On-going Development at Rocktown - Updates

I've been getting a lot of faces peaking in the new rooms lately wondering what's going on. So in an effort to circumvent the possibility of a piece of angle iron crashing down on your head while you're trying to sneak a peak, I'll give you an update.

The new rooms, 3 total in this first phase, have ceilings in them and there is a new walkway connecting the current gym to the new side. We are in the process of building a slab wall in the room with a 35 ft ceiling. This wall will go from 75 degrees to vertical (90) then back to 75 for the top section. The wall is wider at the base and takes the curvature of the silo as it goes up to it's height of 30 feet. We hope to get about 4 ropes on this wall. We are in the welding phase right now and hope to have it done the end of this week or possibly early next week - it's going really well. Next phase will be affixing the plywood then texturing.

Once the slab is done we have some other features to add to the opposite wall and lots of holes to drill for more routes. When the dust settles we'll be doing finishing work like painting and getting the furniture in. Our target for having the new side open is early September, right after the flooring is installed (more on that in a moment).

In the current silos we are installing ventilation. About time, right? The fan and duct-work are in place and we hope to have it powered (pending a visit by OG&E) the end of this week. This won't necessarily cool the silos - it's not air conditioning - but it should pull the hot air up and out and bring fresh air in. We are expecting to get about 6 air changes in each tube per hour with this system. But we won't really know until we turn it on!

Though it hasn't been announced publicly yet, we will be closed for renovation the week of Sept. 1 (Mon) - 5 (Fri). The reason for this is that we are installing a rubberized pour-in-place solid surfacing throughout the gym. You may have seen something similar at playgrounds. This is not chipped rubber (like was in the old bouldering room), this flooring is very cool. It has been rated for up to an 8 foot fall so it should provide some added protection for those rope-stretching falls that occur occasionally and a better landing surface for boulder problem starts. Also, the gym will have a totally NEW look and feel. I think everyone will be really impressed when they see it. I can't wait.

The issue is that the pour-in-place flooring requires about a 3 day cure time. At that time no one can walk on it. That's why we need to close.

In addition, we are going to be renovating the front office during the closure. Again - changes that need to happen as we continue to grow and should give the place a very new look and feel.

When we reopen on Saturday, Sept 6, it will be a new chapter in Rocktown history. Thanks for climbing with us.

Rocktown on News 9

Rocktown was recently featured on News 9's Summer in the City things to do.

The complete story and videos are all here.

And here's the link to the videos:

Full Story

Inside Rocktown

Climbing Gear

Rocktown Article in The Oklahoman

More press for the gym!! The Oklahoman recently did a story on Rocktown and Lisa Gibson was interviewed about the gym.

To read the complete story go here.