.

To encourage climbers to spend spare time and rest days at the gym, the owners wanted to create a coffee-shop-style environment, with wifi, couches, standing desks, and tables. The gym sells snacks and drinks too, but the owners chose not to serve coffee to support nearby coffee shops instead. RCC also has a retail area designed for Rifle climbers, with just about “everything a Rifle climber needs: knee pads, ropes, harnesses, guidebooks, chalk and more,” the gym’s website details.

It was also important to the ownership team to be welcoming to the Hispanic community, because Marshall said Hispanic folks “make up almost half of the population of the city of Rifle, but they are wildly underrepresented in the climbing community.” Marshall added that RCC has “really tried to reach out to that community and try to make it as convenient as possible and for people who speak Spanish to use the gym as well.” When hiring, for example, Marshall sought out language over climbing skills, so several members of the staff speak Spanish. They also added a toggle option for their website so that users can easily switch from English to Spanish, in the hope that Spanish speakers would feel welcome and encouraged to climb in the gym.

Walls: Revival
Flooring: Revival
CRM Software: Rock Gym Pro
Website: www.rifleclimbingcenter.com
Instagram: @RifleClimbingCenter

In Their Words: “Our gym is probably the opposite of many gyms in terms of our demographic. We have people who are completely brand-new to climbing, and we probably have more 5.13+ and 5.14 climbers per capita than anywhere. So, our bell curve is kind of the opposite of normal. We don’t have a lot of intermediate climbers…An evening might have a couple of 5.15 climbers and then some brand-new high schoolers, and they’re interacting together and taking turns on the board, and it’s super cool to watch.” – Jason Marshall, Co-Owner of Rifle Climbing Center

The post Bouldering Gym is “Gateway Into Climbing” for Locals in Colorado Sport Climbing Destination appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

Ascend Climbing Gym (Mexico)
Los Mochis, Sinaloa

Specs: Mexico-based Ascend Climbing Gym opened in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, in October 2025 and is owned by Kevin Ramírez, Arturo Escobedo, Allan Rodríguez, Israel Granados and Fredy Lizárraga. Ramírez grew up in Los Mochis, before studying in Guadalajara, Jalisco, for 12 years, where he started climbing. He then got married and moved back to Los Mochis in February 2024, building a 2017 MoonBoard in his backyard in March 2024 because he needed a place to climb. “I invited one friend, and that friend invited another friend,” Ramírez recalled. “We kind of created the climbing community in the city, because there was nothing of the sort in the city.” The backyard wall then became open for anybody else who wanted to come, free of charge, where they gathered every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and Ramírez started teaching new climbers.

Soon after the wall was gaining traction, Ramírez began dreaming of a bigger vision and started researching what it would take to open a commercial gym. “It was much more expensive than I expected,” he said. “I didn’t have the funds or the pool from a community to actually open it.” Because financing was the primary barrier holding up the project, Ramírez continued to focus on helping grow the climbing community in Los Mochis and making connections. Eventually, multiple partners—including his brother-in-law, Rodríguez, and childhood best friend, Granados—joined after seeing the project evolve, and they pooled resources to open the gym.

Construction for Ascend—which is unrelated to the U.S.-based ASCEND climbing gyms in Pennsylvania—began in July 2025 and finished in time for the gym’s opening on October 20^th. “We mostly built everything ourselves,” said Ramírez. “All of the carpentry, all of the woods, all of the things.” Originally, the team considered building in a warehouse, but they ultimately chose a house because of its visibility and layout. Ascend is located on a main street in an older neighborhood that evolved into a mixed industrial and commercial space. Ramírez described it as a high-visibility spot, with many people traveling by, and said it has ample parking due to nearby businesses closing before peak gym hours.

The 1,800-square-foot space was transformed to include 1,000 square feet of climbing wall surface, with different rooms and areas serving separate functions. For example, the front area has bouldering walls, interior rooms have been converted into training spaces, and the backyard has been reserved for future expansion, including the potential for a 40-foot roped wall. In addition to 14.8-foot bouldering walls, Ascend features hangboards, free weights, calisthenic setups, and the original backyard MoonBoard, which was transported and rebuilt. Ramírez says the team is planning to add more gym equipment in the future.

