Rock climbing venue opens in Waco area

Baylor University students seeking to convert a mole hill to a mountain have unveiled Basin Climbing and Fitness at 650 Alliance Parkway, just off Bagby Avenue, which they are calling the first and only such experience locally, unless, of course, someone wants to quibble over what nature itself offers.

But climbing the mountain to success is not all that Trinity Robb, Jessica Colley and married couple Carley and Steel Ferguson envision at their new 13,600-square-foot venue. Other attractions include fitness areas equipped with free weights and cardio machines; a kids’ zone offering climbing options galore and visibility by parents; party rooms and a yoga room.

Basin will offers shoes and equipment rentals, and sell Basin swag.

The partners launched Basin Climbing and Fitness with an initial goal to create a “Founders Team,” individuals, friends and families wanting to support the venture early in the game, financially and emotionally. They could lock in the lowest membership rates while providing Basin a solid foundation.

Mission accomplished, says the company website, which informs the public all such membership packages have been taken. The partners told the Tribune-Herald for an earlier story they would sell 100 Founders Packages to “dedicated climbers,” the deals priced at $500 to $800 for solo and duo, respectively. The packages would allow buyers to have their names carved into a climbing wall and give them access to exclusive merchandise.

They also would qualify for discounted monthly membership rates.

“They’ve already got a lot of people signed up for pre-open memberships,” said Chandler Price, who works at Bear Mountain, a local outdoors store, and knows the people who made Basin come to fruition.

Price said local climbers are gearing up to take Basin by storm.

“Baylor brings in a lot of climbing enthusiasts, and Waco has a very good outdoor recreational community. Basin is where people can come and enjoy that aspect of recreational space as well,” said Price. “There is enthusiasm about it. We get inquiries about climbing merchandise, and with a climbing gym opening up, we may get more. Anyone coming into this store probably was acquainted with climbing at one time or another.”

Baylor has a rock-climbing wall in its student center primarily available to students and professors. Tonkawa Falls in Crawford is a favorite among some climbers, said Price, who added that climbing options in nature and inside improve as one approaches Austin. The closest gym similar to Basin Climbing and Fitness is Boulders Climbing Center in Harker Heights. 

Basin for a limited time is offering members early morning and late access to the gym before throwing it open to the general public in September.

Climbing options include roped climbing, in which climbers are securely attached to a rope that runs through a fixed anchor at the top of the climbing route and back down to the base of the climbing wall.

Bouldering is described on the Basin website as free climbing without the use of ropes or harnesses on low-level walls over protective padding.

Promotional material proclaims: “We will have over 2,000 square feet of 14-foot tall bouldering on the mezzanine floor . . . you will need to earn your ‘bouldering certification’ by going through Basin’s bouldering orientation.”

Robb told the Tribune-Herald bringing a climbing gym to Waco fulfills a longtime dream. He studied outdoor recreation at Baylor University and became part of a local rock climbing community that would climb at the indoor rock wall at the university’s Student Life Center.

Robb said he believes Waco suffers a shortage of family-friendly activities enjoyable to every family member. He said the partners are pleased to bring something unique to the area that may address that shortcoming.

Youngsters will fit right in, said Robb, noting that “oftentimes kids — because of their strength to weight ratio — are better climbers than adults.”

Memberships will run $75 per month for a solo membership and $140 per month for a duo membership, the Tribune-Herald has reported.

Family packages start at $140 per month, with another $35 per month for each child under 18 in the family. Day passes cost $20 for an adult, or $14 for kids under 14, with an additional $6 cost to rent gear, or gift cards, which allow someone to use the gym for a specified amount of time.

Basin Climbing and Fitness was profiled in a trade magazine called Climbing Business Journal, its story appearing June 26 this year. It quoted Colley as saying the group struggled to find a suitable location for the gym.

Some buildings were not tall enough, others needed extensive repairs or structural work. Zoning and height restrictions came into play on a couple of occasions when the team thought it had discovered the perfect place.

Eventually, the group chose a plot in Hewitt, “a central and accessible location” with the correct zoning, ideal size and height limitations that the team could work around while meeting its own specifications.