Facility: Climb Lafayette, Lafayette, IN
Futurist Services: Wall & Facility Design, Custom Bouldering Flooring System, Custom Roped Flooring
Open Since: June 2015
Website: www.climblafayette.com
Business Description: Climb Lafayette is the first dedicated indoor rock climbing facility in the beautiful Lafayette Indiana area, with Purdue University located across the river in West Lafayette. We have 4,000 sq. ft. of climbing, including a centerpiece independent bouldering structure with a platform, in the 5,000 sq. ft. warehouse of our 7,000 sq. ft. Because our goal is to bring as many people in the door as possible and show them how safe and fun climbing is, we offer climbing at amazing prices that rival movie passes!
Owner Bios:
Kyle Batta has been a climbing since 2012. He first started out as solely as a jogger in 2011 and managed to lose an incredible 96 lbs. Frequently on his jogs he daydreamed about what new activities he could try and do now that he felt comfortable in his abilities to do any physical activity. For the next step he tried skydiving out on a vacation in California. After that he wanted something that he could do more often so he set out to try indoor rock climbing. From the first time he climbed, he fell in love with the physical and mental aspects of climbing. Since that point he has been hooked. Thanks to his mom, he was able to build a wall in his mom’s garage to practice on. From there he started to play around with the idea of leaving his mediocre desk job to bring a gym to his local area since the closest gym was an hour away. After a long 2 ½ years of learning and problem solving, the gym finally came to life. To Kyle, Climb Lafayette is not just about the ability to climb more frequently, but it is about sharing his love of the sport with the community.
Kelly Dugger has been climbing since 2013. After a one time experience rock climbing in high school Kelly moved away to college in Lafayette where she eventually made her home. Although she always wanted to try climbing again it was not until she met Kyle that she again had the opportunity to go climbing along with a climbing partner and developed an affinity for the sport. Although Kelly maintains her career as a pharmacist, she is excited to help bring climbing to Lafayette and spread the love of climbing to her community.
Q: What is your ownership team’s involvement with the sport of climbing?
A: Our involvement with the sport of climbing is pretty basic. We love to climb, we enjoy it so much we want to share with our community how much we love and enjoy it.
Q: What motivated you to leave your previous profession(s) to pursue a commercial indoor climbing facility as a business?
A: My previous job was a desk job where I would sit all day in front of a computer doing boring soul draining stuff. What motivated me to leave was the fact that opening up a climbing gym in Lafayette Indiana was a realistic dream/goal. Once I knew it would be happening, I put in my three week notice. I still find myself behind a computer a lot but it is at least exciting work!
Q: What is unique about your ownership/management team’s dynamic?
A: My business partner and I share the same affinity for rock climbing. We both are huge believers that life is too short to be sitting watching TV or playing video games. As a nation, we need to get up and do active things! We also try not to let ourselves get comfortable in what we are doing and we try to not let small things bother us.
Q: Describe what is unique about your particular climbing gym’s business model and services?
A: Our business model is unique in the fact that we are opening a gym in a location that has a population of 100,000 people. Many people around this area have never rock climbed. We have a roped wall and a bouldering structure. We created a gym that gives the climbers plenty of room to congregate, chill, and watch other climbers without being in another climber’s fall zone.
Q: Why did you choose Futurist Climbing Consultants as independent designers for your climbing gym?
A: I chose Futurist Climbing Consultants because I was tired of dealing with big climbing wall builders that build the same stuff. Having an outside party to design our climbing walls was one of the best things I did!
Q: Describe the role of “Trust” in the client-designer collaboration of the gym design process?
A: Timy and Ernest make it easy for you to “Trust” them. They have climbed in many gyms around the nation and world. They know what would make your walls “INSANE” and bring people in the door that think the same thing.
Q: What inspired your climbing gym design (other gyms, art, architecture, rock, etc.)?
A: Our design is based on Mayan architecture. Futurist told me about the design not knowing that I had watched several Mayan documentaries.
Q: What is it about your climbing wall design that expresses your own personal passion for climbing?
