North Idaho climbers will have new indoor walls to scale before year’s end if all goes as planned with the October 2020 target date for the Coeur Climbing Company to open its doors. The gym has been years in the making, says Daniel Shaw, the primary driver of the 13,900 square foot project.
“We are in the middle of the architecture phase and working on the next steps to get construction started in the next couple of months,” says Shaw, who owns the land where the gym will be built. The building will have 50-foot high walls on one side, allowing for roped climbing walls in the 35-50 foot range, as well as a bouldering area. Shaw and his partners also recently chose a wall-building company based in Bend, Oregon.
Shaw grew up in Prescott, Arizona, before moving to Texas and then Colorado, eventually landing in the Inland Northwest in 2006. All the while climbing has been in his blood.
“I’ve been a climber all my life and I love it and my kids love it. And even though Coeur d’Alene is an outdoorsy place, it doesn’t have a connected climbing community, and I’ve always wanted to help build that,” he says.
Shaw had the idea of opening a gym back when the first of his three children were born, but wasn’t able to move forward with the project until recently. He soon made connections with several other Coeur d’Alene climbers with similar local climbing gym concepts, which eventually led to the current business partnership behind the project that includes Shaw, Frank Dusl, and Jeff Fowler.
Coeur Climbing Company also plans to have space for yoga, cardio equipment, weights, and a spot where they hope to create a kid-based Ninja Warrior-style obstacle course. Shaw admits that his three kids ages 6, 8, and 10 have had a big influence on the project. “My ulterior motive is to give my kids a place to climb and meet other kids who are into it.” Look for updates on the gym from Out There this summer or on the gym’s in-the-works website.
