The New Hive is All The Buzz in Vancouver

Though the gym has been operating for two weeks, the second Hive was “officially” opened last night on the North Shore in Vancouver. 

By Drew Copeland

The new 20,000 sq ft. location is over double the size of the Hive in downtown and offers a number of services beyond the climbing: a yoga studio, two dedicated training areas and a community room for groups and parties.

For Hive owner Andrew Coffey the idea of opening a second location had been on his mind for three years, pretty well since the first one opened.

“Buildings are rather hard to come by and this one ticked all the boxes, so it would have been folly not to seize the opportunity,” said Coffey.

“The new building on the Vancouver’s North Shore met all the requirements, and we couldn’t pass it up. It just happened to be in an area currently under-served.”

Shayne Russell, director of operations, said that he’s pleased with the large new space. “If you’ve climbed at our space downtown, you’ll know it’s quite packed and very busy,” said Russell. “The new space is bigger, which means less bottle-necks and more room to move around.”

The Hive engaged with three sponsors for different parts of the new facility: PrAna for the yoga studio, Evolve for the Tech Lab (training facility), and Arc’teryx for the Beta Lounge (a hang out room with a huge wall map for the intention of sparking ideas for trips to the hills).

In addition to creating a gym that appeals to a larger community, beyond just climbers, the North Shore location has facilities and programs focused on those who want to crank hard.

They’ve enlisted Christian Core as a trainer to help take climbers to that next level. He will work lagely from the Evolve Tech Lab—a space with campus walls, hang boards, and system walls.

Construction began on the gym in September and one of the biggest challenge was keeping everything ticking on schedule with all of the different trades people.

“I must say our general contractor John Stivinakis, Matt Rempel, and their crew from Watershed Construction Group did a phenomenal job managing the many aspects throughout the transformation of this space from the bare vanilla shell to our fantastic facility,” said Coffey.

Climbers filled the new Hive for its July 23rd opening meet-and-greet and post-session party. “Is there enough momentum [in the growth of climbing] to support another gym,” said Coffey on opening night. “I certainly hope so.”

– Drew Copeland is climber and regular Gripped contributor based in Squamish.