Funday Friday: The Origin Story.
Dean had always dreamed of opening a climbing gym. While working at Walltopia as the US sales rep gaining all the knowledge he could about indoor climbing gyms, he had access to a warehouse that was used to store equipment. In an effort to keep his routesetting skills sharp- he constructed a 45 degree wall out of leftover panels and old holds (some now found on the spray board!) with help from Walltopia project managers and a handful of high school buddies. He spent many hours training his climbing as well as routesetting on this board, until he got tired of just setting for himself.
He tried to introduce his (giant) friends to climbing on this wall, but they were not completely sold. (It’s a 45… not exactly the best beginners terrain!) But all it took was a little beer, snacks and music to help entice them to stay.
As the Funday Friday crew grew, so did the wall. In an effort to diversify the climbing terrain and host more people of different skill levels, Dean added a -2 degree slab and a 25 degree overhang to create a complete ~500sq foot wall. Eventually, we were even able to swap out the hodgepodge pad situation for a high quality custom floor.
So it began, that every Friday after work, we would put on a killer playlist, drink beer, eat left over pastries from Lily’s job at the coffee shop, pet dogs, and climb until we couldn’t climb anymore- dreaming of Iron City Boulders. This is why we do it- because friends and beer and music and food and pets are what started the Iron City Boulders community in the first place.