From close@ix.netcom.com Tue Jul 25 16:05:34 EST 1995 Article: 5621 of rec.climbing Xref: news.nsw.CSIRO.AU rec.climbing:5621 Path: news.nsw.CSIRO.AU!metro!news.cs.su.oz.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!simtel!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!ixnews.netcom.com!netnews From: close@ix.netcom.com (Jeffrey Close ) Newsgroups: rec.climbing Subject: Opening of Stone Gardens climbing gym in Seattle Date: 5 Jul 1995 20:03:16 GMT Organization: Netcom Lines: 32 Distribution: world Message-ID: <3ter64$d3l@ixnews5.ix.netcom.com> References: <1995Jun27.125322@scivax> NNTP-Posting-Host: ix-sea4-04.ix.netcom.com [Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with this business other than now being a member of the club] I've just joined Stone Gardens, a new climbing gym in the Ballard area of Seattle (28th & Market NW, for anyone interested). It opened officially on July 1. It has two large bouldering areas: one is mostly 30-45 degree over-vertical, and roughly circular -- good for some intense training -- and the other is roughly cubical with lots of cutouts, cracks, and wall-sculpting. They are still putting up routes and holds, and are waiting on a shipment of 600 holds due to arrive this week. The large room has over 30ft ceilings, most of the ceiling is bolted, and has both top-roping and lead setup. Bouldering is allowed on the same wall up to 12 ft. There is an outside wall that will allow 40ft. toprope or lead when complete. One interesting note is that they are not using Gri-Gris, but instead climbers tie in and belayers use belaying devices (which is different from the Vertical Club here). Also of note is that there is a wide variety of holds -- they must be ordering them from 3 or 4 different companies -- so there are several types that I had not used before, which is great because every hold manufacturer has different shapes and materials in their holds. They have a small weight area and showers. I won't say anything else to plug the place except that I liked the vibes I got from both the management and the climbers there. FYI, jeffrey