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maculated
Aug 31, 2009, 11:41 PM
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Registered: Dec 23, 2001
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San Luis Obispo, California August 31, 2009 -- After raising over $55,000 from broke college students and pillars of the San Luis Obispo community and two months of construction, SLO-Op Climbing (the country’s first non-profit bouldering gym) opened its doors this week at 289 Prado Road.
SLO Op (an homage to its co-op beginnings in a storage unit) Climbing is a 501 c 7 non-profit social club that provides walls open for member climbing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The brainchild of Co-Executive Director Yishai Horowitz, SLO Op has become a central meeting spot for climbers and other athletes in the region, as well as a stopping point for people passing through town looking for a place to meet new people and pull down. Horowitz says, “We started out with maybe 30 people in the old facility. The new place, we figured would top out around 70, but I knew it was time to go big time when we reached 350 members in a town of 45,000 with no advertising.”
The end of construction resulted in more than tripling the climbing space available (to about 3500 sq ft of climbing) in comparison to the old facility, and the managers hope to offer other services in the new space, including clinics and climbing teams. In addition, SLO Op has sublet its office space to Bouldering.com, (an online and storefront climbing gear retailer) giving the Prado Road compound one of the best pro shops available to a gym.
Construction was done largely by a dedicated volunteer force of skilled and unskilled workers coming from the community. Not only having to build a new facility, the volunteers had to melt down the old one . . . a laborious and often painful process. The new gym features 16-foot top out boulders designed to emulate climbing locations like Bishop and Santa Barbara, California. Visitors have compared it to the self-proclaimed “Best Bouldering Gym in the Country,” the Spot, in Boulder Colorado: a proud accomplishment for Horowitz, who spent years touring gyms and looking at construction and shaping features, always searching for the perfect bouldering terrain.
Wall builder and shape holder, Louie Anderson, who was contracted to put up the steel and help with finishing touches of the wall says:
If you're within a couple of hours drive from San Luis Obispo, it would be well worth the drive to climb on these boulders. If you live closer, you should be very happy because you have a wonderful new facility in which to climb. I only wish it was a few hours closer to home for me. I guess I may need to take a road trip…
Not without its pitfalls, Horowitz and co-Executive Director Kristin McNamara braved stress injuries and fifteen-hour work days to build the gym. “I thought I knew tedium when we drove self-tapping screws into steel and plywood with the old gym – but nothing hurts more than four days straight of stuccoing overhanging walls, only to do it again the next week!” says McNamara.
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ax
Sep 1, 2009, 1:13 PM
Post #2 of 10
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Registered: Aug 24, 2001
Posts: 155
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Very cool! ...  ... Props
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maculated
Sep 1, 2009, 3:44 PM
Post #3 of 10
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Registered: Dec 23, 2001
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Thanks. I tell you what, building it is NOT something i'm going to forget anytime soon.
Here's photos from the process, if anyone cares:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maculated/sets/72157620524344687/
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synrock
Sep 1, 2009, 5:30 PM
Post #4 of 10
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Registered: Mar 17, 2004
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Looks like you guys could use some holds - I have a new line of rockpods I'm trying to get word out about. Would you like a bunch of samples?
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maculated
Sep 1, 2009, 5:32 PM
Post #5 of 10
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Registered: Dec 23, 2001
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We'd love to try them out. Send us a banner, too, and we'll post it.
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synrock
Sep 2, 2009, 5:45 PM
Post #6 of 10
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Registered: Mar 17, 2004
Posts: 282
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Mailing address?
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maculated
Sep 3, 2009, 2:37 AM
Post #7 of 10
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Registered: Dec 23, 2001
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289 Prado Road, San Luis Obispo CA 93401
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pfwein
Sep 3, 2009, 3:53 AM
Post #8 of 10
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Registered: Feb 8, 2009
Posts: 353
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Very impressive; it will be interesting to see if the non-profit concept takes hold in other towns.
In Boulder, CO there's currently an abundance of for-profit gyms (perhaps an over abundance, with 2 route + bouldering and 1 bouldering only gym) so I don't see people putting in the time to compete with that, but I hear people complaining in other Front Range towns that a gym would be welcome. Maybe others will follow your lead.
Good luck 
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tslater
Oct 20, 2009, 4:55 AM
Post #9 of 10
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Registered: Mar 21, 2005
Posts: 167
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SLO rocks... this place is pretty amazing.
Bump...
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taydude
Oct 23, 2009, 1:51 PM
Post #10 of 10
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Registered: May 25, 2006
Posts: 531
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Clicky
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