Work Underway: Environmental Remediation

Before we can start building the climbing walls, there are a few things that need to be done in the space, including:

• erecting the demising walls and entrance/exit doors. I'm leasing a part of what is currently a much larger open space.
• rearranging electrical, ventilation/heating and lighting elements
• bringing proper plumbing service to the space
• painting the entire space, especially the wooden ceiling decking
• removing all asbestos materials

This last item is being done first. There are two sources of asbestos: insulation on the steam pipes, and some transite wall panels that were once exterior cladding before the south bay was added on to the building. I had the option of merely containing these materials, which would have been legal and safe, but given the construction to follow (with some risk of disturbing the asbestos), and a general preference to just make sure the facility is completely clear of all toxic materials, I've decided to go ahead with removal of it all. This is being done in partnership with Downsview Park, my landlord, who are also interested in doing the right thing on this issue. They have been more than fair in sharing the cost of this work, which (like many parts of this project) has turned out to be more expensive than first thought.

The removal is under way this week, and I find it very interesting. The removal workers have attached many glove bags to the steam pipes, which will be used to remove the asbestos insulation from around the pipe without any asbestos particles leaking out into the room. I find the sight of so many blue gloves dangling from the ceiling both a little creepy and very comical.

Tour de Bloc coming to True North Climbing!

The Tour de Bloc will be making a stop at True North Climbing this coming season! This is the only national competition series in Canada, and has grown from 8 regional comps in Ontario and Quebec in 2003 to this season's 21 events in 7 provinces.

The new Season Se7en schedule (and no, that's not a typo!) is hot off the press, and has us scheduled on March 27th as the last of the Local comps for the Central (Ontario/Quebec) region. That will be followed by the Regionals at Centre d'escalade Délire in Quebec City on April 10th, and the 2010 MEC Canadian Bouldering Championships at Joe Rockhead's here in Toronto.

For those of you who may not be familiar with the Tour de Bloc, these are fantastic events, both to participate in and to watch. Entry is open to anyone, regardless of level of experience. I have "competed" in 5 previous Tour de Bloc comps, in the Recreational category. Each time I show up, complete as many problems as I can, have a lot of fun, and don't care that I rank near the bottom of the pile!

These comps start with open climbing, during which climbers have a few hours to complete as many problems as they can. There are typically 60 bouldering problems spread throughout the gym, in roughly increasing difficulty, with more points awarded for the harder problems. Your final score is the sum of your best 8 problems.

The better climbers compete in the Experienced or Open categories, and the top few finishers in the Open category advance to the finals. The finalists are sequestered in an isolation area while the 4 final problems are set on the walls. Then they are brought out, one at a time, and given 5 minutes to work on each problem. The competitors are streamed through the final problems one after the other, with a 5 minute rest between problems, so that at times there will be 4 climbers at once to watch. Chief Routesetter Jody Miall and his team seem to always find the sweet spot in setting problems just hard enough to separate the top competitors: hard enough they can't all flash them all, but just possible for some of them to succeed. It is always an amazing show. You can get a taste of it from this video clip from the 2009 Men's finals.

Check out the Tour de Bloc site for more information and the complete schedule. I am very pleased and honoured to work with Tour Director Luigi Montilla to bring this first-class event to our facility to help kick things off soon after we open!

Have a Look Around

Mark Banas met me at the gym on Sunday, to shoot some images of the big empty space. Today he sent me the result of his work: a set of 3 Flash panorama images that give a good sense of the space we have to work with. You can enjoy them by starting here. You can watch the room spin around you or navigate on your own using the controls at the bottom of the window. Look up to see the high space of the clerestory windows. Look down! And if you explore a bit with the mouse, you'll find links to 2 more viewpoints that each have their own panorama. Oh, and no, not all of that space will be ours! The landlord will be building a wall to divide the space. See the blue doors in the far corner? The dividing wall will go up just in front of them. Or when looking at the hangar doors with the windows on the right-hand exterior (south) wall, 4 of those 6 parts of the hangar doors are in our space. If you look closely at Panorama #2, you can see the chalk line I drew on the floor to mark the boundary.

