Construction Update #3

Not quite as busy this week, with Eldorado off for a holiday break. But here's a stitched-together view of the frame for the north bouldering wall.


Some electrical work has been done, and the ventilation ducts continue to snake their way around the ceiling. The other work of note is the steel frame going up to support the floor of the men's locker room.


Next week: Eldorado's back and their crew should grow to 10 workers. Work continues on the locker room structure, HVAC and electrical/lighting. And our staff arrive to start their new jobs, so we will be very busy planning the operations side of the business.

Rendering #2: The North Tall Wall

Here's another image of what the finished walls will look like, to get you through the holiday season. This wall is opposite the bouldering wall, and rises to the low ceiling, about 25' high. It's slabby at the right end, and has a chimney tucked in behind the truss at centre. As usual you can click on the image to see it in more detail.

The True North Climbing Team

The initial recruiting effort is now complete, and we are excited to announce our senior staff for the gym.

Our Gym Manager will be Clint Searle. Clint brings years of experience as a climbing gym manager, along with a great attitude and maturity gained from also working in the "real world".

Our Head Instructor/Head Routesetter will be Dustin Curtis. Dustin is a member of the Canadian National Climbing Team, and very familiar to those who enjoy watching the finals at Tour de Bloc comps. He brings a wealth of experience from working in various capacities at 4 climbing gyms over the past 10 years, and an unmatched passion and energy for our industry.

You can read a little more about our senior staff here.

Together Clint and Dustin will provide the knowledge, experience and spirit needed to make True North Climbing an excellent and professionally-run facility. They will both start their new jobs in the new year. I am thrilled to have them both on the team!

John Gross
Owner, True North Climbing Inc.

Wondering What Our New Gym Will Look Like Inside?

OK, the renderings are now starting to come in from our wall designer Jason at Eldorado, so we can start sharing peeks at what things are going to look like. We have been ready to start sharing this info since the landlord granted approval for us to build what we have in mind (in particular the "special feature"). I wanted to wait until we had some good quality renderings though, rather then posting screen grabs from Google Sketchup. I expect to post these gradually as they come in over the next few days, exposing the gym one section at a time.

Up first: the North Bouldering area. This is all top-out bouldering terrain, running about 70 feet along the north wall of the space, turning at the north-east corner, and running down the east wall about 40 feet. At the far left end of this terrain the top deck is about 5 feet off the ground. It rises to about 9 feet where the kid who looks like a cub scout is standing, and then to 12 feet a little farther along. The wall rises above the deck in the advanced area, reaching 14 feet where the kid is hanging by one arm above the spotter. There will be a grip rail all along the top edge, to try to help avoid having the top-outs be the crux of the problem. There will be two down-climbs for this area, one at the far left end, and one at the far right end (near the woman with the ponytail). You can click on the image below to see a larger version.


This section represents most, but not all of the bouldering in the gym. There will be another section near the reception desk that will be 11 feet high (not top-out), running about 30 feet in length. And there will be a small free-standing boulder intended as easy bouldering for kids and beginners (and warm-ups for more advanced climbers).

Enjoy the view. More to come in the days ahead!