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!
There's no question that gym operation looks a little different nowadays. To curb the spread of COVID-19 while staying open, new approaches like reservation systems and sanitation stations have been implemented in climbing gyms everywhere. While these new safety protocols address the public... Continue Reading
Before we were all disrupted and shifting our operations due to COVID-19, we offered an introduction to the Long-Term Athlete Development Model, or LTAD. The goal of the LTAD model is to ensure the quality of sport and physical activity and to keep athletes and/or participants engaged in sport... Continue Reading
2020’s impact on our industry, on our members, and us as people is still being understood. In a way, we’re still in the thick of it. One obstacle is overcome just to see another one forming on the horizon. As climbers though, we inherently keep moving upward. We hope we’re... Continue Reading
Member appreciation looks very different these days. Indoor in-person gatherings—particularly those with communal food or beverages—are on hold nationwide. This rules out classic bouldering-comp-plus-beer events, as well as many others. This is tough, because climbing facilities... Continue Reading
The Climbing Wall Association’s next installment of “Projecting Anti-Racism” is a case study of a bouldering gym and a local grassroots climbing group that explores how to build community in 2020. GP81 is a climbing gym in Brooklyn, New York, and Try-Hard Crew is a group that... Continue Reading
Please join the CWA in welcoming the newest addition to our growing team – Jake Byk, our marketing coordinator. Jake (he/him) has been a professional visual communicator for more than six years, working in multiple fields across the country. After receiving his B.S. in photojournalism from... Continue Reading
The President has signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 into law, which will have implications for many businesses in the indoor climbing industry. Over the next few weeks, various government agencies will publish clarifications on how they will adopt these new rules, and we may learn... Continue Reading
Posted By Climbing Wall Association, Thursday, July 16, 2020 | UPDATED November 17, 2020 With the recent wave of re-closures and changing guidelines, it is necessary now, more than ever, to stand up and advocate for effective and reasonable reopening guidelines for climbing gyms. Your local... Continue Reading
“Climbing is all about community,” says Nick Muffet, Marketing & Community Director at Rock Mill Climbing in Akron, Ohio. That’s the philosophy behind holding regular member appreciation events—to make your members feel welcome, engaged, and excited to be a part of your gym’s community. And these da Continue Reading
Many climbing gyms across the country have moved well into their reopening plans. We’ve begun to see programs like youth teams and adult classes return to the gym, even if they do look a little different than before. Several gyms have restarted their adaptive climbing programs and events... Continue Reading
COVID-19 has required an incredible amount of flexibility and adaptation in all of our lives, inside of the climbing gym and out. Like many other industries, climbing gym retail has taken a hit this year, but it’s not all bad news. Based on data from a convenience sample of three gyms that... Continue Reading
The pandemic was a shock to the climbing industry. In addition to other disruptions to daily life, gym closures have been devastating to the entire industry. It’s clear that the path forward cannot be the same one previously taken. A new path forward has to be forged. The Climbing Wall... Continue Reading
