New I-40 – Directions to Rocktown Have Changed

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I-40 westbound lanes opened on Sunday 2/19 and the old I-40 is officially closed! That means that Rocktown is now on the NORTH side of the highway rather than the south side of the highway. Not only that we are even more visible to passing traffic – which we are pretty excited about as well.

We’ve created some new directions for getting to Rocktown which should be helpful for those of you that are first-time visitors to the gym.

Those directions can be found on our directions page and a Google map has been created http://g.co/maps/whtez.

 

More chalkbags and new shirts

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We just received a new run of custom Rocktown chalkbags produced by Organic Climbing. Each bag features a unique color scheme and our Rocktown patch.

These are available in-house or from our online store.

Also we are expecting a run of t-shirts with our latest and greatest design:

Rocktown t-shirt image - fire design

 

More Climbing

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It’s 2012 and we are headed full speed ahead into the new year. We hope your resolutions include some climbing goals – maybe there’s a certain level of ability you would like to achieve, maybe it’s to to climb more often to stay in shape, or maybe you’ve never tried climbing before and you’d like to do something different or get over your fear of heights. Rocktown is the place.

Our list of things to do and improvements remains lengthy. To that end, we stay busy always adding new elements to our climbing environment. Some of you may have noticed the project just past the belay training room. This is a new bouldering cave room. We’re not sure what to officially call it yet – the chute, the shaft, the the cave? Right now it looks more like a fun-house than anything. The climbing wall is 24 feet long and overhangs about 50 degrees off vertical. The floor is about the same angle and parallels the wall. The plan is to “sculpt” and pad the floor to create a cush landing surface. We’re also working on building-out a staging area just outside the room. (The chamber?) This will allow people to hang out and wait their turn outside of the room when someone else is climbing. The project is about 60% done. We still have the floor, the the remainder of the staging area, lighting, painting, and routesetting. I know people are anxious to get in there but these things take time. Patience folks.

With the new semester back in session so are the after-school Touchstone groups. Each day we have a different group of kids at the gym along with a number of volunteer mentors. This has been a part of the culture at Rocktown since the beginning. If you would like to know more about Touchstone and what the program does you can check out their website.

The Oklahoma Climbing Team is in the midst of the invitational round of the USA Climbing American Bouldering Series (ABS) with Divisionals on January 14-15. We have 6 team members competing at the competition in Atlanta, GA in hopes of qualifying for Nationals. Nationals will be held in Colorado Springs in March. The rest of the team is already gearing up for Sport Climbing Season which also begins in March.

Speaking of the Sport Climbing Series, Rocktown will host the first competition of the season on March 31st! So mark your calendars. More to come about the competition at a later date.

Some of you may have noticed the change in directions for the gym. The new I-40 eastbound lanes have opened so that changes the way you get to Rocktown if you are coming from that direction. Now you must take the Shields Blvd exit. Currently only the eastbound lanes are open, the westbound traffic continues to use the old I-40 crosstown. Once the new I-40 is fully open all traffic will exit on Shields to access the gym. It should also be easier to get on I-40 when leaving the gym as well.

Finally, being the winter season, we have been receiving a lot of questions about when we are going to do the ice climb. The answer is that it depends. The weather has not been nearly cold enough to form ice. And the forecast thus far does not give us any indication that we are going to have a weather event that will allow us to create an ice climb. In order to farm ice we need at least 3-4 days of below freezing temps, we’re talking about days in the teens. So far we haven’t seen that. For those of you that are ice climbers, this is a real bummer – for those of you that are rock climbers – this January has been AWESOME!

Truthfully, if this winter stays warm, we’re okay with that. From a staff standpoint, it’s a lot easier for us to work in the gym when it’s 50 degrees than when it’s 20 degrees inside.

That being the case, we welcome those of you that want to practice dry-tooling on the routes inside and outside. Some of the natural feature routes we have are awesome for dry-tooling. And the dry-tool route we create outside is also a lot of fun.

Whatever style of climbing you want to try, just keep climbing. We are looking forward to what 2012 holds.

 

Happy Holidays from Rocktown

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gift card

rocktown gift card

Rocktown wishes you and yours a happy holiday season. Don’t forget that even though the weather is changing the climbing gym is still open year-round and is a perfect way to stay in great climbing shape. We have gone to great lengths to climate control the gym more this season – currently we have FOUR infrared heaters and soon we will have heaters in ALL the main silos! This is an investment to YOU, our climbers, to make it more comfortable through the Oklahoma winter season.

Also, a lot of you have been asking about ice climbing, “When are you going to do the ice climb?” Unfortunately, that’s not really something we can control. The best we can do is watch the weather and plan according to the forecast and approaching cold front systems. In order for us to farm ice it takes at least 3-4 full days of extremely cold (sub-zero) temperatures. In the past couple of seasons the coldest stretches have come in the January-February time-frame. We’ll keep an eye on the weather and if the opportunity presents itself we’ll turn the water on and hope for some ice to form. Along with the ice climb we will offer ice climbing classes as well. Just as with rock climbing at the gym, ice climbing requires special training so keep that in mind.