A: A challenge; I enjoy challenging myself and pushing myself to the limit. I don’t care about failing on routes.
Q: How do you view your climbing wall design as an attribute to your brand?
A: Climb Lafayette as a brand is made to be a unique indoor climbing gym. We are not the biggest gym by any means, but we have some great climbing! That hopefully helps us stick out from everyone else.
Q: What were the most significant things that you learned during the process of designing your climbing gym?
A: That Timy and Ernest know what they are doing! They have been in the business of climbing for a while and they know! After trying to work with the larger climbing wall companies and not being able to get them to hear our ideas, it was amazing to work with Futurist Climbing and actually be on the same page.
Q: Which climbing wall supplier built your walls?
A: We used Leading Edge Climbing Walls. Corey Jones and his group did a killer job putting it together and making it one solid structure.
Q: What were the selection criteria for the climbing wall company that you ultimately contracted?
A: We chose Leading Edge Climbing Walls because they have been building climbing walls for 20+ years. Their price per sq. foot was spot on. Since we are a smaller gym (4,000 sq. feet of climbing) they made us feel important! The bigger companies don’t want to talk to you if you are fewer than 5,000 or 10,000 sq. feet. They also build on site. All of the materials were locally sourced and the money went back into our community.
Q: Which of your own gym’s design attributes are your favorite / why?
A: The design of the bouldering structure, I like how deceiving it is when you look at it from the front. As you walk around to the back side you see how crazy it can be to climb. I like that it leaves self-discovery for our customers.
Q: How would you seek to improve your climbing gym design?
A: I would improve by adding more height to the top rope areas. We just didn’t have a tall enough building to do 30 ft. walls.
Q: Please share any notable customer feedback that you have received regarding your climbing gym design.
A: Basically everyone I have showed the climbing walls to can’t believe how big and amazing it is! The ones that don’t climb are impressed by how cool it looks. The climbers that live in the community are super stoked about climbing every inch of it!
Q: From a design perspective, which other commercial climbing gyms are your favorites / Why?
A: I have never been to a gym with a unique design. They all seem to be about the same thing. It is a big space with walls crammed into every corner. If I had to choose one it would be Hoosier Heights Indy. Their design is in a big open space, which gives plenty of room for people to congregate and chill.
Q: What are the most common design related mistakes historically made by commercial climbing facilities?
A: The most common design mistake is they all look alike. They can also make newcomers feel intimidated about climbing for the first time.
Q: Any advice regarding the design process that you can offer aspiring climbing gym owners?
A: If you are an aspiring gym owner, just think outside the box. There are gyms popping up everywhere now and the best thing you can do is differentiate yourself from everyone else. Also, you don’t have to go 40 to 50 feet high to be impressive. Climbing a route for that long is such a bad idea and expensive. Getting around 30 feet is good; the max I would do is 35 feet.
Q: From an idealistic standpoint, describe the ultimate dream climbing gym design concept of the future?
A: For me, it would be trying to merge the outside in more. This would be done with windows along all the exterior walls or just use garage doors with window panes in them. Natural light is a beautiful thing, being able to merge the outdoors with the indoors would make for a beautiful gym.
Q: What is the long-term goal/potential of your climbing gym business?
A: We hope to eventually take over and purchase our whole building. This would more than double our sq. footage we have now. We also want to be an active member in our community and support community events. We want to share our love for this sport with our community. We want to show them how safe it is and that it is ok to try new things, it is ok to fall, and you don’t have to make it to the top to succeed.
Q: Anything else you would like to express about your facility/project?
A: At Climb Lafayette, all we want to do is climb safe and have fun! If you are not in the business to have fun, then you might be making things feel stale. Indoor climbing gyms should be unique. We hope that people will walk in that have been to other gyms and be able to say, “I have never seen anything like this before!”
Q: Would you engage Futurist Climbing Consultants for any future projects / Why?
A: Hell Yeah, I would use Futurist Climbing Consultants for future projects. They have been such a good company to work with on this project. Timy, Ernest, and Brandi are nice, easy people to deal with and I will be using them on our next project!