Walls: Owner/contractor
Flooring: Owner/contractor
Instagram: @Ascend.Climbing

In Their Words: “I started teaching whoever let themselves be taught, just to not climb alone. And now the people that I taught to climb in my backyard feel compelled to teach others because they were taught for free. So, whenever somebody new arrives, they also teach them. The community is really open to helping each other.” – Kevin Ramírez, Ascend Climbing Gym Co-Owner

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Gripped Fitness
Fayetteville, West Virginia

Specs: Gripped Fitness, a bouldering and pickleball facility in Fayetteville, West Virginia, opened last October after years of planning. Owned by Jeanna Crockett, Kensie Whitfield and Kim Shingledecker, Gripped started as an idea after Crockett and Whitfield “were splitting our lives between Charleston, South Carolina, and Fayetteville, West Virginia,” Whitfield explained. The two had been running Coastal Climbing in Charleston since 2012 but were drawn to the New River Gorge region for its “bulletproof sandstone, wild water, bikes, dirt and community,” said Whitfield. According to Whitfield, “People have tried for many years to build a climbing gym here [in Fayetteville], and it somehow felt like our turn.” They started talking with Shingledecker, “a local legend and owner of Pies and Pints,” in 2019, before “things got serious around 2022-2023,” he said.  The team felt “the community here deserved a proper climbing facility,” Whitfield added, and if they wanted it, they’d have to build it.

According to Whitfield, “the New River Gorge climbing community has grown a lot over the past decade—thanks in no small part to Gene and Maura Kistler, whose fingerprints are all over the culture here,” and since the pandemic “more and more climbers have been calling Fayetteville, West Virginia, home.” Located just miles outside of the country’s newest national park, Fayetteville is an entry point to the New River Gorge, and, with the recent population growth, the owners of Gripped were confident “this area could support a new social anchor point, a place to move, train, and be human together,” said Whitfield. “Gripped exists to strengthen those connections—to be more than just a gym. To be a kind of hearth for the community, made of plywood, foam floors, and honest sweat.”

The Gripped team started looking for property pre-pandemic, but nothing fit their vision. They considered renting, which they felt “puts you at the whim of the landlord,” then ultimately “made the decision that either we build it ourselves in order to control costs or it doesn’t happen,” Whitfield explained. Eventually, the trio found a flat plot of land where they built the facility from the ground up. Whitfield said he and Crockett “try hard not to make waste for the sake of convenience,” and during the build-out phase they “found a gym in Louisiana unloading beautifully built, barely used Walltopia walls.” Whitfield met a crew in Shreveport, Louisiana, tore down the walls with the help of OnSite, then transported and installed the walls in Fayetteville. “After years of operating my other gym inside a century-old building in South Carolina, having a space built intentionally for what we do feels like an unfair luxury,” Whitfield stated.

When considering the new gym’s location, Whitfield said it was important that the end result be  “a place that feels good to work in,” adding, “that matters just as much for our staff and the people who walk through the doors.” The facility is right next to a private airstrip, where Whitfield said folks can “glance out the bay doors to see a biplane cruising in or out.” Gripped is in proximity to the town’s grocery store and is just off Highway 19. “It’s tucked away, yet convenient and unmistakably Fayetteville,” Whitfield continued.

Gripped Fitness encompasses an 18,000-square-foot space with 3,000 square feet of climbing wall surface, including bouldering terrain, two adjustable Kilter boards (one with the Full Ride layout and one with the Original layout), an adjustable Treadwall, a crack machine, campus boards, hangboards and a fitness area.

Additionally, Gripped features a 10,000-square-foot area for pickleball, which includes four pickleball courts. Whitfield said they decided to include the sport because “pickleball runs on a business model that mirrors bouldering—low staffing, predictable surges, simple check-ins. It’s exploding nationally, and the tri-county area didn’t have a dedicated facility.” Additionally, they wanted a way to attract non-climbers to the gym. “Pickleball is accessible, disarming…It broadens the community in both directions,” Whitfield said. “And the space doubles beautifully as an event venue, or potentially even a covered arena for bigger regional climbing comps. Versatility is king when you’re building something from scratch.”

A standard membership at the gym provides access to both pickleball and climbing, and both sports are also accessible via a day pass. “Climbing has deeper roots here, so that crowd is stronger, at least for now. But the pickleball community is picking up energy fast,” Whitfield said. “It’s a great rest-day activity and an easy entry point into the building for people who might otherwise be intimidated by a wall full of holds.”

