Climbers find new indoor home

Indoor climbers will have a new home come September.

The Canmore Indoor Climbing Society will set up a bouldering gym on Bow Meadow’s Crescent to accommodate athletes before the opening of Elevation Place in December.

“We’re thrilled to have a training facility for our youth athletes and to offer the community a place to climb prior to the opening of Elevation Place,” wrote CICS president Steve Frangos in a news release.

The new gym plans to open mid-September at Bow Meadow Cresecent in the former home of Canmore Fight Club, which is moving across from Canmore Community High School.

Working with the climbing community, the 1,200 square foot facility will be converted into a bouldering gym.

For the past month, the climbing community has been working with the Town of Canmore and Council to find a new home. When the Fight Club decided to move, CICS jumped at the location, which will be known as ‘The Cave.’

The new facility is scheduled to be open seven days a week, between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on weekdays and 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends. The competitive and recreational youth teams will have access to after school programs.

The Bow Valley is home to some of the country’s best youth climbers, who will compete at the world youth climbing championships in Singapore. Climbers such as Eric and Elise Sethna used the area to catapult themselves onto the World Cup circuit.

The team was left homeless after the Vsion climbing gym closed its doors in May, and coach Dung Nguyen moved to Montreal.

The town provided a $31,000 grant to climbers who no longer had a place to climb. That money will be used to pay rent, while the CICS will cover capital costs. The grant money is being doled out in monthly installments, however the town will have no involvement with the day-to-day operation of The Cave.

“It’s great. We’d do that for any sports group,” said Laurie O’Brien, general manager of municipal services. “We like having a place where they can follow their passion.”

The stipulation of the grant is the gym must be open to the entire community.

Frangos thanked O’Brien and climbers Will Gadd and Stacey Weldon to get the new gym up and running.