Renovation Update #1 - Sunday Report

Yes - the gym is closed tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and even Friday. I know everyone out there is wondering what in the world we are doing in the week we are closed. Seems pretty extreme to close for a whole week right? Well, bottom line is that is the ONLY way we could get done what we've been wanting to do for months!

Today was the second day of renovation - the first being Saturday night when some of us stayed until 1:00 am tearing out the front office. But today (Sunday) was even more exciting as we got to see the first layer of our new rubberized flooring being installed!

I can't even express how excited I am about this and how much this is going to change the look, feel and SAFETY of the gym. This is a huge step, not to mention a huge investment and we could not do it without the generous help and support of so many people - our customers and loyal climbers included.

My hope is that when people enter the gym their jaws will drop in disbelief. In fact, that is the impact it had on me when I saw the first layer of material in place. It was so wonderful to see the potential of the gym being realized.

Tomorrow the top layer of material will be installed. I'm told this is a longer more involved process so I'll be surprised if they get it completely finished in a day. And if the top layer looks as good or better than the base layer then I will be very happy.

More Slab Pics

Construction in the new silos is moving quickly. The staff of Rocktown spent another Sunday painting, this time in the new set of silos. We are growing ever closer to having a new climbing area and a place for our Touchstone groups and a place to rent out for private parties.

We are down to the nitty-gritty of drilling hundreds of holds in the slab. Yes, the texture phase is done! Check out the most recent pics. It looks great. After the holes are drilled we get to (I say that in jest) screw in a few thousand screws to attach t-nuts to the back of the wall. This is how we attach the handholds to the wall. We should have the wall completely finished by the end of the week. Of course, it won't be open just yet as we still have to put the handholds on.

We are concurrently working on a number of other projects in preparation for our closed week (Sept 1 -5) when our new safety floor will be installed. High on the agenda is a complete tear-out and re-build of the front office. If always goes well, when we re-open on Sept 6 it should look like a new place.

Some of you are wondering when the routes are going to change. Well, once we get some of these big jobs out of the way we are going to be changing routes again.

Oklahoma Climbing Team - Try Outs Today

Thanks to all the parents and kids who showed up for try-outs for the first ever Oklahoma Climbing Team. We had a great group today and saw a ton of effort and some very motivated kids. It is amazing the potential we have in this state that has gone relatively untapped and unrecognized. We hope, through the development of this climbing team, to further the sport of climbing in Oklahoma, build confidence in the kids, and make these kids into great climbers. I know we can do it.

We will be announcing the team members of the 2008-2009 climbing team soon.

More changes, more colors, more progress

Last Sunday the staff of Rocktown spent the entire day improving the gym. What was the gray silo is now purple. Areas where we've done construction - such as when we recently raised the height of the interior doors (did anyone notice?) - were touched up. And the center benches in the main silos were painted black and silver.

Of course, were not done yet. We have a few more things to paint before we can call it good. All of this is in preparation for our huge week of renovation coming up the week of Sept 1 -5 - when we will be closed.

The rooms in the new set of silos are coming along. The first coat of texture is on the slab and tomorrow we will begin the finish coat. Then comes t-nuts and paint...then holds!

So please, if you like what you see - let us know.

Thanks for climbing with us.

New Construction - Update

The new slab wall is coming along nicely. I've posted some more pics of the progress on the photo page.

At this point the wall is fully framed, sheeted with plywood, and encased in wire lathe. The texturing will begin tomorrow. Our anticipated finish date for construction is Friday, Aug 22. Then will come the task of adding holds and setting routes.

We are also working in the front office - some of you may have noticed that it is a little more spacious with the brick pillar gone. We are in the process of renovating the front office with a new floor and new desk. We hope to have it done by the second week in Sept.

Speaking of which - just as a reminder - we will be CLOSED THE WEEK OF SPET 1 - 5 for construction.

Some of you may have noticed that it is a little bit cooler in the tops of the silos. This is because our exhaust fan unit is up and running and sucking the hot air out of the tops of the silos and pulling cool fresh air in! We hope you feel the difference in the air temperature and quality. Let us know if you do - makes us feel like we made the right decision that way.

We'll have more updates including pictures as the construction continues. Thanks again for climbing with us!