Climb Nittany to Hold Grand Reopening Celebration

A Boalsburg climbing gym will celebrate its grand reopening after dedicated community members came together to save it from permanent closure.

The event at Climb Nittany, 328 Discovery Drive, will be held from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18.

It will feature Spoked Coffee from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Pancakes by Jake in the morning and cider and donuts in the afternoon (while supplies last) and an evening bonfire with s’mores (weather permitting). Little Flame and Outplugged will provide live music.

A kids climbing area will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. featuring glitter tattoos from 11 to noon and a chance to learn more about Climb Nittany’s youth programs.

All people entering the gym must have a valid membership, day pass or guest pass to climb, according to Climb Nittany. For a quicker check-in at the grand reopening, attendees can complete their waiver and purchase a membership or day pass online in advance.

Climb Nittany reopened to the public on Oct. 11, and to its Keystone members two weeks earlier, just months after previous owner 5.Life closed Climb Nittany’s doors at the end of May, saying that occupancy costs for the gym had become unsustainable and that the company had exhausted all options to continue operating.

With their climbing gym about to disappear and the property’s owner poised to sell the building, the passionate community that grew around Climb Nittany over the last five years sprang into action. In less than a month, the Save Climb Nittany initiative had an outpouring of support and a group of 14 community members committed to purchasing the business who now form its local ownership group.

“We thank 5.Life for bringing the vision to have this and to build this here and to run it for all these years,” Eric Chase, a leader of the Save Climb Nittany and member of its new ownership group, said in September. “But at this point, it is completely a brand new operating entity, a locally owned business. And so, just to bring a new business to fruition, it does take time. And it has been at warp speed. It may not feel like it to some of us, or even to the community, but it really has been at warp speed.”

The change allows Climb Nittany to retain what the community loved about it, while making improvements and expanding programming.

The fitness area will keep all the same equipment but will be restructured “to be a little bit more conducive to all the activities that we hold in that space,” Jake Tinklepaugh, programming and community manager, explained.

“As far as the actual climbing goes, the setting, the community should be happy to hear that it will be remaining just as engaging because our head route setter, Mark Grumman, is still here and putting up great climbs,” Tinklepaugh said.

On the programming front, Climb Nittany plans to bring back its Classic Rockers program to provide older adults an opportunity to learn and challenge themselves physically while also engaging socially.

Climb Nittany will again offer an intro to climbing class that teaches belay skills, “which is how to access our higher walls,” Tinklepaugh said.

The facility is also partnering with Jana Marie Foundation on a new program called Elevate, designed to help upper middle-school and high-school students build resilience, confidence and connection. Chase said the program will use climbing to talk about mental health but how to overcome adversity.

A fundraising challenge supported by $10,000 from an anonymous donor is ongoing with the goal of launching the Elevate program in 2027.

The Climb Nittany community, Chase said, has been positive and supportive throughout the process to reopen the gym.

“The response from this community to trust us, to believe in us through the summer when I know we all wanted it open back in July, but to allow us to work through everything we had to work through to keep this gym here in the community and for the community, we just really want to thank the community for that,” Chase said. “We are excited to be able to show the changes and really look forward to getting that community involvement as we move forward.”