I've been working on fixing up the main web site over the past few weeks, and today got a cleaned up version deployed (using Drupal, for those who care what Content Management System I've been exploring). Over time I will look at integrating the surrounding pages (this blog, the photo gallery currently on Picasa, maybe the forums) into the main site, and I'll get these panoramas set up there as well. But I didn't want to wait to share these cool views of the great space that True North Climbing will soon be growing into.

Site Visit and Open House

Last week was very busy and exciting, with the site visit from Eldorado, and the first open house in the new space.

Jason Plumb (the Climbing Wall Designer) and Jason Thomas (the Production Manager) came up from Eldorado Climbing Walls in Boulder, Colorado, and spent the last half of the week with me in the space, taking measurements, and working in the space to start the detailed design of the climbing structures. I rented a 32' scissor lift and we went up into the high spaces of the building to explore. It will be a real thrill to be able to climb up there in a few months!

Jason and Jason were clearly excited about the building, especially its character and history, and the challenges and opportunities presented by its varying roof lines. They had seen drawings and photographs, but getting to spend a few days living in the space made it real, and helped them come up with some amazing ideas. Jason is an amazing designer, and the other Jason knows the construction process and logistics inside out. They worked well together as a team, and it was an absolute blast working with them.

We had some meetings with the architects, landlord and engineers while they were here, figuring out details of demising walls, assessing the load-bearing structures for some of the inspiring ideas that Jason Plumb came up with, and sorting out the routing for the ventilation ducts. And on Friday I got up on the roof to explore. I've added a few photos to the Picasa album with some of the views from up there.

The highlight of the visit was the Open House on Thursday evening. The initial intent was simply to give a few friends & family a chance to see the space, before construction begins. But with Jason & Jason here, it was also an opportunity for people to learn a bit about Eldorado's work, see some of their previous designs, and get a peek at what we're planning for True North Climbing.

More than 20 people showed up for the event, which was quite a few more than I had guessed would bother coming to see an empty building. We started with pizza (provided by Eldorado!), and I gave informal tours of the space. I had drawn the floor plan for the reception area, locker rooms, the edge of the climbing area, and the far demising wall, in chalk on the ground, to help people visualize how the space would be arranged. Lionel Michaluk, my banker from TD Canada Trust, was kind enough to lend us a projector (in addition to being kind enough to lend me the money I needed to build the gym!). We had some technical difficulties getting Jason's laptop (indeed, any laptop) to properly connect, but finally we had some pictures on the loading bay door, and Jason began his presentation. He showed us some pictures of other projects Eldorado has done, and some 3D models in Google Sketchup of the climbing structures. Jason is passionate about what he does, and his energy took over, as he talked about the forms, and how they fit into and adapt to the various spaces they were given to work with. And he managed to tie many of the points he was making back to what we are thinking for the walls in the new gym. Jason is very excited about the building we have to work with, and after listening to me tell him what my goals are for the gym, and the kinds of things I want included, he has come up with some great ideas for spectacular terrain. He showed a little sneak preview of some of this, including the big archway that will sit at the middle of the southern half of the gym, and the immense pillar that we are going to try to suspend in the south-east area, near the lead walls.

I think Jason got people pretty excited about what we're about to build, and really helped to communicate the vision we're turning into reality over the next several months. As the design gets refined in the coming days, I will try to post a few screen shots of what the climbing walls will look like!

Professional Development and High Standards

As I've noted before, one of the best things about starting up this new business is that I am learning a ton, in a lot of different areas. It all adds up to a great deal of professional development for me, and much of this is stuff I will also make sure my employees get a chance to learn. To me this is an important way to set the standards high for this new gym.

The Conference
The big start for me was the Climbing Wall Association Summit conference in Boulder at the end of April. 3 days of sessions about starting/building a climbing business, routesetting, marketing and other aspects of the industry. Those few days gave me the knowledge and the confidence I needed to decide I could do this. I will be back at the CWA Summit conference next May, and at some point I'll make sure some of my staff get a chance to attend as well.

