Co-founders have secured a building; construction underway
Moab is known as a rock climbing destination: With unique sandstone towers and long, parallel “splitter” cracks at nearby Indian Creek, Moab attracts climbers from around the world. Soon, Moab climbers will have a place to train when the sun is down or the weather is bad—two Moab residents, along with a partner based in Las Vegas, are launching the Climb Moab Gym, an indoor space with bouldering and top rope walls. Locals Britt Zale and Kaya Lindsay and their partner Justin Beitler hope to open this winter, offering a space for climbers to not just train, but meet new friends and foster community.
From idea to reality
Zale and Lindsay both moved to Moab in 2017. Zale learned a lot of her outdoor climbing skills while living in Moab; within a few years, decided she wanted to make it her permanent home. One thing the town was missing, though, was a climbing gym. She decided to make one.
“I like to solve problems,” Zale said. She has experience in small business management, and has worked as an academic fellow teaching a seminar on leadership in Bangladesh—that background gave her confidence that she could undertake the project.
Zale researched how to start a climbing gym, asked business-savvy friends to review her ideas, and got help from a CPA in drafting a business plan, which was complete by 2021—but construction costs were prohibitively high at the time. Zale was also helping her boyfriend build a sweat-equity home, so the climbing gym took a back seat. In 2022, though, a surprising chain of events brought Beitler into the project.
Beitler and some friends were on a BASE jumping trip in Moab when a friend of Beitler’s had a jump go wrong and ended up hanging from a cliff face in the Kane Creek area. Beitler rushed to ask nearby people for climbing gear, planning to climb up a crack leading to where his friend was suspended. River Barry, an experienced climber who happened to be on the scene, offered to use her gear to lead her way up to the stranded jumper.
The rescue was successful and Barry and Beitler became friends. He later encouraged her to try BASE jumping, so she signed up to go with a local instructor—coincidentally, that instructor was Zale’s boyfriend. Soon Beitler, Barry, and Zale all met, and Beitler learned of Zale’s climbing gym dreams. Beitler loves adventure sports—in addition to rock climbing and BASE jumping, he’s also a pilot—and he has entrepreneurship experience, having founded an aircraft brokerage business. Beitler offered to invest in Climb Moab.
“He literally fell out of the sky,” Lindsay summed up.
“If that accident hadn’t happened, we might still be looking for an investor,” Zale said.
Lindsay joined the team in 2023. She had heard about the plans for the gym and emailed Zale, interested in taking part; Zale welcomed Lindsay’s experience in community management, event coordination and marketing. Lindsay thought it would be a long process to get the gym off the ground, but by early 2023, the team was already looking at a space. They closed on a building in the Moab business park on south Highway 191 in February and started lining up contractors. They have been relying a lot on the community, they said—they have a five-member advisory board, most of whom are local, and they’ve hired many local contractors to build and design elements of the gym.
“We’ve been trying to get as many locals and people interested in climbing involved as we can,” Zale said.
Climb Moab gym
As of late September, the interior is mostly a blank canvas: the walls are primed, a ground-story bathroom is framed, and areas are blocked out with furniture to help with visualizing the future space. Renderings taped to the walls illustrate what the climbing walls will look like: blocky, dimensional volumes will allow for problems and routes with interesting movement.
Some details remain to be decided—for example, the cost of a gym membership or day pass is still undetermined. Zale and Lindsay say they plan to make the price commensurate with other gyms in the area—they want it to be a cost that local climbers can, and will want to, afford.
The pair have committed to many defining elements of the gym: There will be a bouldering area, with problems up to around 14 feet high, and a top rope area with routes up to about 23 feet high. A loft will house a workout area with traditional fitness equipment such as free weights. At the front of the gym there will be a lounge/work area, with tables, wifi, and snacks and beverages for sale. There will also be a small retail space selling locally made items such as chalk bags and packs.
The building doesn’t have the height that would be necessary for safe lead routes, but the team plans to have a “mock-lead” area where people can learn and practice lead climbing skills.
“We want to be able to offer education,” Lindsay said. Along with lead-climbing skills, they’d like to offer other technique classes, and they plan to host a BEACON Afterschool Club for kids. If there’s interest, they may establish a competitive youth team.
“We’re looking to see what we can grow into,” Lindsay said.
Zale and Lindsay plan to partner with local yoga studio Desert Power Yoga, offering some form of joint membership or punch pass that will allow holders to use both the climbing gym and the yoga studio on the north end of town—the exact parameters of the arrangement aren’t yet determined, but according to a survey they conducted early this year, yoga is a popular amenity among prospective gym members.
Building community
Zale and Lindsay say they hope the gym will be a good place to build community and relationships, as well as a place to train physically. They plan to host events like movie nights and guest speakers.
“We want to create a container for the climbing community to flourish,” Lindsay said.
A gym is a friendly place for new climbers to dip their toes into the sport and learn safety and etiquette in a controlled environment. Routes will be set with a broad range of difficulties.
“We want to try to prioritize having climbs everyone can do,” Lindsay said.
Even experienced climbers may appreciate a rotating selection of moderate climbs:
“I’m excited to have a place we can climb 5.10 year-round, with new routes every month,” Zale said.
Many climbers develop their skills with the help of friends and mentors, and Zale and Lindsay hope that the gym may help facilitate those relationships. Both Zale and Lindsay remember meeting climbing mentors while camping at Indian Creek—but they don’t think someone should have to commit to living in a van in the desert and devoting all their time to rock climbing in order to join a community who can introduce them to the sport, help them gain skills and confidence, and conduct themselves safely and with good etiquette.
Climb Moab Gym is set to open sometime this winter; in the spring, the gym will host a grand opening party. To keep up with what’s happening at the gym, visit https://www.climbmoabgym.com/.
Photo caption: Moab locals Britt Zale (left) and Kaya Lindsay, along with partner Justin Beitler (not pictured), are launching an indoor climbing gym in Moab. [Rachel Fixsen/Moab Sun News]
