GREAT BARRINGTON — Climbers of all ages and ability levels filled Berkshire Boulders on Friday, Nov. 6, as the new rock climbing gym celebrated its grand opening just north of downtown on Route 7.
As the crowd began to build at 4 p.m., founder Nick Friedman said it was gratifying to see the long-planned project finally open to the public.
“It’s a bit surreal but it feels good,” he said. “It’s this idea that’s been percolating in climbers’ minds for decades.”
The type of climbing on offer is bouldering — a short but often powerful and technical form of the sport, usually practiced on walls less than about 14 feet tall.
Mats cushion falls, and climbers use no harnesses or ropes. Beginners need only a pair of climbing shoes and some chalk, available to rent for $7, making bouldering a popular entry point to the sport.
In addition to climbing, the gym offers a fitness room with exercise equipment, a shower, and a back porch and picnic tables overlooking the Housatonic River valley. Registration for youth and adult programs is available on the Berkshire Boulders website, and Friedman said the gym may eventually offer a competitive team.
While the region has abundant outdoor climbing opportunities, access challenges have limited the sport’s visibility even as outdoor tourism has grown. Before the opening, climbing gyms — often a newcomer’s first exposure to the sport — were more than an hour’s drive away for many in northwest Connecticut and western Massachusetts.
Friedman hopes the new gym will become a community hub for experienced climbers and newcomers while building awareness of rock climbing in the region.
“I want people to come in and try the sport in a safe and controllable way, learn, and then meet others who are also interested in it,” he said. “Then together they can go outside.”
To help make that possible, Friedman said, the business is channeling its profits into efforts to open and preserve public outdoor climbing locations in the area and strengthen the community around them.
Accessibility also means ensuring the entire community has an opportunity to participate, he said. To help address the cost of the sport, the gym offers a financial hardship program that subsidizes membership fees for eligible applicants, covering as much as 100% of the cost.
“It should be an all-gender, all-age, all-socioeconomic sport,” he said. “That’s the goal: that people from any walk of life can fall in love with this.”
Friedman grew up in nearby Sheffield and said he wishes he had had a local gym while learning to climb on the region’s natural rock.
“Climbing is not a fringe sport anymore,” he said, “but if you don’t have a place to come give it a shot, you’re only going to hear about it and never get to actually experience it.”
Climbing can mean many things to people, Friedman said — exercise, community building or even just a way to clear a bad mood.
“There are so many things that I think it can do,” he said, “and I wouldn’t want that to be exclusionary.”
