Indoor Weekly: New Owners Take Possession of Joe Rockheads
Joe Rockheads in Toronto was Canada’s first indoor commercial climbing gym and it was recently sold by the original owners.
The new owners are Luigi Montilla and Jean-Marc de la Plante, who together own Up the Bloc. And de la Plante separately owns Seven Bays Bouldering, Allez Up and BoulderHouse Victoria.
Read the full press release here, which stated, “Our plan is to honour the Joe Rockhead’s brand and culture by breathing new investment, energy and love into the facility. The facility needs updating, but the core values need to remain.”
On Jan. 31, Montilla and de la Plante were busy getting things organize in the gym. They had already unpacked new computers and were working with the staff.
There were brand new holds in the bouldering space, which brought a fresh feel to the already amazing-set problems. Two dozen climbers were huddled around one or two problems, hoping to get a chance to try the grippy plastic.
There were even a few roped routes that had new holds mixed with old ones. The energy was uplifting and the outlook positive.
While Montilla and de la Plante won’t say for certain what their new plans are, they did say there will be big changes to bring new members, but nothing too dramatic to scare off old ones.
Be sure to swing by Joe Rockheads to check out the cool new changes, routes and problems.
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