New climbing gym in Denver

I'd use a downtown gym. My world is basically downtown and a climbing gym within a short biking distance would be stellar. I'm reluctantly getting an RJ1 membership tomorrow. I'd pay extra money for a downtown location.

Mike Lane wrote: You could always build a fake snow ski hill next to Winter Park too.

Lakewood

Charles Whitlock Climbing Gym
1555 Dover St.
Lakewood, Colorado 80215
(303) 987-4800
lakewood.org

Lakewood Climbing Wall
1295 S. Reed Street
Lakewood, Colorado
(303) 987-5411
lakewood.org
> Lead climbing cave, free-climb and top rope indoor climbing wall

The Point Athletic
533 Van Gordon Street
Lakewood, Colorado 80228
(303) 988-1300
pointathleticclub.com

REI-Southwest Denver
5375 S. Wadsworth Blvd
Denver, Colorado 80123
(303) 932-0600
rei.com

The coming addition of Fastracks between downtown and Golden would help facilitate business in either direction for a gym, I would think.

Cost of building a "modern" 20,000+ sq foot climbing gym will be close to 2 million if you find a building that is already tall and in decent shape. Cost of raising a roof is approx $25/sq foot. The biggest problem with the Denver market is not the lack of buildings or the lack of climbers, it will be convincing those climbers to pay the rates required to support the costs of a premium gym. Think $20 day passes and $70 per month EFTs. Yes Denver deserves such a gym, but it is a risky investment. That's why the biggest gyms in the country are in places with high disposable income and large populations (these places can justify the financial risk). The largest climbing wall in the country (38,500+ square feet of climbing) is in Rockville Md earthtreksclimbing.com. Of course Denver can get lucky and have a person of independent wealth (or years and years of climbing gym experience) show up and gift us a gym, in which case I want that gift on the West Side.

CBW wrote:The biggest problem with the Denver market is not the lack of buildings or the lack of climbers, it will be convincing those climbers to pay the rates required to support the costs of a premium gym. Think $20 day passes and $70 per month EFTs.

Here's my 2 cents:

Lots of people go to the gym after work. Lots of people commute across the city. Why not catch them all? Put a nice big gym near the intersection of I-25 and I-70. There's lots of commercial real estate in that vicinity.

I've been climbing at Earthtreks while temporarily working in the DC area. It's $18.00 for a day pass and $65 a month for membership. The day pass is pricey, but membership is competitive with Front Range prices. It has similar features to Movement,just more. It's a wonderful gym.
While my preference would be downtown, any new gym not downtown should be within 1/4 mile of and walkable from light rail (Earthtreks is 4 blocks from the Metro). That way, the gym will be an alternative to climbers when gas gets goofy expensive.
Think about integrating the gym into a larger new development, so that it could piggyback onto a larger plan. I'd look at any planned transit oriented developments (TOD for the jargon happy)and see if there were any opportunities there. Shames-Makovsky owns the vacant lot across from the Convention Center. Perhaps a swank downtown "extreme sports club" could distinguish a new multi-use project there.
There's a plan to do a new rec center at York and Colfax, when funds become available. Perhaps a public/private partnership of some sort could create something really innovative that serves a population larger than the climbing community. I've always thought a gym that served all outdoor athletes would be just the ticket, particularly in the Front Range.

To Quote a previous post.

Lakewood Charles Whitlock Climbing Gym
1555 Dover St. Lakewood, Colorado 80215 (303) 987-4800

Lakewood Climbing Wall
1295 S. Reed Street Lakewood, Colorado (303) 987-5411
Lead climbing cave, free-climb and top rope indoor climbing wall

The Point Athletic
533 Van Gordon Street Lakewood, Colorado 80228 (303) 988-1300

REI-Southwest Denver
5375 S. Wadsworth Blvd Denver, Colorado 80123 (303) 932-0600

The REI on Wadsworth got rid of their wall about 4 years ago, and the Whitlock Rec Center is top rope only on a very, very small wall. The link is great, cheap, and fun, but very small so you can climb out the whole wall in one night.

Denver is extremely ripe for a rock climbing gym in or near downtown. In the article I wrote on my site, The Good Life Denver (see:Good Idea: A Premier Rock Climbing Gym In/Near Downtown Denver), I bring up the example of St. Louis, which already has one solid climbing gym downtown for a climbing community that is probably no more than 20% the size of Denver's, and is building a second (Climb so Ill). If downtown St. Louis can support two, there is absolutely no reason why Denver shouldn't have AT LEAST one.

As I mentioned in the article, Movement is actively working on bringing a gym to downtown Denver and understands the ripeness of this opportunity.

I'd be happy to help provide input to anyone who wants to bring a gym to downtown Denver.

Mark, where'd you go to high school?

David

Ah...the classic stl question. I went to Chaminade. Did you ever climb at the Good Life? I spent a bit of time there before it closed. I wonder what Jim Thurmond is up to these days?

Nice, I went to Burroughs. I never did go to Good Life--only Upper Limits...

I would like to see a nice gym on the Southwest side but not Movement! They charge me to belay my kids and the times I have gone there the customer service is surly at best.

M Lindfors wrote:I would like to see a nice gym on the Southwest side but not Movement! They charge me to belay my kids and the times I have gone there the customer service is surly at best.

I live at 33rd and Blake st right downtown. I back up to Coors Field Parking lot and a few buildings in my area would be perfect for a gym downtown. The parking, light rail access and the height of the building would not be an issue. Plus all the local people looking for a gym to work out in besides climbing would make it a hit.
So many new rental and condo buildings going up, the amount of people living downtown is going up, and the gym would do well! Wish I had the money to start it.

+1 for a downtown area gym accessible by light rail. When I lived in Baker, I never once went to RJ1 because of the traffic. I would reluctantly go to RJ2 since I worked in the tech center, but I hated having to drive those days instead of taking the light rail as usual. Anything near a light rail line would do really well I think.

Thrillseekers may still be there, but that is a terrible, terrible gym. It is incredible that it is still in business if it is.

The bowling tangent upthread was great. As much as I would have loved a gym in that old Big Lots on 1st and Broadway since my house was just two blocks from there, that neighborhood is more for hipsters going out drinking. A bowling alley designed as a fifties throwback to be seen at ironically couldn't possibly be more appropriate for that neighborhood.

Any news on this? I'm blown away at the amount of money myself and MANY people I know would pay to have a high quality rock gym in Denver.

five points please. or Baker.

The only news I know of is that the Denver Bouldering Club is expanding their gym which is to open this weekend or very soon: facebook.com/pages/Denver-B…

Retrofit the (soon to be) old wonder bread factory!!!

Wonder Bread Climbing Gym