Mission Cliffs, an indoor climbing gym at 19th and Harrison streets, is currently expanding to add approximately 7,900 square feet.
The new gym will expand into the building just north of it, at 2235 Harrison St., growing to a total of 23,000 square feet. The front desk and entrance will relocate to the new area, which will also feature new climbing walls over 50 feet high.
“We’ve known we needed to expand for a little while,” said Lauryn Claassen, head of media and marketing at mother company Touchstone Climbing, Inc.
“Mission Cliffs was one of the first climbing gyms in the country. Things have changed. We needed a bigger weight area, and bouldering has gotten crazy popular.”
Bouldering is a type of high-strain climbing that emphasizes technique and strength over gaining altitude, and it has a dedicated section within the gym.
But Mission Cliffs’s bouldering area won’t get a revamp after all — instead, Touchstone has decided to just build a new bouldering-only gym in the nearby Dogpatch neighborhood.
Claassen said that so far Mission Cliffs members are taking the news well. She could not speculate on when construction would wrap up.
“I wouldn’t dare jinx us.”
Hold up, what? We thought they were improving the bouldering area at Mission Cliffs AND building another bouldering gym somewhere in the Dog Patch.
Bummed to hear MC’s bouldering area isn’t getting re-done after all.