A gym of rock climbing in Modesto is excited to teach rock climbing to everyone who passes through their doors. Learning the ropes takes on an entirely new significance when you’re doing it while suspended 55 feet in the air and clipped into one. Despite this, the staff at Ripon’s new Alpine Climbing Adventure Fitness is friendly and professional to teach you rock climbing. It is not easy to miss the brand-new complex that was built from the ground up on Garrison Road as viewed from Highway 99.
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This week was the first time that the combination indoor rock climbing in Modesto was open to the general public. For the past few months, only members have had access to the facility. The significant undertaking has been in the planning stages for more than five years at this point.
It is now ready to be shown to both experienced rock climbers and people who have never done it before. “This was always going to be a part of the strategy from the very beginning onward.” “We wanted to make it possible for people from a wide variety of households to talk to one another in a setting that we designed,” “Come just as you are, and leave in a better place than you were when you came.”
Ropes, Bouldering, And Children’s Climbing Walls Are Available In The Gym
The climbing gym, which has three unique areas, stands enormous and colorfully in the background as you enter the center. With its belay and rope barriers, the biggest and highest portion is also the most difficult. This area also includes the center’s Olympic-sized speed wall, complete with racing lanes.
Ropes, bouldering, and children’s climbing walls are available in the gym. The bouldering area in the gym’s middle features a large structure for free climbing. The Adventure Center, with its starting walls and play structures, is also kid-friendly. Colorful (and ever-changing) grips are used throughout the sections to create a rainbow of color over the gym.
This is the area’s second indoor climbing facility, but it is by far the largest. Climbers often drive to Sacramento or the Bay Area to locate a facility of the same size and scope. However, given the center’s closeness to Yosemite National Park, an internationally known rock climbing destination, and the sport’s debut in the Tokyo Olympics this summer, the Central Valley’s rising interest in rock climbing as a family leisure activity is unclear.
The facility caters to all skill levels, with instruction and equipment rentals available for beginners and those wishing to develop. However, climbing is not the only activity available at Alpine. On a mezzanine above the climbing walls, the gym also features a comprehensive health center with weights and cardio machines.
There’s also a yoga studio with around 20 courses each week, all of which are complimentary with membership. However, if you go to a climbing club, you should probably attempt climbing. I’m not very athletic or coordinated, and I have a strong fear of heights, so the idea of climbing a wall for fun was terrifying to me. But I was convinced that I, too, could climb the wall. To get started, all you need are some comfy clothing and close-toed shoes.
So I put on some climbing harnesses and gave it a shot. While 10-year-olds ping-ponged off surrounding structures, I used the Adventure Center’s easier and shorter (albeit still 25-foot) walls. It was time to climb after a quick lesson on how to use the auto-belay (a safety device attached to a waist belt that catches you in the event of a fall and then lowers you back down).
And guess what? I made it to the top. Twice. Even though it was hard, especially when I was halfway up and got scared of heights, I was able to do it, even though I’m about as fit as a sentient sack of potatoes who can write.
All Ages And Skill Levels Are Welcome To The Indoor Climbing Center, Modesto
After reaching the peak, it’s easy to see how the concrete achievement of reaching the pinnacle with only your hands and feet might become addictive. All ages and skill levels are welcome to the indoor climbing center. Alpine has been available to members since April, and now that the state’s COVID-19 limitations have been relaxed, it is also open to day pass holders who wish to give it a try.
People have been flocking to the facilities from all around the valley and the Bay Area. People as young as four years old and as old as 70 have come to climb. Memberships cost $89 per month or $979 per year, with discounts available for students, teachers, the elderly, first responders, current or retired military, and medical personnel.
Day admissions for people aged 13 and up cost $25 per person. Day admissions to the Adventure Center cost $21 for all ages. For ages 13 and older, a day of admission + top-rope lesson costs $45 (which includes gear rental and a one-week membership). The facility began with a staff of over 20, including climbers from as far afield as Florida and Colorado.
The Ripon Center’s second phase will increase its size on the more than 2-acre property, as well as include outdoor amenities and buildings. There are also plans to open two more Alpine sites in the region in the future. Both initiatives are expected to be unveiled by the end of the year.
Climbing at Alpine is a family affair for a Manteca homeowner who works as a Ceres fireman. His wife and three children, ages nine, eleven, and thirteen, are all members who attend five or six times a week. “I enjoy the family feel,” he explained. We get to climb together, which helps us get in shape, and we tackle challenges together as well. We came back not once but twice on the same day. “
Alpine Climbing Adventure Fitness is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday at 1450 Garrison Way in Ripon. Call 209-509-4077 or visit climbatalpine.com for additional information.