Walls: Walltopia (installed by OnSite)
Flooring: Strati Climbing
CRM Software: Rock Gym Pro
Website: www.grippedfitness.com
Instagram: @GrippedFitnessWV

In Their Words: “A gym is a community engine. If you’re not genuinely invested in people—their needs, their dignity, their quirks—then you’re building the wrong thing. Too many folks open gyms chasing expansion, clout, real estate holdings, or some hollow version of influence. But the real work is quieter: honoring your staff, paying them fairly, respecting the diversity of ideas they bring, and listening to the community you serve.” – Kensie Whitfield, Co-Owner and Operator of Gripped Fitness

The post Bouldering and Pickleball Facility Opens in New River Gorge Town appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

Lake Travis Bouldering
Austin, Texas

Specs: Lake Travis Bouldering, owned by gym President Rashell Backer and Director of Operations Colin Backer, is planned to open this spring in Bee Cave, Texas, a city northwest of Austin. The gym was founded when the Backers sold the cleaning company they opened together in 2016 and were looking for their next venture. “After months of searching for the right fit, it dawned on us that we could bring our love of climbing to the Lake Travis area, an area full of health-conscious, adventure enthusiasts but lacking an indoor climbing gym for everyone to enjoy,” Colin said. The Backers decided it was an ideal time for them to open the facility because they saw “the area is growing rapidly, with many young families searching for more active things to do,” they explained. “It seemed like the right fit to bring a new gym to the area.”

The pair found a preexisting building that matched their vision and is “in the heart of Lake Travis,” they stated. “On the main highway through town, a mile from Lake Travis High School, and a half mile from the Hill Country Galleria,” the facility offered an opportunity to “build an outdoor climbing boulder as well, along with a large deck for yoga, and lawn for additional games like cornhole, all backing up to a greenbelt for beautiful hill country views from atop the boulder.” The Backers noted that they did have to make many building upgrades to increase the occupancy of the preexisting space.

Lake Travis Bouldering will feature 5,000 square feet of indoor space and 4,000 square feet of outdoor space, with about 2,800 square feet of climbing terrain. Bouldering options at the new gym include a 2024 Moon Board, a boulder cave and an outdoor boulder. Other amenities include a weight training area with strength training tools and hangboards, in addition to a birthday party room, a large deck for yoga and a yard for outdoor activities.

Walls: Eldorado Climbing
Flooring: Strati
CRM Software: Approach
Website: laketravisbouldering.com
Instagram: @Lake_Travis_Bouldering

In Their Words: “Bouldering is growing rapidly across the U.S., making this a great time to open a new gym in areas that are missing out on the excitement. Follow your passion and expect challenges.” – Rashell and Colin Backer, Owners of Lake Travis Bouldering

The post New Texas Gym to Offer Indoor and Outdoor Bouldering, Yoga, and Yard Games appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

National Climbing Center
Nieuwegein, Netherlands

Specs: The Dutch National Climbing Center (NCC), which is part of the Climbing Network chain, is under construction in Nieuwegein and expected to open in phases throughout 2026. Climbing Network, which operated as Mountain Network from 2006 to 2026 and announced its rebrand last week, is owned by Johan Cave, Leopold Roessingh and Frederick Houtenbos—all of whom are active directors and closely involved in operations and long-term strategy at the business. Founded as Cave Outdoor in 1986, Climbing Network opened its first indoor climbing gym in 1994 and has gradually focused purely on climbing—including boulder, lead, speed, indoor and outdoor climbing—transitioning out of alpine sports.

Demolished as part of the chain’s redevelopment plan, the original 1995 gym closed at the end of 2025 and was located a “stone’s throw” from the new build, the Climbing Network website states. Planning for the NCC began roughly ten years ago and was temporarily paused due to COVID. Houtenbos said the team waited until the business was stable and trending positively before proceeding with the project, ultimately beginning construction on May 7^th, 2025. The gym is opening in phases, with some offerings already available, such as 28 top rope and lead climbing lanes and an introductory bouldering section. Other features are expected to be added over the next few months, before the gym will be fully open in the spring. A Climbing Network post describes the new build as “one of the largest climbing gyms of Europe” and a place that expands upon the previous Nieuwegein gym’s offerings, “with more space, facilities and climbing.”

