Starting a business is a hard mountain to climb, but Cole Johnson is a subject matter expert on his new endeavour.
Pursuit Climbing, located at 615 Erie St., is Stratford’s first indoor rock climbing facility. Johnson started the company to fill that gap in the region. Climbing is a community, he told StratfordToday, and climbers in this area would often travel for hours to bigger cities to climb.
Johnson caught the ‘climbing bug’ when he was 13, after visiting a facility in Kitchener with some friends. After a lifetime of climbing, he decided to start Pursuit a few years ago, when he decided to pursue his passion – hence the name.
Johnson had been working in various fields that he didn’t feel particularly passionate about. After having his first son, he wanted to instill in him the ability to pursue his dreams no matter what.
“How am I going to get my son to want to follow his dreams if he doesn’t see his dad or his mom or the people around him following their own?”
Following a dream is not always easy, as Johnson soon found out. He said the scariest part was signing contracts and going full time, without the backing of a full time job. It was a difficult decision, but one that he’s excited to start, now that the grand opening is around the corner, on Saturday.
With over 2,000 square feet of bouldering walls and an auto-belay section, Pursuit Climbing offers climbs for anyone, whether an experienced boulderer or a novice.
Bouldering is the most accessible form of climbing, and the one most people envision, a method where climbers use just hand and foot holds to climb without belays and rope.
To design a rock climbing wall is no easy feat and is a trade in itself called routesetting. Pursuit’s walls were routed by a local routesetter and to keep it engaging, will be adjusted as time goes on. Johnson estimates that every week 25 per cent of the routes may be adjusted.
Before the grand opening, Pursuit hosted a founding membership climb, with so many attendees that the climb had to be split into two groups. Johnson was happy to see that many of the founding members were new to climbing.
He wants to assure everyone that Pursuit Climbing is accessible to those inexperienced. Multiple routes are available for experienced climbers or newcomers to the sport. Pursuit offers day passes, memberships, and rentals for any gear needed. They also will host group events like team-building exercises and birthdays.
In the short term, Johnson hopes that the climbing community in the area will use the space. In the long term, he hopes to expand with the community to a taller facility with more opportunities for other climbing styles. As he said, everything is possible.
“There’s no ceiling for what you can do in climbing.”
