Salmon Arm will be home to the Shuswap’s first indoor rock climbing gym when the Gym of Rock opens for eager climbers on March 15.
The Gym of Rock, located in the Westgate Public Market, will be an all-ages, all-abilities climbing gym with options for experienced climbers and first-timers. There will be sections for youth and adults to learn on, as well as a larger wall with more advanced sections.
With opening day approaching, Rebecca and Sean Scott, the couple behind the business, are thrilled by the progress made over the winter.
“The crew was here for 38 days and they did an amazing job,” Rebecca says. “It feels awesome, we can’t wait to share everything with everyone.”
The climbing walls are made in B.C. by a company called HPCW, located on Vancouver Island. Sean says he was glad to find a highly-rated company in B.C. that specializes in climbing walls, as they aimed to keep construction and manufacturing efforts as local as possible.
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On March 15, the Gym of Rock will host their grand opening event, allowing the public to get up on the climbing walls for the first time. Rebecca says there will be an open house and drop-in climbing on opening day, and they will be planning for high-traffic over opening week to ensure all interested climbers can check out the wall.
“We will be open for spring break, and with extended hours for spring break as well so people can check it out while they have time,” Rebecca says.
“It will be more than just an open house,” Sean adds, hinting at a special event for opening day.
The Gym of Rock aims to have dedicated instructors to provide lessons to first-timers and teach advanced techniques to veteran climbers, but those staff will not be available from day one. Certified staff will be on hand to teach the basics of climbing safety, and belaying lessons will be available upon request. However, the climbing wall will be set up to accommodate newcomers and solo climbers without a belay partner.
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“We do have something called an auto-belay, so in order to climb you don’t have to pass a belaying course because it can be a one person sport,” Rebecca says. “It takes the pressure off for some people, and others just want to do something themselves. For some parents it can be daunting to belay their child, but all you have to do is clip your child into the auto belay pulley and they climb up and the auto belay slowly lets them down when they get to the top.”
Once open, the Gym of Rock will offer drop-in day rates and memberships for frequent climbers, and the facility can be booked for special events. For more information, visit www.GymOfRock.com.
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