Centrally located in the Hoeverijk District of the Netherlands, Houtenbos said the site for the NCC was selected after long-term planning and government collaboration, and it supports Climbing Network’s ambition to create a flagship-level facility. The gym was designed to be easily accessible for international teams via Amsterdam’s airport and rail network. Part of a mixed-use development including residential buildings, the gym acts as a sound barrier between the nearby houses and the business park. Large glass walls were designed to improve visibility and interaction between climbers and the surrounding neighborhood, with a goal of attracting non-climbers through observation, openness and hospitality. “People living there will see people climbing, even on the outdoor wall,” Houtenbos said. “By creating a low entry-level—coffee, walking in, watching climbers—we hope to attract new people to the sport.”

At completion, the new gym will be 5,100 square meters (54,896 square feet), with over 5,500 square meters (59,202 square feet) of climbable surface, split among an outdoor wall, 27 auto belay lanes, bouldering terrain, lead walls reaching 18 meters (59 feet) and speed climbing. Additional climbing amenities will include training zones with a spray wall, two Kilter Boards and an Olympic-style bouldering wall for elite and aspiring athletes. The gym’s ground floor, featuring top rope and lead climbing, has opened first to accommodate existing members, and the main lead, bouldering and training features are opening next. The gym will also have a strength and conditioning area, physiotherapy amenities, a conference room, terraces, an outdoor plaza for events and comps, and youth programming. “We really try to support that customer journey—the journey of a climber,” Houtenbos explained, adding, “People can start with an introduction area and then step by step move into higher levels.”

Because retail, food and hospitality are viewed as core components of the gym experience for Climbing Network, the gym will have a gear shop with La Sportiva and Petzl products, a restaurant run in-house, and an athlete residence for Dutch and international climbers. Houtenbos said the restaurant will be larger than those at other Climbing Network gyms due to the scale of the NCC facility. The athlete residence will include an in-house guest house, with approximately 20–23 beds, and was designed primarily for international teams, although it will also be open to visiting climbers. The idea behind the concept is to encourage multi-day visits and attract climbers from across Europe and beyond. “It will be available for international teams that want to come to the Netherlands and train here,” Houtenbos said. “We’ll also make it available for people who want to spend a whole weekend climbing and training…It really makes it easier for people who don’t live close by to visit.”

For Climbing Network, the NCC project represents the beginning of a company-wide transformation, during which the brand aims to develop more gyms offering all disciplines under one roof. Several existing Climbing Network gyms already follow this model, Houtenbos explained, and more mixed-discipline gyms are planned. “Bouldering has been booming over the last ten years, and financially it’s very attractive for gym owners,” he stated. “At the same time, we are a lead climbing company at heart, and we love that discipline. The challenge is creating the right mix that brings in new people, keeps existing climbers challenged, and still makes sense for the business, not just today, but five or ten years from now.”

Walls: Citywall
Flooring: Citywall
CRM Software: Sportivity
Design: WRK Architecten
Website: https://www.climbingnetwork.nl/indoor/locatie/national-climbingcenter-nieuwegein
Instagram: @MountainNetwork

In Their Words: “What we’ve learned from operating multiple facilities is that you need to support the full journey of a climber. Someone might come in for a kids’ party or a first introduction course, and from there they should be able to grow step by step into bouldering, lead climbing, speed climbing, and higher levels of difficulty. We try to offer all disciplines and all levels in one building, so climbing can really become a long-term lifestyle.” – Frederick Houtenbos, Financial Director and Co-Owner of Climbing Network

The post 55,000-Square-Foot National Climbing Center Opening in the Netherlands appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

Sender One Aliso Viejo
Aliso Viejo, California

Specs: Sender One opened its first facility in 2013, a mixed-discipline climbing gym in Santa Ana, California, and has since opened five more facilities and a training center. The latest Sender One gym opened in Aliso Viejo on February 1^st, and the California gym chain has plans to open a new facility in Thousand Oaks in 2027. For the Aliso Viejo and Thousand Oaks gyms, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Wes Shih said the Sender One team raised funding differently than they had in the past. “Instead of bringing in outside capital (e.g., larger institutional investors like a private equity), we leaned into one of the qualities that makes climbing gyms special – community,” he stated. “We can’t disclose who our owners are, but we raised nearly all of the capital for Aliso Viejo from preexisting members of our gym community, most in and around the new location, and they are co-owners of Aliso Viejo along with Sender One.”

