ROCKING OUT
New business taps into growing enthusiasm in sport of climbing
John Tarkington, co-owner of Threshold Climbing + Fitness & Yoga, admits he is a bit of an adrenaline junkie.
Tarkington gets that rush by climbing, a passion he’s had for nearly a dozen years.
In 2017, he’s sharing his love for the sport by offering climbing enthusiasts in the Oklahoma City area a custom-made facility that offers various types of climbing challenges.
Threshold opened in April, about 15 months after construction began on what must be one of the tallest single-story buildings in town.
The 20,000-square-foot building at 6024 Westlake Memorial Parkway in Oklahoma City offers about 18,000 square feet of climbing area inside.
Threshold also includes a yoga studio, a small fitness center and a community room where certified instructors give lessons to first-time climbers.
The community room also is used for other types of events, including birthday parties and team-building exercises.
Tarkington, who co-owns Threshold with Bill Mathis,
said he’d dreamed of opening a first-class facility for years.
“I’ve been a climber for 11 years. From the first time I tried it, I just fell in love with the sport. I have been doing it ever since, five or six days a week,” he said.
Before starting this project, Tarkington said he spent a number of years working for Mathis Brothers and had traveled a lot as part of that job.
“I always took my (climbing) shoes with me, and I have climbed other places around the U.S. and around the world, and got to climb in some pretty amazing facilities that we just didn’t have back home,” he said.
“So, I got the opportunity to open a first-class facility here.”
Tarkington said Threshold’s climbing opportunities are about evenly divided between boulder and rope climbing.
The bouldering areas feature 16-foot-tall walls that have outcroppings climbers can scale without the need to use personal protective equipment, beyond wearing required climbing shoes. Thick padding protects a climber who loses his or her grip and falls.
On the 50-foot-tall rope walls, ropes, harnesses, carabiners, belay mechanisms and climbing partners are required.
“There’s an education level there that’s required when it comes to rope climbing,” Tarkington said, noting that climbers need to know how to tie basic knots, how to call out commands to their partners and need to be able to keep cool as they ascend the walls.
“You have to have your wits about you if you are 50 feet off the ground. It’s natural for a human to be scared of heights. If you aren’t, there’s probably something wrong with you,” he said, adding, “I’m scared of heights. You don’t get over it. You figure out how to deal with it.”
Rope climbers must
pass a proficiency test administered by one of the facility’s instructors before they are allowed to climb.
In all cases, they either work with partners that secure their ropes so that they don’t fall when they lose their grip, or, in some areas, attach their harnesses to auto belay systems that catch them, when needed.
Threshold also features a speed-climbing wall for more advanced climbers that’s also about 50 feet tall. Good climbers can scale it in less than six seconds, Tarkington said, adding that wall climbing will be an Olympic sport in 2020.
In all of the areas except for the speed-climbing walls, predetermined courses are available for climbers to follow using specifically colored climbing holds that designate difficulty degrees ranging from beginner to advanced levels.
As for climbing at Threshold, Tarkington said users can buy a day pass if they just want to try it out, and can rent the necessary gear needed to safely climb.
The company also sells monthly and annual memberships for individuals and families and provides discounts to military and people who provide public service, such as police, firefighters and teachers. Students also get a discount.
Tarkington said Threshold’s monthly family membership rates of $69 per adult and $20 per child are competitive with other climbing facilities in the area (rates for single adults are $10 more a month), noting enrollment so far has exceeded expectations.
He added his operation has an unusually large percentage of family memberships and attributed that to Threshold’s suburban location and its offerings.
“We are a ground-up facility in a very nice part of town; we were very lucky to be able to get well financed, to build exactly what we wanted and to dedicate it to climbing. A lot of gyms just aren’t that lucky,” he said.
Tarkington said his first climbing experience was at an indoor facility, but he said there also are ample opportunities to enjoy the sport in nature.
“There are not a lot of sports activities or workouts that make people better at climbing. To get good at it, you have to improve your strength, technique and flexibility,” he said. “It’s a great full-body workout. You don’t even realize you’re working out.”