Finally, if you are looking for gift ideas this year consider getting a Rocktown gift card. Gift cards are good for anything at Rocktown including passes, climbing gear, rental equipment, classes, memberships, etc. The cards can be purchased through our online store or at the gym.

Rocktown Birthday Event – Saturday, 10/29

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Come celebrate with us!

This Saturday, all day, Rocktown will be celebrating our 4th birthday. It was four years ago today that we became Rocktown and started extensive renovations and expansion of the gym. It’s been a whirlwind of activity and yet still we feel we are merely at the beginning! There is still SO much we have in store for the gym – but for now, we want to celebrate our four-year milestone. That’s quite an accomplishment for us. And we want to thank you, our wonderful climbers, customers, and members for your support over these past years. So many of you were climbers in the OKC Rocks days (current owners included) and we appreciate your continued enthusiasm for climbing at the gym.

On Saturday we will have a kid’s bouncy house, half-price day passes and half price 10-pass punchcards (limit of 4). We’ll also have raffle prizes and pizza! This is just our way of saying thanks.

Rocktown featured on OETA’s Stateline

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Check out OETA tonight at 7:00 pm for the show “Stateline” and an episode titled “Saving Yesterday.” The program features buildings around the state which have been or are in the process of being renovated or re-purposed. Rocktown Climbing Gym is featured! Check it out. The program will tonight at 7:00 and on the 30th at 11:00 am.

It’s official: Summer is here.

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Welcome back Summertime. We missed you.

Thinking back to those coldest of winter days when ice was frozen on the front of the silos and inside felt even colder. But now, climbing inside, it’s hard to imagine it was ever that cold. The thing about climbing outside is that it’s always either too hot or too cold. Here at Rocktown we have a difficult time catering to “fair-weather” climbers. So the best advice is – dress for the warm weather, dress for the cold weather, dress for whatever the conditions require and CLIMB ON. In life, it’s dangerous to get too comfortable – and that goes for spending too much time in a 73 degree indoor environment. In other words, what were trying to say is, don’t let a little thing like temperature deter you from getting out. If you haven’t experienced climbing, come check us out. And if you have been to the gym but it’s been a while, come back…we miss you too. And if you are already a member – thank you, and we’ll see you again soon!

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Summer Camp is in full swing at Rocktown, and while a couple of camps are filled, we still have space available for most weeks – it’s not too late to enroll!

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We are working on several new projects at the gym. The Oklahoma Climbing Team Training Room will be open to all very soon. The padded flooring has arrived, the campus board is up, the tiered-hangboard system is in the works, and a few other goodies are going in. This room is a great addition for those intermediate and advanced climbers looking to advance their climbing strength specific skills.

Also, very soon – as in, next week – we are going to be giving the bouldering room a much-needed face-lift. The walls will be stripped, some maintenance done to repair t-nuts and reinforce a couple of places, the walls will be painted, and the holds re-set. In order to do this work we will be closing the bouldering room for about 3 days. Estimated time will be Monday 6/27 – Wednesday 6/29.

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There’s a lot more to talk about but we’ll end this post for now. To be continued…

 

 

Facebook Photo Contest / New Store / News

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Lots going on this Spring as we approach Summer. At the gym we are working on a new training room which contains a campus/training board, multiple hangboards, and a “Roman Throne” chair-on-the-wall (for leg-ups). The room will be open soon.

We are hosting a Facebook photo competition. Submit your best photo featuring Rocktown. Deadline is midnight May 31st and the winner will be announced June 1. We’ve already received several great photos.

Also, there have been several changes to the Rocktown website – one of which is this new news page. We’ve also completely revamped our online store and will begin to feature additional items.

Finally, Summer Camps are filling up and summertime is just around the corner! If you haven’t done so, get your kids signed up today.

New Projects and Summer Stuff

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We’ve got a lot of stuff on our list to work on this Summer. In progress right now is a new “training room.” This room will include a training/campus board, multiple hangboards, and some workout equipment. The room has been funded through support generated for the Oklahoma Climbing Team; namely, all those recycled-rope bracelets we sell.

Following the training room we are going to be renovating the bouldering room to give it a fresh new look. We’ll keep you posted on that project as it develops.

We unveiled a new route with multiple “features” in the pink room. The route is called, “The Feature Presentation,” is about 80 feet tall and checks-in at about 5.11. It’s received overwhelmingly positive feedback for it’s challenging nature and uniquely designed features.

Summer time is getting ever closer and that means…summer camp time! It is not too early to sign up for Rocktown’s Climbing Summer Camp. Give the gym a call today and reserve your space.