The Climbing Wall Association's blog is a place for indoor climbing professionals to find useful and relevant information from industry and business experts. Stay on top of best practices, thought leadership, and trends by subscribing to our newsletter!
ASCEND Point Breeze in Pittsburgh, Pa., prior to its opening a few months later. In 2022, 36 new climbing gyms opened across the U.S. and Canada with “32 net new gyms open[ing] annually in the U.S. on average over the past 10 years,” according to the findings of a Climbing Business... Continue Reading
You’d like to think that if the time ever came when a government entity decided to shut down your indoor climbing gym, you’d know it was coming. You’d think there would be some communication, some due process, notices, or at least some warning. But for Mike Boyer and his gym,... Continue Reading
Over a decade ago, with the introduction and evolution of indoor climbing gyms, there was a recognition that not all facilities operate in the same way. Industry stakeholders got together to determine standards and guidelines for the operations of facilities for the industry as a whole. This... Continue Reading
An auto belay barrier designed by Neon, in CityRock Climbing Gym. Creating safety around auto belay use in indoor climbing gyms starts with understanding why accidents happen at all. In late 2022, a commissioned study conducted by Prof. Jon Heshka of Thompson Rivers University titled... Continue Reading
As my team from The Crag Climbing Gym and I weaved our way through the vast conference center's labyrinth toward the heart of the 2023 CWA Summit, we were awed by sweeping views of the city, rivers, and bridges of Pittsburgh. We peered down from the mezzanine into the Exhibit Hall and pointed... Continue Reading
The CWA is excited to debut the CWA Community Hub, a new online platform for indoor climbing professionals to communicate, share ideas, work together to generate creative solutions, and contribute to industry growth and improvement all year long. Continue Reading
The 2023 CWA Summit starts this week, so we wanted to bring you a comprehensive guide to the event. Here's all the information you need to make this CWA Summit the best ever, with updates, the official event app, downloadable schedules, and so much more. Download the CWA Summit App! Our CWA... Continue Reading
State Climb, based in Culpeper, Virginia, is not your typical indoor climbing gym. After operating as a for-profit facility for a year and a half, Dos Allen and his team transitioned the entire company into a 501c3 non-profit organization to better serve their community. Find out how State Climb... Continue Reading
Hiring practices across the indoor climbing industry has become a point of discussion, as the industry reckons with a challenging hiring market and a desire to remove barriers to access employment in the climbing industry. In our last blog post, we discussed using behavioral competencies to... Continue Reading
Boulder, Colorado-based non-profit Mountains Without Borders works with indoor climbing gyms to recycle used climbing gear. Learn about how you can support their mission. Continue Reading
In no particular order, here are five hold sets that spark joy – or bittersweet fury – when I see them on the wall, as well as why you may want them for your indoor climbing gym. Continue Reading
Indoor climbing gyms have a unique set of risk management concerns. Every facility and program must constantly be proactively managing these risk management hurdles. In this article, we’re going to introduce the concept of a “culture of safety” in the space of workplace risk... Continue Reading
