Rock On

People are living on the edge at Volcanic Rock Gym, Oahu’s only indoor rock climbing facility

Sarah Pacheco
Wednesday - June 23, 2010
By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
E-mail this story | Print this page | Archive | RSS

Chris Browning tackles the bouldering wall

sure. But it’s like coping. Once I take one good fall, I’m good, then I don’t care. But up until that point, I’m terrified the whole time.”

“I like the fear of it,”

Potter adds. “You get up there and it’s dangerous - that’s what attracted me to the sport to begin with. You’re putting your own life in your own hands, and I think a lot of people like the feel of that sensation.”

Sure enough, on my following attempts up both the boulder and 26 foot-tall top-rope wall, the high of knowing what I had just accomplished carries me safely back to the ground.


“Alot of people, once they start, they can’t stop. It becomes an addiction,” Langford confesses. “You don’t really pay attention to what you’re doing except for climbing. It’s fantastic exercise, and it’s fun.”

Adding to the fit factor is a cross-training circuit being built adjacent to the gym’s parking lot. The grueling exercise regime is a wakeup call, utilizing functional movements that get the entire body in shape as one unit.

“We have a small space, but we like to give our members the most that we can,” says trainer Chris Browning.

“The community has been wanting a climbing gym in Hawaii for a while,” he adds. “It’s good that we can provide something like that, have a bunch of fit climbers running around.”

And Ridgely promises a second Volcanic Rock Gym in downtown Honolulu to come.

“This is that little footstep, that stepping stone to something larger,” says the father of 10-month-old son (and climber-in-training) Ronin. “We’re here building the climbing community, getting more people psyched, giving them that safe environment to step into it.

“You just come in here, train, get strong, get motivated and hang out with people, be more social.”


So drop in and climb on. Hours of operation are 2-9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon-9:30 p.m. Friday, and 10 a.m-9:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. It’ll cost you $12, with monthly, yearly and family memberships available.

For more information, call 397-0095, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or visit www.volcanicrockgym.com.

Page 2 of 2 pages for this story  <  1 2

E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS


Most Recent Comment(s):

Posting a comment on MidWeek.com requires a free registration.

Username

Password

Auto Login

Forgot Password

Sign Up for MidWeek newsletter Times Supermarket
Foodland

 

 



Hawaii Luxury
Magazine


Tiare Asia and Alex Bing
were spotted at the Sugar Ray's Bar Lounge