The Aliso Viejo gym is Sender One’s fourth full-service facility and offers a mix of roped climbing and bouldering walls. In addition to a Sender City—the chain’s interactive climbable center concept, where both kids and adults can climb modeled towers and buildings on autobelays—the Aliso Viejo location has 16,500 square feet of climbing wall surface on walls reaching 45 feet. The 23,000-square-foot facility is in the San Joaquin Hills of Southern Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles. Located in the Commons Shopping Center, Sender One Aliso Viejo is in proximity to coffee shops, marketplaces and restaurants. Shih said they chose this city for the project because Sender One’s original location is in nearby Santa Ana, and many climbers were driving from further away regions of Orange County to access a gym. “Some of them even stopped climbing once their lives changed, i.e., professional or family commitments, such that traveling from South Orange County to Santa Ana became too difficult for them,” he explained.

The Thousand Oaks location, which will be Sender One’s fifth full-service facility upon completion, is expected to open sometime in Q1 or Q2 of 2027. Northwest of Los Angeles, this city is one of the largest in Ventura County. The new gym will be constructed in Janns Marketplace, in proximity to the Oaks Mall and surrounding retail corridors, and is accessible from the 101 freeway. Co-tenants will include Gold’s Gym, Dave and Busters, and a Sky Zone. Like other full-service Sender One gyms, the Thousand Oaks location will have a Sender City as well as fitness and yoga offerings, but the specifics of the wall design and size are still in the works for the 23,000-square-foot-plus facility. Similar to the Aliso Viejo gym, Shih said the location was chosen because of the trek many climbers had to make to access other gyms. “We have long had members travel from over the Sepulveda Pass in the LA area (where I-5 and the 101 meet), who drove many times 1-2hrs to climb at our LAX location,” he explained. “They would really love to not have to drive that far to climb at a Sender One.”

Shih said that because the Sender One business is located “in one of the largest markets where real estate is challenging,” expansion is “as it was when we first started, often opportunistic and happenstance.” Sender One looks to expand “when one of our locations starts to feel really busy, or on the flip side, we hear about places that are underserved,” he added. “These days, i.e., under current macroeconomic challenges, which have been challenging, we’re trying to find buildings in areas that don’t require us to stray too far from what has worked well for us, to minimize the risks of expanding when it isn’t the easiest time to.”

Walls: Dreamwall
Flooring: Flashed
CRM Software: RGP
Website: www.senderoneclimbing.com/alisoviejo/
Instagram: @SenderOne_AlisoViejo

In Their Words: “Expansion, particularly the second and third locations, adds so much complexity to how your company needs to operate overall, and you need to prepare for that.  It’s not really a 1-2-3; it’s more like 1-3-5 or 7 in terms of what it felt like scaling.  After three locations, particularly if they are not too close to each other, the added complexity of each new location doesn’t have that big ramp up.” – Wes Shih, Sender One Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer

The post Sender One Opens Aliso Viejo Facility, Co-Owned by Preexisting Members appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

inSPIRE Rock Lubbock
Lubbock, Texas

Specs: inSPIRE Rock’s newest location opened in Lubbock, Texas, on October 11^th, led by owners Christina and Bryan Robins, Robyn and Blake Birkenfeld, Cece and Grant McCasland, and Terri and Paul Short. Paul opened the first inSPIRE Rock location in Spring, Texas, in 2013, and then, in 2018, the Cypress location opened in Texas after Bryan partnered with Paul. Bryan grew up climbing outside in Wyoming and Utah and later moved to Texas for work. With limited access to outdoor climbing, his focus shifted to indoor climbing when his children joined inSPIRE Rock’s climbing team in Spring. Over time, the logistics of long commutes to the Spring gym became a driving factor in the decision to partner with Paul on the opening of the Cypress gym. “I got tired of driving an hour every day to get to that gym for practice,” Bryan said. Years later, Bryan and Blake eventually bought out Paul’s active ownership in the business, in October 2024, and grew the ownership team before bringing the new Lubbock location to completion in October 2025.

The idea for the Lubbock gym originated with a phone call from Grant McCasland, head coach of the Texas Tech men’s basketball team, whose daughter was a competitive climber in need of a training facility. “They reached out to us and said, ‘Let’s build a gym here in Lubbock and bring it to this community,’” Bryan recalled. While the ownership group was initially hesitant, as “usually you want to be in a bigger town,” Bryan said, a visit to Lubbock quickly changed their perspective. “We kind of fell in love with the city and the people,” he added, noting that the area’s population of roughly 300,000, with a large college community, made it a viable market. The Lubbock gym is about eight hours northwest of inSPIRE Rock’s other locations, so Bryan and Christina split their time between Houston and Lubbock, relying heavily on long-term managers in operating the gyms. “Our general manager has been here since the doors opened in 2014,” he added.

