Walson Tai
The Man Behind the Walls
Twenty years ago, Calgar y’s already strong climbing frater nit y grew stronger with a new member. While few in Calgar y realized it at the time, the new ar r ival from Easter n Canada would change climbing in Calgar y by producing industr y, generating a training hotbed and eventual ly become an integral part of many lives.
Walson Tai and his wife Rhonda are, among many things, parents of t wo wonderful daughters, fr iends to people across Canada and avid climbers. They own and operate two climbing g yms in Calgar y and a separate business known to many climbers as Flashed Climbing.
I met Walson for the f irst time over a beer in 1994 as Dave Dornian was chairing the National Sport Climbing Committee. Upon meeting Walson, the f irst thing I noticed was his smile. I don’t know another man who smiles as much or as often as Walson. The next thing I noticed was the size of his forear ms.
First and foremost, Walson is a climber. For the past 25 years, his passion for the spor t dr ives ever ything he has accomplished. He discovered climbing in the early ’ 90s, under the tutelage of another Canadian stalwart, Sasha Akalski. While the initial attraction was there, climbing didn’t ful ly sink its teeth into Walson’s hear t until a 1992 roadtr ip to the Gunks. Walson began competing in the Canadian national championships and the pca competitions in the U.S.
Ever since his f irst competition, Walson has focused on competition climbing. He has hosted more competitions at his g yms than many other g yms combined, including the 2007 national championships in Calgar y.
Driven by the same passion that feeds his climbing, Walson “the climber” is only eclipsed by Walson “the entrepreneur.” He left no stones unturned in creating his business empire. To get him going, simply ask him about his latest business idea and then sit back and listen.
His passion for climbing led him to create a business to ser vice a population of climbers. Creating a business is diff icult when it is based on people who might tr y to mooch free chalk, a free day pass ( “we’re friends, right? ”) or a free new pad for their road trip. Yet somehow, despite the basic penniless nature of climbers, Walson has managed to create a thriving, multilayered climbing business.
Starting by leveraging ever ything he had and borrowing from people who felt the stock market was for wimps, Walson opened the Calgar y Climbing Centre ( ccc) in 1995. Business was good and Walson found himself with free time on his hands.
Restlessness took its toll and in 1999 he again decided to leverage everything and borrow from people to start a second business: Flashed Climbing. Showing Walson’s creativity, Flashed has been a clothing line, manufactured holds, bags of chalk, brushes, backpacks, bouldering pads, volumes and wall systems. Flashed has also sponsored events and climbers like Dai Koyomada. Flashed is now providing safe, sturdy, padded f loors to climbing gyms. At last count, Flashed has installed the safety f loors in 61 facilities across the U.S. and Canada.
Flashed is leading a push on empirical testing of pads, which led to the development of the tr i-a xle accelerometer and the Multiple Overhead Fal l Operator (the mofo) which can measure and simulate the kinetic energ y of a fal ling climber. Used to test the absor ption and durabilit y of var ious mat designs, these devices are changing how f loor ing systems are developed.
In 2007, Walson bought a second g ym in Calgar y, the Stronghold, and is building a third. Coupled with his Flashed business, Walson is becoming a like f ig ure in Canadian climbing.
Peter Woods, who is one of the many climbers Walson has supported, says that Walson is “always the innovator, always looking for something new and improved not for himself per say, but for the community at large.”
The less obvious of Walson’s gifts to climbing, but arguably his most important, is his sense of community. Calgar y has had a continuous youth competitive team program since 1995. Walson created the f irst sponsored adult competitive team in Canada, which sent over a dozen athletes to as many Tour de Blocs as the budget would allow. Most of all, Walson’s deep desire for a vibrant and strong community was represented by, and culminated in, the Galas.
In 2005, at the 10 - year anniversar y of the ccc, Walson and Ronda hosted a formal dinner and gala to thank the climbing community for supporting the ccc. Hundreds of climbers gathered, wearing tuxedos and gowns, three-piece suits and cocktail dresses. Some rented outf its, others borrowed them. Parents and kids, oil patch executives and penniless vagabonds, youth team and retired competitors, ever yone came. Even though many were unrecognizable from the usual state of being covered with sweat, dirt and chalk, ever yone was united by Walson.
Subsequently, several more galas have been held over the years. Each time a gala is hosted, Walson’s impact on the community is clear by how many climbers gather in their f inest (and borrowed) pageantr y and plumage.
That Walson held these galas as a way to say “thank you” speaks volumes. That so many people attended with such joy speaks even louder to the inf luence Walson holds.
Woods said it best, “I have come to learn that to be a part of the climbing community in Calgar y means that you are a part of Walson’s community: his inf luence is woven into the fabr ic, his legacy is ever y where. Grassroots is the expression and in Walson’s case, his roots are wrapped around stone.”