As climbing walls go, the new indoor facility for Powell River Climbing Co-operative is going to be “a serious climbing wall,” according to High Performance Climbing Walls crew supervisor Jyoti Vanne.
“It’s a big wall,” said Vanne. “There’s going to be lots of room.”
Vanne represents the Duncan, BC, company constructing the climbing wall installation at The Warehouse in Townsite.
“It’s a great climbing wall for any city in Canada,” said Vanne. “It’s going to be perfect for climbers around here and a great training facility.”
Once completed, the gym will be one of the largest co-op climbing facilities in the country.
“As far as I know, there’s one in Kingston, Ontario, and there’s one in Squamish, and we’re going to be quite a bit bigger than both of them,” said Kevan Robitaille, who founded the climbing co-op in April 2015. “I’m thrilled that it’s coming together. It’s been a dream of mine.”
Since Robitaille and his friends came together, the co-op has organized fundraising and membership drives and was successful in acquiring a $164,000 Powell River Community Forest grant.
“We always need more money,” said Robitaille. “We still need to raise money for administrative costs because the grant we received won’t cover any of those.”
Robitaille said he has been on site volunteering almost every day.
“It’s really exciting to be in there with our hands on it and literally seeing it come together before our eyes,” he said.
According to Robitaille, the co-op needs to save on costs, so people have been pitching in and doing as much work as they can. Vanne said he has been impressed by the number of volunteers who have shown up.
“Every day we have volunteers,” he said. “I can’t believe it. It’s the first project we’ve had that much help.”
According to Steve Brooks, owner of The Warehouse, he has heard nothing but positive reports from everyone involved in the project.
“It came together very quickly,” said Brooks. “The city, architects, volunteers and construction crews all really stepped up and contributed to the success of the build.”
Vanne said the height of the wall will be 28 feet for the top rope area and 14 feet for bouldering.
Top roping is one of the best ways for beginners to be introduced to the sport. The climbing rope is connected to an anchor at the top of the wall and back down to the climber, who is attached by a harness. Bouldering involves short climbs made without a rope.
Vanne said the wall has been custom-designed for The Warehouse space and will be complete by September.
“The owner of the company is an engineer, so we do all of the designing in-house,” he said. “We talk to the client, come in and check the space and design to suit. This is perfect. This wall is going to be a very good showpiece.”
In addition to the co-op raising administrative money, Brooks has to obtain occupancy permits from City of Powell River for the building before the climbing wall can open.
“We’ve have clear guidance from the city on what is needed for partial occupancy,” said Brooks. “We are still on schedule for spring 2017 to fully open The Warehouse, with the climbing wall probably doing a soft opening in November.”