After securing land, the Lubbock gym took about two years to complete. The Lubbock facility is a 14,000-square-foot, ground-up build located slightly outside the city’s main commercial area, though Bryan emphasized the area remains accessible. “Everything’s a 10-to-12-minute drive to get anywhere,” he said, adding that development of the Lubbock area is trending toward the gym’s location. Rather than building a mixed-discipline climbing gym, the team opted for a bouldering-only model. “The capital cost to build a big rope gym is massive,” Bryan explained, estimating that a rope-focused facility today could cost double or triple what it did in the past. “We wanted it [to be] big enough to support members, but not so big that we’re chasing a monthly payment.”

The gym features 6,000 square feet of climbing wall surface split among bouldering walls reaching 14.5 feet, a Tension Board 2 and a Kilter Board. Yoga and fitness classes are held at the gym, with additional space for group events, birthday parties and meetups. Providing youth programs was a big reason the gym was started, so inSPIRE Rock Lubbock offers a variety of youth training and competitive teams, camps, and other coaching options. The fitness areas at the gym feature free weights, cardio equipment and more, in addition to a range of climbing training amenities, such as hangboards and campus boards. “We’re learning every day—is this model better or worse for feasibility?” Bryan said of the business’s first bouldering-focused facility. “We want to see what direction we want to go.”

Walls: Walltopia
Flooring: ClimbMat
CRM Software: Redpoint HQ
Website: inspirerock.com/lubbock/
Instagram: @inspirerocklubbock

In Their Words: “A lot of gyms struggle because they build too big and their costs get out of control. You’re not building a dream gym for yourself—you’re building a gym for the community, and the community has to be able to support it. Especially right now, with high interest rates and construction costs, you really have to be disciplined about scale.” – Bryan Robins, inSPIRE Rock Co-Owner

The post Need For Youth Programming Prompts Inception of Texas Gym appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

Odyssey Climbing
Appleton, Wisconsin

Specs: On September 9^th, Odyssey Climbing opened its second mixed-discipline climbing gym in Wisconsin. The new gym is in Appleton, located about half an hour Southwest of its Green Bay location. Founded by Ben Ganther and Sam Howard, Odyssey opened its first facility in February 2023, after the idea of starting a gym emerged in 2019. While living in Milwaukee, Ganther would travel up to the Green Bay – Appleton area to visit family, “and we would bring our climbing stuff with us because we assumed there’d be a climbing gym somewhere between Green Bay and Oshkosh,” Ganther explained. “When there wasn’t a climbing gym somewhere in northeast Wisconsin, we were like, ‘Well, what the heck? There should be.’” They then started trying in earnest to develop Odyssey in the summer of 2019. After opening about three and a half years later, the “Green Bay gym stabilized pretty quickly, so it put us in a position to be able to grow in pretty short order,” Ganther said, adding, “It was always part of our strategic plan to have a location in both Green Bay and Appleton.”

Despite being only 30 minutes apart, Ganther said Green Bay and Appleton function as distinct markets. “There’s definitely an ‘I live in Green Bay, I do things in Green Bay’ and ‘I live in Appleton, I do things in Appleton’ mentality,” he described. “The two markets can support gyms independently of each other.” Additionally, Vertical Stronghold, previously Appleton’s sole climbing gym, operated in the city for over twenty years and ultimately closed in 2006, resulting in many climbers coming “out of the woodwork,” Ganther said. “They weren’t interested in driving 30 minutes to a climbing gym, but they will drive 10 minutes.” The new Odyssey gym was a ground-up build, located off Highway 41 and Highway 47 in Grand Chute, which Ganther hopes will improve access to climbing in the area. In proximity to Fox Valley Technical College, the gym’s accessibility was a large factor in the team’s location choice, but Ganther said, “the main reason we chose the site is it was available, and the seller was willing to work with us.”

The Appleton gym is a 14,000-square-foot building with 12,400 square feet of climbing wall surface, including a Kilter Board, over 60 roped belay bars, and 50% more bouldering than the Green Bay gym. Additionally, the gym has a 3,000-square-foot mezzanine, resulting in a space that is 6,000 square feet larger than the Green Bay gym. Within the facility there are free weight and cardio options, hangboards and a training board, in addition to several yoga classes. The gym also has a community lounge space and an outdoor recreation space. In designing the gym, the Odyssey team applied lessons from their first gym build and prioritized the flow and usability of the space, opting for a more open and square layout. The front desk placement was designed differently, for example, to avoid congestion and perceived busyness, because “The front desk in Green Bay becomes a pinch point where it feels busy before you even get in,” Ganther said. “The terrain feels totally different in Appleton than in Green Bay…In Green Bay, the facility is long and skinny… Appleton is much more open.”

