Unpacking!

While construction continues (and stay tuned for another little construction update, maybe over the weekend), we have started to receive all the gear we will need to operate the gym. First were the rental climbing shoes from Evolv:

99 pairs of Evolv rental shoes!

A few days later came our first shipment of holds, from 4 hold companies (Teknik, So Ill, e-grips and Franklin):




We have 5 more hold shipments still to come, from Atomik, Climb-It, Detroit Rock Climbing Company (DRCC), Friction and Project. And we're also expecting shipments from Bluewater (ropes & slings), Petzl (gri-gris, locking biners, helmets and some other stuff), Rock Empire (harnesses, bent-gate biners). It's fun seeing all this stuff coming in, and sorting through it.

More photos on our Picasa page, in the Unpacking! folder.

TCA #2: Grand Opening February 6th

As you may know, we're not the only new gym opening soon in Toronto. Our friends at Toronto Climbing Academy have been working very hard to get their second gym ready. Right now they're getting ready to lay down the floor padding and next week they will be setting routes like crazy, to be ready for their Grand Opening on Saturday February 6th.

I had a look at their new facility a month or so ago, and it was looking pretty cool. It's a modern, bright space (huge windows on 2 sides bringing in lots of natural light), with spacious change rooms, and some pretty nice terrain, including a huge top-out boulder in the middle.

The second TCA is located at 11 Curity Ave, near St Clair Ave East and O'Connor Drive, not far from the DVP and Don Mills Rd, and a short bus ride from Woodbine subway station. Check them out on opening day. Who can turn down a free day of climbing?

The boulder from Boulder

A quick update on one of the cool features we're putting in the gym: a freestanding boulder. Here are a few shots of the early construction of it, which is happening at Eldorado's facility in Boulder, Colorado:


The boulder starts as a stack of 8 1-foot thick pieces of foam, glued together. It's been carved into its rough base shape. Next cement texture will be applied over the foam base, and that will be hand-carved to form all the holds. We decided not to install T-nuts for modular holds on this (although Eldorado is quite capable of doing that), because we want this to just sit in the middle of the gym and look like a real rock, about 8 feet high and 8 feet in diameter. It's intended as an easy boulder for kids and beginners, and a warm-up for more advanced climbers.

Construction Update #5

Another good week, and I'm feeling like things are really under control. I figure it's the eye of the hurricane, and more crazy stress lies ahead. In any event, I am enjoying the feeling of being on track, and thinking we know what we're doing.

Here are a few shots of what has gone on this week:

Framing for the storage room near reception.
This is where the dishwasher, water heaters and storage will go.

The sheeting nearly complete on the north tall wall, opposite the
bouldering terrain. Much of the lath work is done,
including a nice flake on the left edge of the chimney,
and some of the texturing is done on some seams.


Steel has gone up fast in the south bay this week.
Here is the left half of the arch.
Look at the sunlight coming in from behind,
where the window replacement is finally underway!

And here is a funny story. I arranged phone service this week, and asked for a phone number ending in ROCK (7625). There were 4 to choose from, and 633-ROCK had the nicest "ring" to it, so I chose that. On Tuesday I discovered that's exactly the same 7 digits as Climber's Rock has (they are in area code 905). We decided that's a little too much of a weird coincidence, and some customers might actually call the wrong gym by mistake and get mixed up, so I called back and changed it. Our number will now be (416) 398-ROCK, and it should be hooked up, um, this morning. Well, maybe Monday.

Things are rocking now.

Another Rendering: The Lead Cave

Here is another rendering from our designer Jason at Eldorado Climbing Walls. This is the lead cave, which will be in the south-east corner of the gym. As usual, a click on the image will bring up the high-res version that you can pan across. Don't worry about the bent ropes; they were outside in the cold and got a little stiff!

This is the one part of the gym where most of the high windows will be covered with climbing terrain, so we've chosen light colours for this neighbourhood (light blue and white). As with the earlier renderings of the bouldering terrain, this gives you a general idea, but understates the angles on the walls. That cave will be seriously steep; here are some details from Jason:

• Longest overhang = 23 feet
  
• Longest straight line route = 45 feet (meandering routes can push +50 linear feet)
• Average angle in the cave is ~45 degrees

The total height up to the high ceiling is 36 feet. The cave is designed as a compound curve. The shallowest line is to the west and it gets deeper as you transition east. The focus was on progression.