Learning to Lead
I recently learned to lead climb. I had felt I was almost, but not quite ready for this for some time. Some of my climbing friends gave me a nudge, saying that if I intended to open a climbing gym, I ought to be a lead climber. So I took the course in August, and was surprised to discover that lead climbing is not only more challenging than top rope, it's also more fun! I wish I had done this a long time ago.

First Aid
The law requires that there be someone on duty in my gym at all times who has First Aid training. I decided to push that a little further and so I will insist that all of my staff have this training. That will simplify the scheduling and make sure we never get caught short if someone has to miss a shift. It also will be good for all those employees to have this qualification. As the first employee of True North Climbing Inc, I insisted that I take the class myself! I recently took the St John Ambulance Standard First Aid with CPR course, which lasted 2 days. It covered basic first aid, CPR and also the use of an EpiPen and an Automatic External Defibrillator machine. It's a good course, and while I'll admit I don't remember absolutely everything I learned, I feel a lot more prepared to help when necessary. This class must be refreshed every 3 years to keep my status current. Having all employees at True North Climbing trained in First Aid is a message to my customers that we put safety first, and also that we care about the professional development of our staff.

Instructor Certification
There is a second reason why I took the First Aid training: it's also a prerequisite for certification as a Climbing Gym Instructor (CGI) by the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG). I have made it a goal of the gym to have all of my instructors certified at an appropriate level:

• Level 1 for those teaching beginner classes and basic movement/technique
• Level 2 for those teaching lead classes, and intermediate technique
• Level 3 for my Head Instructor, and for anyone teaching advanced classes

This won't be easy to achieve, and I'm pretty sure I won't be there when the gym opens. The prerequisites for each of these are pretty high. For example, to get my Level 1 CGI certification (which I'll need because I figure I ought to be able to teach the beginner classes in my own gym, and as the first instructor at True North Climbing Inc., I insisted that I get certified!), I will need all of the following:

• at least 2 years of climbing experience (I've got 5 1/2)
• have climbed in at least 2 gyms (I've climbed at 11)
• able to climb 5.10 on top rope. This is somewhat ambiguous, as the ratings vary from gym to gym. I can do some 5.10s at some gyms, so I feel I 'm pretty close here.
• able to lead 5.9. I have led a few 5.9s already, so I'm probably about right on this one too.
• the first aid training
• 8 hours observing/shadowing others giving instruction, including some movement/technique. I have started to do this (a few of the other gym owners are being very cooperative here).

That's a pretty high bar to hit just to be certified as ready to teach beginner lessons. I've decided that's a good thing, and getting all my instructors certified is part of setting a high standard for climbing excellence and - more important - safety.

There are not a lot of people who are already certified. The ACMG site lists 71 people certified as CGI Level 1, 21 at Level 2, and only 14 at Level 3. I certainly believe there are lots of other people whose qualifications are roughly equivalent, and who would have no trouble getting certified. So I am definitely not saying that instructors who have not obtained this certification are unqualified, or even that a certified instructor will always be better than one who is not. But I think the certification assures me (as the gym owner) and our customers of a high standard.

I'll need to allow some time for my instructors to get this certification, especially at the higher levels, because one typically needs to do each level of certification in order, with additional prerequisites inserted at each level. In the meantime I will use these criteria as a guide when hiring, and assess how prepared each instructor is to obtain the appropriate level of certification within a reasonable amount of time. So on the one hand, I'm imposing a burden on my staff to get the certification (though the gym will pay the costs of the certification class for those who need to take it). But on the other hand, I'm providing a push to get important professional development that I think will be a benefit to those who obtain it, as well as to my business and our customers.

True North Climbing: About the Owner

I thought I should say a few words about myself, so people can know who is behind this company.

I grew up in North York, about 6km from the gym, and went to high school at York Mills Collegiate. I studied Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, graduating with a Bachelor of Mathematics degree (co-operative progamme). I then did a Master's degree in Computer Science at the University of California at Berkeley.

