Climbers can hit The Spot for rock climbing practice

BOULDER — Climbers looking to strengthen their ability to scale rock have a new place to frequent in Boulder — The Spot Bouldering Gym.

As a complement to traditional climbing gyms, The Spot is primarily focused on bouldering, which is defined as climbing without ropes on shorter heights. Opened in November, the gym has 6,000 square feet of area to climb with a padded surface underneath it.

Although the idea for The Spot has been with co-owner Dan Howley for 10 years, he and co-owner Dan Smith only became incorporated as a company to set the project into motion two years ago. Combined, Smith and Howley have 22 years of climbing experience and draw from retail backgrounds with outdoor stores such as Neptune Mountaineering and Mountain Sports.

Before launching the gym, Howley and Smith conducted research to find out how viable it was to start another gym in the Boulder County area. They learned from organizations such as Access Fund, a national nonprofit dedicated to keeping climbing areas open and to protecting climbing environments, that Colorado residents represented the largest proportion of its members.

From additional digging, they discovered that the greater Boulder area alone has between 16,000 to 32,000 climbers, and bouldering is a hot segment within climbing.

?If you look at the sale of crash pads versus rope sales, it’s obvious (that bouldering is) one of the fastest growing segments,? said Howley. Crash pads are placed underneath where a climber boulders to soften the impact of a fall.

?Bouldering is a more social sport,? said Howley, when explaining its rising popularity. ?With top roping, you are separated by a rope. With bouldering, everyone is together, working a problem together, giving each other tips on how to solve it. Bouldering also has more immediate gratification, which is what a lot of people like. And, it takes less technical skill to start and less money.?

To provide climbers with a fresh experience, The Spot offers several unique amenities that help it standout from other indoor gyms. For starters, The Spot incorporates freestanding boulders that people can top out on, some standing as high as 18 feet. According to Howley, most other gyms have bouldering structures only available to 12 feet.

Additionally, several of The Spot’s climbing surfaces are fashioned after famous climbing areas in locations such as Fontainebleau, a legendary forest bouldering area in France; Yosemite National Park, California; and Waco Tanks, Texas.

As added benefits, the gym also offers weight equipment, one wall with ropes, classes, a body arts center for stretching and yoga, and a café that serves everything from espressos to burritos. Currently, The Spot has nine people on staff and a list of instructors for soon-to-established guide services.

Howley would not disclose the initial investment required to start the gym, however, he did say if another group wished to build a similar gym, they could expect to pay at least $500,000. Funds to launch The Spot were obtained from two major investors, a bank for debt financing and a line of credit, and other community members, Howley said.

To date, with membership income rolling in, The Spot is on-scale with its projections and Howley anticipates breaking even by the early 2003. He also projects that The Spot will achieve revenue of $600,000 in 2003.

As for competitors in the area, Howley considers their gym an anomaly due to its bouldering focus. Therefore, he deems other indoor gyms such as Boulder Rock Club and Rock’n & Jam’n in Thornton, to be compliments, not competitors. And, it seems other indoor gyms agree.

?(The Spot) is the only bouldering-only gym in the state,? said John Kruse, who co-owns Rock’n & Jam’n with wife, Deb Grass. ?(The Spot) focuses on a different market so we don’t expect to see much impact. Less than 5 percent of those who come here come to boulder. It’s such as small part of our business, and there’s enough distance between us that it’s not a threat.?

Although the Boulder Rock Club offers bouldering, Matt O’Connor, general manager, also said only about 5 percent of their clientele visits the facility to exclusively boulder. The club has more than 10,000 square feet of terrain to climb with an average of 75 roped routes. O’Connor said 80 percent of the club is devoted to rope climbing.

?We have an excellent working relationship (with The Spot),? said O’Connor. ?Both businesses introduce people to the sport. People who start bouldering will eventually want to get on ropes, and those who use ropes often use bouldering to become stronger climbers.?

Overall, indoor climbing in the United States is still in its early stages of maturity, O’Connor said, which allows plenty of growing room for all gyms.

?Indoor climbing gyms are only about 10 years old, so it’s really only getting starting as a sport,? he said.

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