The indoor climbing industry is booming, but the transition has changed the sport

The agreement required him to trust his friend’s expertise that everything was safe. But at the time, he didn’t know how much peace and restoration the activity would bring to him. He didn’t know how much it would “click” – being so high up off the ground.

Mahoney, who now climbs several days a week and is active in climber organizations, said he finds connection with a variety of people through the hobby – it’s become a wellness activity for the general public. But rock climbing didn’t always enjoy such a robust community.

It began as a primitive, outdoor sport in the 1800s, used mainly as a means of exploration. Only hemp ropes and wooden pegs insured daring alpinists, who often relied on their own physical strength for safety hundreds of feet above the ground.

And while the feats of early adventurers are still admired around the world, the sport has changed drastically from what it once was. Climbers learned to use anchors for increased safety. Daredevils began making world news with their bold accomplishments, turning rock climbing into a global activity.

In 1968, an early climbing wall opened at the University of Leeds in England as a means of controlled, indoor training. The first climbing walls were less of a spectacle than they are today. Rocks taken from the outdoors were drilled to a wooden board only a few meters above the ground.

From these beginnings, rock climbing - whether it’s indoor or outdoor - has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry. Today’s indoor climbing gyms are multifaceted organizations, often offering yoga classes, social and activity rooms, plastic rock walls and yes, actual gyms.

“It’s more mainstream now, I mean it used to be you were one of those out of the edge people, say like a rugby player,” Philip Morgan, who has been climbing indoors and outdoors in N.C. for 35 years, said.

According to the Climbing Business Journal, at the end of 2023, a total of 622 climbing gyms were open in the United States, compared to 353 gyms in 2014. That’s a 76% increase in less than a decade.

Joel Graybeal, a managing partner for the Triangle Rock Club, said the ratio of people in the United States who have an indoor climbing membership, relative to those who have a monthly membership to a health or fitness club, is about one to 100.

“So if we, as an industry, just convert one more out of every 100 people that are already used to paying a monthly membership fee, we double the size of our industry,” Graybeal said. “Man, it's a pretty staggering statistic.”

When it opened in 2007, the Triangle Rock Club, known in the Raleigh-Durham area simply as the TRC, was a dedicated climbing gym located in Morrisville. As indoor climbing grew, the organization’s business model adapted.

The original location has since expanded, garnishing its older version with a set of 55-foot climbing walls, a fitness space, a yoga studio, private conference rooms, cardio machines and a Wi-Fi-supplied lounge. Four more TRC sites with similar features have opened in North Carolina and Virginia since 2013.

The cost of an individual membership to the TRC is $95 per month, which includes access to all of the organization’s rock walls in North Carolina and Virginia.

The business now has thousands of members. But while commercialized climbing has provided a greater means of access to the sport, it has impacted its outdoor counterpart.

“As far as number of people, you get into issues, especially outdoors. Obviously indoors they want everybody to come – you’re paying for it,” Douglas Houghton, a North Carolina climber of 49 years, said. “Outdoors, you’re dealing with land managers and they’ll see the impact.”

And as the indoor climbing industry expands, a growing number of thrill seekers want to take on the walls outside, aggravating this effect.

For example, several rock faces, including some in western North Carolina, are closed yearly to protect peregrine falcons, previously endangered birds of prey that usually nest on tall, vertical surfaces. Outdoor climbers may disturb nesting pairs, who will abandon their site and not return until the following year.

“You know, instead of 20 climbers a week showing, there are hundreds of climbers per week, and each one of those climbers has an impact on the environment,” Houghton said. “That’s something we’re seeing more and more, is closures due to impact on the environment.”

Nature is also much less controlled, Mahoney, a northern Piedmont board representative for the Carolina Climbers Coalition, said. Rising numbers of indoor climbers transitioning to outdoor areas could increase the number of unsafe things that can occur at any accessible cliff.

Mahoney said many gyms only require climbers to know how to clip into their harnesses, as many safety practices are automated for liability purposes. Meanwhile, outdoor climbers are required to know how to build anchors, tie a variety of knots and look for falling rocks.

Outdoor rock climbing accounts for approximately 30 deaths per year. This past October, a student from the University of Georgia died after falling 90 feet while climbing outside in Alabama. Another college student fell to his death while climbing in Central Oregon in July 2023.

“There’s not the mentorship there used to be,” Houghton said. “When we started climbing, you climbed with somebody that knew what they were doing, and then nowadays people depend on the gyms more and I think a lot maybe aren't quite getting as much education about safety before they go outside.”

Despite the dangers, Mohooney said he believes there’s room for less experienced people who want to learn.

In partnership with the Carolina Climbing Coalition, The TRC is working on a pilot program to provide its members with necessary skills and mentorship for outdoor climbing. Graybeal noted that nothing learned while climbing indoors has to be unlearned while climbing outside.

“There are many organizations, like American Alpine Club, that host different skill clinics at gyms like this that somewhat bridge the gap and help create a school learning experience inside a closed environment,” Mahoney said.

Still, Graybeal estimates around 70% of TRC members have no desire to climb outdoors as they derive enough benefit from indoor climbing.

But the sport has always been rooted in connection with others. Rock climbing gyms have made a healthy activity accessible to a large chunk of the population, Mahoney said. And while there are purists who criticize sport’s transition into a full-scale industry, there are positive effects.

“It's one of those things that, if you're shocked at this growing and expanding the way it is, you seem that you weren't really paying attention,” Mahoney said.