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!
Enthusiasts are flooding the sport of rock climbing, with their primary avenue to the sport being through the doors of indoor climbing gyms. There is a growing need for education to ease the transition to outdoor climbing, and gyms remain the leader in this arena. Some skills we learn in the... Continue Reading
Over the last few decades, indoor climbing gym facilities have evolved into spectacular spaces. If a climber from the 1990s traveled to the future and stepped into even the most modest of our modern-day climbing gyms, they’d likely pass out at the sight of it. Despite facility... Continue Reading
Rock climbing is what brings our indoor climbing gym communities together, and for good reason. Climbing is fun, challenging, fosters social interactions, trust building, healthy competition, and fitness. The sport’s popularity is snowballing in large part because of the inherently... Continue Reading
In the last several articles in this series, we have covered why investing in community building is worthwhile for your gym. Article At A Glance Writer: The Headwall Group, renowned programming experts within the indoor climbing industry. They presented a highly successful CWA Summit... Continue Reading
One of the most common challenges climbing gyms face is simultaneously managing youth programs and day-to-day operations. Limited space, the overlapping and potentially conflicting needs that arise during our busiest hours, and managing the expectations of families and members all present... Continue Reading
In our last article in this series, we outlined the benefits of focusing resources and energy on engaging your members, community, and employees in community-building programs. The research we cited is clear: by engaging your community of support, you increase your market presence, engage new... Continue Reading
The Headwall Group brings us the first article in a five-part series on using programming to build community through climbing and non-climbing events in indoor climbing gyms. 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
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
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
In the second part of our Indoor Climbing Program Assessments, we will dive a little deeper into staff assessments. Get an example rubric for evaluation, the phases of implementing an assessment, and more. Continue Reading
In our last blog post, we wrote about some lessons we have learned in our work supporting indoor climbing gyms and program teams in designing staff training. One of the key takeaways from our work is the power of assessment in identifying needs, means of change, and progress. With limited... Continue Reading
