The local climbing gym has sold to a new group of owners and the plan is to keep the gym relatively the same.
Recently, gym ownership of Ground Up Climbing Centre was transferred to Alison Stewart-Patterson, Julia Pilliar and Dave Perozzo. Stewart-Patterson was already involved with the gym since about 2021 and held numerous positions before ownership.
It was previously owned by Adrian Blachut, Tyson Braun, Jeff Lightburn, Jess Rigg and Lauren Watson.
“The whole thing feels still pretty surreal,” said Stewart-Patterson. “This is not the dream anymore that we've been talking about for the past six months. It's actually reality now. So I'm just really excited to take on all these opportunities and make mistakes and build lots of connections.”
Pilliar and Perozzo have operated a climbing gym in Guelph and will continue to do so while also owning and operating the Squamish gym.
“This is a literal dream come true,” said Pilliar, who added that she is “so excited to be able to become more [a part of] the community and learn and grow within it.”
Both Stewart-Patterson and Pilliar explained that there would be very few, if any, changes to its operation at this time.
“The gym is running really well. And we love the community and we don't want to shock the community,” said Stewart-Patterson.
“It's still the amazing climbing centre that people have come to kind of know and love. We're really excited about the opportunity to continue all of the amazing things that are happening in the climbing community and the broader Squamish community,” added Pilliar.
As well, both commended the previous owners for establishing the foundation of the gym which made the transfer smooth.
One of the highlights during the whole process for Stewart-Patterson was hearing about the history of the gym, which opened in 2015, from different members throughout the community.
She heard that at the start, there was some skepticism about creating a climbing gym in a climbing mecca. But that dissipated with time.
“It's really cool to see how it's kind of become a bit of a hub for climbing in Squamish because it does rain. The weather isn't always great,” she said. “So being able to still foster the community in our space has still been great.
“And I'm really looking forward to continuing that.”
For more information about Ground Up Climbing Centre, please visit its website ClimbGroundUp.com.
