Dreaming away these last few wet days, when I had dreaming time that is, I stumbled upon an inspiring story which had direct parallels with our own small town and its struggle with long-term community survival.
Fort William is a small town located in the Scottish Highlands; it acts as an epicentre to the U.K. outdoor community with their own wild, rugged mountain playground spilling out around them, Ben Nevis at their tool tips. Some of the best rock and winter climbing in the U.K. happens here, but with weather that makes Squamish feel decidedly tropical.
Some inspired young climbers have embarked on the financial expedition of building a climbing centre in Fort William, providing a centre for the community to get out of the rain, meet likeminded folk, train and raise general motivation together. They鈥檝e chosen an aging derelict stone church in the centre of town and are crowdsourcing over the Internet to raise the final 40,000 pounds needed to complete phase 1.
This, I find inspiring. If I had the money I would, without a doubt, donate to such a project. I might actually donate a small sum anyways. Why? They鈥檝e decided to hire as much as possible from the local labour pool, hire local trades and specialists, reinvest in an old local building, pay a living wage to all working on the project and invest in renewables whenever possible. All this into the building of a gym which will include a massage clinic, bouldering, a training room, roped climbing and a caf茅. This gym has everything to do with creating and growing a community.
Similarly, we are slowly but surely acquiring our own gym. I may not know much, but I recognize a parallel goal and a shared intention. The organizers want to create a gym which pairs with the strong community growing around climbing in Squamish and help it move forward. They are doing this is because they love climbing and what it can do for people.
However, what happens on the other side of the climbing gym looking glass? Gyms can also be operated singularly as businesses, solely for the intention of making a profit, with no thought going into the community of people coming together under their roof. It鈥檚 a subtle difference, veering more towards business plans, market analysis and economic outlooks. They can be cookie-cutter franchises which run more akin to a fitness centre, over-inundated with prescriptive rules, inexperienced and underpaid staff and set up to pack in people. These places kill off that partnership and sense of community that help us dream big futures and are so important to breathing life into the simple action of climbing off the ground on coloured plastic holds.
The words above may sound harsh, but a quality facility鈥檚 abilities to sway the balance of climbing鈥檚 popularity in a town or city shouldn鈥檛 be underestimated. 小蓝视频ions with local school programs and youth, recreation and physical activity alternatives, coaching and the guiding and instructional stream, meeting places for competitions, local festivals and land access events are a few examples of how a climbing centre would act as a real adventure center.
Add to this all the connections between other user groups such as trail runners, hikers, mountaineers, backcountry skiers and bikers, and you have a powerful community hub that propels activity and a deep connection to the land to the heart of a town or city.
Whether you agree or disagree, Squamish is being given a chance with the Ground Up Climbing Centre. If you have a philanthropic side and some cash lying around, and especially if you have some Scottish blood, consider supporting these guys or sharing their plight across the social media fishing net.
As an alternative, we could turn the Squamish Adventure Centre into a round, wood and glass, highway-side bouldering gym where, instead of brochures and silent office space, we could have people climbing and interacting. However, let鈥檚 agree to keep the caf茅.