Walls: Walltopia
Flooring: ClimbMat
CRM Software: Rock Gym Pro
Website: www.odysseyclimbing.com/appleton
Instagram: @Odyssey.Climbing

In Their Words: “Have a strategic or valuable reason for why you want to expand. Don’t just expand to expand, because it’s hard. You can do a lot of other things with the capital that would go into an expansion gym. So, making sure you’ve got a good reason to do it is probably my biggest piece of advice. And we’re super lucky with the partners that we’ve worked with at both locations. So, working with good people to help make that process as easy as possible, that’s helped us out a lot too.” – Ben Ganther, Odyssey Co-Founder

The post New Wisconsin Gym Features Expanded Bouldering and Training Spaces appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

Blocworks Midtown
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Specs: Blocworks Climbing opened its second bouldering gym in January 2025 in Midtown, Oklahoma City, about five years after opening its first location in Edmond, Oklahoma. Following the launch of the Edmond gym, Owners and Operators Mariah and Evan Small identified some “gaps in Oklahoma markets,” Evan said, which prompted them to begin looking at towns where they could open a second facility. The spot for the Midtown gym “kind of fell into our laps a little bit,” Evan said. “A buddy of mine was branching out of brewing. He was starting a brick-and-mortar sandwich shop in Midtown, and they had a massive empty space that was almost 5,000 square feet.” The building would house Goose Deli—the sandwich shop of Evan’s friend—and some coworking spaces, with room for the kind of gym the Smalls were envisioning. “It just really clicked pretty early on that it’d at least be a good idea to try if we were going to do a second spot,” Evan said.

The Midtown gym is located about 20 minutes away from the Edmond location, a distance that felt appropriate to the Smalls; the two gyms complement rather than compete with one another, Evan explained, and they have found the overhead costs to be manageable, since the two gyms are on the smaller side. “In the long term, it is actually a good thing because it adds value to our membership,” he said about running two gyms within a short drive from each other, adding that it was “the minimum distance that we would want.” In addition to the two Blocworks locations, members can also access Climb Tulsa—a mixed-discipline climbing gym in Tulsa, Oklahoma, about an hour drive away—through a partnership between the two businesses. “It is such a unique relationship, and we’re not going to cannibalize each other because of our distance and our businesses,” Evan said. “They are very different…I think the community definitely feels that they’re excited.”

At the Midtown gym, climbers have access to 1,825 square feet of climbing wall surface on walls reaching 15 feet. Members can use the members-only strength training room, which is exclusive “primarily due to size,” Evan said of the 300-square-foot space, adding, “We didn’t want to overcrowd, and we wanted to add value to the membership.” Additionally, there is a retail pro shop, adult and youth programming, and 56 bouldering problems.

Evan is also the Director of Routesetting at Blockworks and sets with the teams consistently. He started climbing in 2009 and began setting by 2011, he said, so routesetting is very important to him. “I don’t think I can communicate how routesetting-focused our gym is,” Evan stated. Blocworks Midtown operates with circuit grading, with 12 boulders set in each circuit, “so each person is served the same,” he explained. Additionally, in the last year and a half, Blocworks made the decision to be “a gym that is owned and operated by routesetters,” Evan said, so now managers at both locations have become fully trained routesetters themselves. “That’s what makes Blocworks so unique in my perspective,” Evan summarized. “Everything we do is routesetting focused.”

Walls: Walltopia
Flooring: Walltopia
CRM Software: Capitan
Website: www.climbblocworks.com/midtown-bouldering-gym
Instagram: @BlocworksClimbing

In Their Words: “Once you open one location or you’re starting to plan for the second, you realize how much fluff you purchased early on for the first one. It can even come down to purchasing too much for your retail shop, or, man, we bought iPads instead of Fire tablets. Every dollar, when you finance businesses the way we do—we’re personal guarantors, we don’t have any investors—every dollar matters.” – Evan Small, Co-Owner and Operator at Blocworks

The post Routesetter-Owned Gym Expands With Midtown Oklahoma City Location appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.