Send it at Summit Climbing Gym in Everett
Climbing in the PNW isn’t without, well... its damp challenges. Perhaps you know of the ideal bouldering spot or climbing wall (we have plenty of these in our neck of the woods, BTW) but you get rained out. There’s no sense in slipping around or down wet rocks. I mean, that's really unsafe and a bad idea.
Enter the Summit Climbing Gym in Everett. During the rainy season – which, realistically, can be most of the year – you can hone your upper body strength, hand grips and belay skills in a controlled indoor environment in the heart of Urban Basecamp.
Full disclosure: at the time of writing this article, I’ve been going to Summit pretty regularly for about a year. They were great. Their instructors walked me through the basics of rope work and harnesses. I passed my test and got a pass to climb.
The gym has auto belay courses so that I didn’t necessarily need a partner to send it. I just needed to hook my harness to the retractable rope and go for it. I was able to build my climbing chops slowly, at my own pace, which gave me quite a bit of confidence.
Each time I showed up to boulder or climb I had more arm and pectoral muscle, a better idea of route-finding on problems, and even more endurance in my finger joints. My climbing imposter syndrome was gone within a half dozen visits, and I felt confident posting a few photos of myself climbing on social media.
One thing that I appreciated also was that the staff changes climbing routes weekly to keep the climbing fresh and interesting. New problems pushed my mind/body symbiosis into new challenges. I wasn’t cared of bouldering anymore. I came to appreciate the dry, chalky feeling on my hands after an intense climbing sesh and I sported my scraped-up knee (banged on a climbing wall) like a badge of courage.
The community here is real, too. Summit originally opened as Cascade Crags in the ‘90s. Three decades of dedication to climbing are evident in the gym culture –- there are many seasoned veterans here to pass the torch to the large groups of children, teens, adolescents who also come to Summit to climb. All skill levels are valued and appreciated here, which makes me at least feel better about my novice attempts at sending.
I’ve also come to really enjoy the small amenities of the gym – the bike rack, the shower, the large windows and skylights that let in natural light. The place is a unexpected world within downtown Everett.
Whether you’re a complete noob like me, a more seasoned rockhound, or you fall anywhere between these two poles on the climbing skills spectrum -- you’ll be sure to find a nice, friendly indoor climbing environment at Summit Climbing Gym in Everett.
