Sports & Recreation  February 14, 2025

Climbing Collective readying for a March 10 opening

The Climbing Collective ownership is putting the finishing touches on their building as they ready for a March 10 opening. Sharon Dunn/BizWest.
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GREELEY — In the next month, what is sure to be Greeley’s largest collection of climbing routes and walls will open after several months of construction at the former UNC Foundation Hall.

Owners of the Climbing Collective, owned and operated by Bryan and Shauna Hylenski, Aaron and Heather Tellier, Mack Maier, and Heeran Joe, will finally open the doors to their refurbished center, which will be ready to offer multiple climbing opportunities for any experience level, yoga and other fitness classes. They hope to open the doors March 10.

This is the group’s third location behind Longmont and Loveland. And it has been a labor of love, as they have experienced a few setbacks and delays at their building,  1516 Eighth Ave. in downtown Greeley, just north of the Maddie apartments.

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While the Longmont Climbing Collective has outdoor climbing walls, the Greeley Climbing Collective will operate only indoors. The Loveland Climbing Collective at 1503 Taurus Court, also is an indoor climbing gym.

It’s been a tough few months to get to the point of opening. The team bought the former UNC concert hall last year to find that it needed immediate asbestos cleanup. Then it faced some burglaries, as well as permitting delays.

“We had challenges with permitting and things of that nature,” Shauna Hylenski said in an interview. “I guess it’s just working with an old building. There are a lot of challenges. We’d never restored an existing building before, and that was a new and different process. But in general, since I would say the last four to five months have been going very well. We had a lot of hiccups early on, and that slowed the progress more than expected.”

With the facility in the final stages of construction, Hylenski is working on staffing up the fitness center.

The center will have multiple climbing routes, plus offer many options for climbers such as bouldering and rope climbing, as well as a wall that climbers can use to download routes from an app from professional climbers’ favorite routes as a training tool. Climbers also can chart their own routes on the app.

“It’s a really cool, customizable way to work hard and train for climbing,” Hylenski said. “It became popular when we opened our first gym 10 years ago.”

The center also will have a yoga studio with regular yoga classes, and open areas with free weights for people to do their own fitness routines. All classes are included in members’ monthly fees, Hylenski said. “That is an important feature of our business model,” she said.

They will create climbing clubs for adults and youth after school, and they will also offer climbing summer camps for kids. They also hope to be the home of the University of Northern Colorado Climbing Club, members of which compete in national contests.

Hylenski said people can sign up now for gym membership at reduced prices. They will have a grand-opening event in April.

 “We’re really excited to be a part of the Greeley community,” Hylenski said. “It’s been a long time in the making and the dreaming, so we’re happy it is very close at hand.”

The Climbing Collective in Greeley will soon open after several months of construction at the former UNC Foundation Hall.

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Sharon Dunn is an award-winning journalist covering business, banking, real estate, energy, local government and crime in Northern Colorado since 1994. She began her journalism career in Alaska after graduating Metropolitan State College in Denver in 1992. She found her way back to Colorado, where she worked at the Greeley Tribune for 25 years. She has a master's degree in communications management from the University of Denver. She is married and has one grown daughter — and a beloved English pointer at her side while she writes. When not writing, you may find her enjoying embroidery and crochet projects, watching football, or kayaking and birdwatching on a high-mountain lake.
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