Climbathon, coffee sales, events all contributing to a future indoor climbing facility

Dreams of an indoor climbing facility are alive and well in Whitehorse.

Following a feasibility study released last fall, Climb Yukon is continuing to work towards making those dreams a reality.

Last Saturday, a small contingent of climbers gathered at one of Whitehorse’s handful of climbing walls to participate in a climbathon as a fundraiser for the project.

“It’s a really ambitious climb,” said event organizer Max Parker, of the event’s Mount Everest-sized goal (8,848 metres) for the day.

Scaling the 7.6-metre-tall wall, teams attempted to complete the height as many times as their muscles allowed.

“There’s no way we’re going to hit that today,” said Parker, about four hours into the climb.

About six teams of two had set up shop on the wall, taking turns belaying and climbing in the corner of the gymnasium at École-Émilie Tremblay.

With sunlight streaming in through an open door and more and more routes opening up around Whitehorse, Parker understood that being inside on a Saturday, likely wasn’t at the top of climbers’ priorities.

But with the sport growing – it will join the Olympic program in 2020 – having an indoor space where climbers can congregate is top of mind.

The climbathon was just one of a handful of fundraisers that Climb Yukon is offering to boost awareness and funds for their proposed project.

“We’re not going to raise our big, big funds from events like this,” said Parker.

“It’s going to be for helping us fund fundraising.”

Last year, the event took place at someone’s private home climbing wall.

The entry fees from this year’s event were added to the fundraising pot.

Parker began climbing 10 years ago and was a member of the youth team. He now coaches the current members of the youth team, which utilize the gyms around town – at various schools and Yukon College.

The bouldering wall they frequent, at Porter Creek Secondary School, is located on a stage in the school’s gymnasium and simply isn’t big enough for the demand.

The city’s different types of walls – bouldering (no harness), top rope (attached by harness and rope) – are located in different gyms.

“It’s a very social sport,” said project manager Patricia Duchesneau, “so it’s nice to have everyone in the same room.”

In 2015, a group of climbers met and decided they wanted an indoor facility to provide more services to the community and to make climbing more accessible.

“Ever since, we’ve been working slowly but surely towards that goal,” said Duchesneau.

In the fall of 2016, Climb Yukon released a feasibility study on the proposed facility. Included in the study was a survey conducted with 1,427 respondents.

Ninety-eight per cent were interested in having a climbing facility in Whitehorse.

Climb Yukon would be looking to run the gym as a non-profit organization using a social enterprise model – using commercial strategies to run the facility.

“The goal would not be to make a profit, but to be sustainable,” said Duchesneau.

The facility is still very much in the planning stages, but national standards for heights to host national-level competitions would require about 45 feet for a top rope wall and 13 to 20 feet for a bouldering wall.

“Until we have confirmation of where it’s going to be, it’s really hard to say how tall it’s going to be,” said Duchesneau.

For now, Climb Yukon will continue its fundraising and awareness campaigns.

Climber and speaker Tim Emmett held a talk last week, which was hosted by Coast Mountain Sports. The proceeds from ticket sales were donated to the project.

Some of those funds will be used to send Parker and Duchesneau to the Climbing Walls Summit in Loveland, Colorado later this month, which markets itself as the “indoor climbing industry’s only professional development conference.”

“We’re really motivated and positive that there’s going to be a facility. It’s just a matter of determining the size,” said Duchesneau. “We’re on the right path.”

And as the weather continues to improve, climbers will be out enjoying the growing number of natural climbing routes around Whitehorse.

“People will set up climbs and then all of a sudden there’s more people wanting to climb,” said Parker, “and setters are more motivated to keep going.”