We're putting our hold room in the space behind the wall on the right part of the image (where the base of the wall comes back out enough to allow top-roping). There will be a huge area behind the wall, and Dustin is looking forward to setting up shop back there.

I'm expecting one more rendering to complete the series. We've seen the main bouldering structure and the roped wall from the north half of the gym, and the lead cave above which is in the east half of the south side. The last rendering will provide a peek at the area in front of the reception desk, with the stalactite (yes, I said stalactite) hanging in front of the arch.

Construction progress has been very good of late, and we remain on track to open sometime in the second half of March.

Youth Comp at Boulderz: January 30th!

There's another great youth competition coming, this time at Boulderz, on January 30th. This is a sanctioned youth bouldering competition. Most of the info is on the poster for the event (as usual you can click on it to see it big, in case some of the print is too small):

or check in at the Boulderz web site. I expect this comp to fill up, so if you are under 20 and like to climb, what are you waiting for?

Construction Update #4

Progress has been very good in the past two weeks, since I last posted an update. The main bouldering wall is now completely sheeted with wood, and texturing has begun. We got on top of the structure for the first time yesterday, which was really fun. The shapes of this wall look really good, and the photos and renderings don't quite do it justice. Here are a few more shots though:

Left end of the bouldering wall, with one of the hatch doors in place.
The lath is on covering the seams between panels,
and where the grip rail will be built at the top edge.

Dustin is rather fond of the wall...

More steel has gone up on the first of the roped walls as well, opposite this bouldering terrain:

The chimney is at the right of this shot, though it's a little hard to see the shape.

The non-climbing construction is also moving ahead nicely. Lots of important but perhaps not very exciting ducting work has been done. Here's the latest view of the change room area:

Several additional photos have also been posted to the Construction folder of our Picasa page.

It's Time to Grow Our Team

Construction is moving along well (I'll try to post more photos before the end of the week), and it's time to start building up our team to be ready to open in March. We've posted job descriptions to the main web site, under the Jobs link. We're looking for routesetters, climbing instructors, desk/floor staff, and belayers for kids parties. If you are interested in one of these positions, please apply by email to info@truenorthclimbing.com. And please help spread the word, if you know someone who might be a good addition to our team.

First Week With the Staff!

This week started the new year with a punch as our first 2 full time staff members started working at True North Climbing. Dustin, Clint and I spent all day Monday brainstorming about all the things we need to get done before opening day. By the end of the day my dining room wall was covered with big sheets of paper filled with writing. Then we started reviewing each topic (Equipment, Retail Sales, Policies and Procedures, Pricing and Marketing so far, with several others left to cover), making decisions, assigning homework tasks, and gradually working our way through the long list of stuff we need to figure out. It was a great start. I think we're working really well together, and these guys have already started to make important contributions.

While we were thinking hard, the Eldorado crew continued to make good progress. By the end of the week, the wood was starting to go up on the main bouldering wall.

Ontario Access Coalition Meeting: January 23rd

The Ontario Access Coalition (OAC) is a volunteer, not-for-profit group that works with the climbing community, landowners, conservation authorities and property managers to keep climbing and bouldering areas open in an environmentally responsible manner.

This year's General Meeting will be held Saturday January 23rd from 5-6pm at Climber's Rock. Following the meeting (from 7:30-9pm) there will be a screening of Chris Altran's new film The Continuum Project, which features footage from Lion's Head. Admission is $8 for OAC members and $15 for others.

Update: The Annual general meeting has been rescheduled; the meeting from 5-6pm will now be an informational meeting, and a great opportunity to learn about what the OAC has been doing to preserve climbing in Ontario.

True North Climbing is proud to be a supporter of the OAC, and one of several sponsors of this event.

Sustainability: Why We Won't Be Selling Bottled Water

This is the first in a series of blog postings exploring how True North Climbing will be trying to operate as a sustainable company, minimizing our impact on the planet.

I have decided not to sell bottled water in the gym. I believe there is next to no need for water as a commercial product when we have a good supply of clean drinking water in this city, and the waste produced by the production, delivery and disposal of the plastic bottles is shameful. For a more detailed view of the consequences of the bottled water industry, take a look at this infographic prepared by Online Education.

We're installing a drinking fountain that will provide clean drinking water for free. Most people already have a reusable water bottle, and for those who need one, we plan to sell them for a reasonable price.