Wednesday May 14, 2008
Last night I took a trip down to Edgeworks Climbing gym in Tacoma. I've been working on my flashing skills and needed another gym to practice that was not what I had become accustomed to up in the Seattle area. Plus, I'd seen their boulder wall online and thought it looked fun! It's a dedicated structure but unlike the walls up north, it has a free standing part, an archway that connects the free standing part to a wall butted area and all of the walls top out! By topping out I mean you go over the top and walk across and down via the 2nd floor. There's a neat photo of it on their site.
I met Tod, the owner of Edgeworks, and three other people from Edgeworks at Stone Gardens some weeks before. I didn't get to talk with any of them much then, but I appreciated how approachable and friendly they were. Richard, one of the Edgeworks crew, was particularly friendly and invited me out to climb at Smith with them one weekend. I'm not climbing outside right now so I had to decline, but we kept in touch and I met up with him at Edgeworks.
Edgeworks must be one of the friendliest gyms around. Everyone was bright and chatty when I entered. The bouldering crew was particularly open and friendly; and there was a lot of support, moving spots and beta sharing. I felt like I must have known these people from some time in the past because I don't experience such openness very often from strangers. I felt right at home very quickly, but then an atmosphere like that can have that affect on a person, I think. :)
Richard told me Tod was the owner of the gym and that the gym had only been open for the past 4 years. Todd showed himself a bit later and I was fortunate to get to climb with him and talk to him a bit about his gym.
The walls are a bit short for top rope and leading, but to make up for it, their routes are super technical. I think this flows into their bouldering style. Their system for setting was very similar to Vertical World, with the use of taped holds, not multi-taping holds, etc. The coolest part of their bouldering wall is the ability to top out. Pulling lip moves and having to get over the top is another dynamic rarely experienced indoors. They also have two different archways so you can get problems from one side of a structure under, through, and/or along the archway that finish on the other side of the structure. I did a few of these, they were very fun!
Maybe it's because Tod's gym is newer, but it has a cleaner feel to it. They have the gymnastic flooring, that isn't peeling and actually responds to your falls. They have a small but very useful weight room with all of the basics you need for training that is separate from the climbing area. Ok, the lat pull machine feels short if you try to do cable press downs nd the pull up bar could use some fresh tape...but still a useable room of stuff that meets most of a climber's needs. Finally, the campus board is out in the climbing area, although I didn't see any system boards.
They appear to offer a range of courses not unlike the other gyms. Some of them appear to be more structured in that they organized the materials into a 'school' of training. For example, for beginners you have the 100 level class, for intermediate climbers, you have the 200 level class and so forth. They still offer the standard bday parties, jr climbing program, private belays, and they have a jr. climbing team. One intriguing program they offer is an overnight Lock-in. Sounds like a lot of fun! :)
They are surprisingly easy to locate as well. From Seattle I took the I-5 south to Rt 16 westbound just south of the Tacoma Dome. 3.5 miles west on Rt 16 and I took the first left, the next first right and the next first left. The gym was on my left and was probably only about a mile from the exit. My commute down was a bit long due to traffic, it took me 1.25 hours, but my commute up was super quick - maybe 45 minutes.
I wouldn't pick this up as my new local gym or anything, but I'm definitely psyched to go back. Special thanks to Tod, Richard and everyone I met at the gym for being so welcoming. It makes a difference.
ps. I can't forget to mention that you wouldn't want to miss out on the nearly life size poster of Timmy O'Neil in the women's bathroom... :)
I wonder who they put up in the men's...