I worked at 3 jobs in the computer animation software industry over the next 25 years, in Vancouver, Sunnyvale, California, and then in 1994, back in Toronto. I was in attendance at the Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards ceremony of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science ("the Academy") in March 2003 when my company (then known as Alias | wavefront) was awarded an Oscar statuette for the software tool Maya that I worked on for many years.

So basically I've been a big-time computer geek for most of my life.

I first tried rock climbing on January 5th, 2004. I had taken my kids on a cross-country skiing vacation near Horseshoe Valley, but there was no snow. We decided to try climbing at Off The Wall in Barrie, and I was instantly hooked. When I got back to work in Toronto I found a co-worker who had also just started climbing, and we started going each Wednesday after work, at Toronto Climbing Academy, near our office. Within a few months I was a member there, and our climbing group grew (I recruited more climbers so I would always have a belay partner!).

About 4 years ago, I built a home wall on the outside of my house. When I moved, I pulled down as much of it as would come off, and rebuilt it as a cave in the basement of my new home.
Neither of these home walls really got used enough, because I'm really a "social climber", and I don't really like to climb alone.


[time-lapse sequence by John Schrag]

I would call myself a hard-core recreational climber - hard-core because of how much I love it, not because I'm very good at it.. I started climbing when I was 45, not in great shape, and somewhat overweight. I'm not the greatest climber. I struggle on 5.10s, and just recently flashed my first V2 bouldering problem. I recently learned to lead climb. I have "competed" in 5 of the Tour de Bloc competitions and a couple of the recent SweatFest comps, consistently finishing among the top 100% of competitors in the Recreational division (i.e. you'll always find me at or near the bottom of the list!). I love these comps, even though I'm not about to win any prizes.

I've been interested in owning a climbing gym for a few years, and explored a few potential opportunities to buy into other gyms before deciding to build my own.

So what the hell do I know about this business? A fair bit, actually, and I'm still learning. I've been climbing in indoor gyms for 5 1/2 years. I spent a few months talking to people in the industry this spring before deciding to do this, and attended the Climbing Wall Association's Summit Conference in Boulder, Colorado to learn a lot more. I've climbed in about a dozen gyms, and in June spent a week visiting 8 gyms in the San Francisco Bay Area. I've surrounded myself with a number of experts to help me figure this out, and I'm getting amazing support from the local climbing community. And in a few months I'll need to hire a few great staff members to help me get to the finish line. I will first be looking for:

• a gym manager to run the day to day operations (staffing, scheduling, keeping the place running safely and smoothly while delivering outstanding customer service) while I focus on spreading the word and expanding the operations.
• a head routesetter and instructor to oversee the climbing programme. This person needs to be an expert climber and routesetter of course, but just as important, they need to be a great leader, teacher and communicator.

Later on we'll be hiring a bunch of part time staff to run the front desk, teach lessons, belay groups of kids at parties, and put fantastic routes on the walls.

I am very excited about this project, and I'm confident that I can build and run a great new climbing gym for the northern part of Toronto. I hope you'll all help me do that!
Please join our online forums to engage in the discussions about what the new gym should be like, or email me at john.gross@truenorthclimbing.com to share your ideas. I want to hear from you, and you can help make the gym a great one.

Open House: Thursday Sept 10th

We'll be hosting a small open house in the gym next Thursday evening. The main purpose is to let a few friends & family see the raw space before construction begins. In addition to that, Jason Plumb, the wall designer from Eldorado Climbing Walls, will be there to talk briefly about some past projects, so you can get an idea about the kind of work they have done. If we're lucky, there may be a few glimpses of the early design of our climbing walls as well (no promises).

I have no idea how much interest there might be in attending this. It's really just a big ugly building right now. All are welcome, but if you plan to attend, please let me know by Monday, September 7th. I may provide light refreshments, and I'd like to know how many people to expect.

Please let me know by email: info@truenorthclimbing.com