 and welcome to Connecting Hawaii Business on ThinkTech Hawaii. My name is Kathleen Lee, owner of Kathleen Lee Consulting, and I am your host for this program. ThinkTech Hawaii is currently live-streamed on ThinkTechHawaii.com as well as on ThinkTech Hawaii's Facebook and YouTube channel. And for viewers out there who are watching us live, you may email us questions through questions at ThinkTechHawaii.com. Now that we've gotten that intro out of the way, I am excited to start today's show. We will be talking about high climb, bouldering top rope, and lead climbing. And with us today are three members of the high climb team, Nicholas Freigill, Andre Hoyos, and Anthony Bagnoli. Gentlemen, welcome to the show. Let's start with intros, Nick, since I reached out to you first. Let's start with you and let's pull up photo two as well. Hey, hello everybody. Thank you, Kathleen, for having me on today. As far as my role here at High Climb Climb, one of three currently served by personal trainers are here at the gym. My background really was not climbing to begin with. I trained my whole life, weight training, strength training, but finding this place for me was like a catalyst to really get seriously into the training I used to see in the doctor. So we have a great gym. We have everything you need. I'm checking out. Programs are available. Whatever your goal is, it can happen, or we can at least strive for it. Awesome. Thank you, Nick. Andre, tell us about yourself. Well, I've been climbing for about 15 years now. I moved to Hawaii last year in December to lead the team here, specifically with rope climbing. My job is to put the climbing holds on the wall. So when you come in and you climb up, you see a bunch of climbing holds. We have them configured in a way where you can test yourself, varies in different difficulties. Yeah, so we come in here. We change them four times a week. So every time you come in here, there's going to be something new for you. Wonderful. And last but not the least, Anthony. Hi there. My name is Anthony Bunyoli. I am the GM here at High Climb and I moved out to Hawaii about four years ago. I left the climbing gym in Brooklyn, New York and started working at Hawaii Business Magazine. And then I found out there were two guys who were opening a rock climbing gym here in Kakaako. And I was like, this is perfect timing. And I've been on the team since April of last year. We opened in July of last year. So we're pretty, pretty young. Wonderful. Well, tell us about High Climb. Let's pull up the fourth photo. Tell us about High Climb. Anthony, let's start with you, since you are the fearless leader. So High Climb is a rock climbing gym. We do offer four different disciplines of rock climbing. What you can see in the photo on those short walls, we call them short. They're about 16 feet tall, over foot high pads. That kind of climbing is called bouldering. On the side, you can see a tower with ropes hanging down. That's top roping. On the front of it is lead climbing. And on the backside are auto belays. We also offer a very robust yoga program, fitness, personal trainers, which Nick is part of. So we also have community space, co-working space, cafe. So it is kind of your new kind of community center. Very awesome. I want to pose this question to Andre. What exactly is a route setting manager? Awesome question. Yeah, it's definitely a position that is new in the industry as far as my experience. It's come from just coming into a gym and volunteering to being a full career where we're competitive. I like to compare it to a restaurant. Some restaurants have chefs that sort of lead their kitchen. I would consider the route setting manager to be a chef. We prepare an experience for our guests and members to come in and enjoy themselves, to test themselves. Yeah. So that's sort of what we do. We cook up some fun movement and challenging routes for you to get on. We love to get feedback. And yeah, so making sure we are engaging with everyone who comes in the door to find out what they might like and what they don't like, what they need as far as advancing in their climbing. So yeah, definitely there's a little bit of responsibility when it comes to making sure we're connecting with the community. And I'm telling, I also lead a group of route setters who've been doing it. Some of them are new and I'm mentoring them on a lot of the technical skills that I've learned throughout the years. And yeah, it's been an amazing experience here in Hawaii getting to share my experience with a gym that's pretty new. And yeah, it's awesome. I think that's wonderful. You mentioned that you do help folks out. And then if you can answer this, are there age restrictions when it comes to the people that you both service? You know, I love to tell people our oldest member is 70 years old and our youngest member is three years old. So it is a very interesting sport. Usually we recommend starting about age five because you've got the mental dexterity to figure out the problems and the physical ability for it. Younger than that, you know, we get a lot of climbers who are having kids and so they are coaching them through it and more attentive. So five is a pretty great age to start, but really it goes up. I think anyone can climb. How much does it cost for membership at High Climb? So I'll take that one as well. So we do a monthly membership. It is $99 a month with a $99 initiation fee, and that includes unlimited access to the climbing, to our yoga and fitness classes, our community spaces, and our co-working space. We are open 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day, and one of our core values is providing climbing to people 365 days a year. So in our first year, we were open on Thanksgiving and Christmas and we had 200 people check in in four hours. So the community has responded really, really well to that kind of offer. Wow, that's amazing, Anthony. Nick, let me ask you this. As a trainer, do you folks work with groups or companies for activities like retreat? Here in the gym, we're talking about, as far as I know, and I've experienced the climb that I currently have. This one is for climbers, but the sessions that we provide are actually not included. There are condos you can purchase and actually get cheaper for the more expensive ones. We're starting for a single session, $75 a session. Okay, let's pull up the first photo, and I want you guys to address this while we're waiting for that. What do you tell people who feel like they may not be fit enough to do a rock climbing? And I had kind of mentioned this to Nick before. For example, me personally, I feel like I may not be able to do whatever. I'm guessing that's you. I may not be able to do that. What do you tell individuals who feel like they may not be fit enough to try something like this? Okay, so the thing about high climb is it's very friendly from the beginner level all the way to the top spot. So that has a lot to do with our chefs to be back from the beginner level. I started climbing back in say September, so I haven't been climbing too long, but it definitely helps to have a good basis strength. But once again, the easiest routes here are pretty much like climbing the ladder. Once you get a walkthrough of the gym from our experienced team members, they'll kind of explain to you some technique, and it's not all of our body as that picture would make you think. So just that route, which is currently hooked up on Andre, that was really unnecessary. That was just me flexing on you guys real quick. But yeah, use anybody from a small child to, as afternoon mentioned, or some older members than one. So yeah, really don't doubt yourself, get on the walk, try it out. You don't know unless you try it. Okay, let's pull up the third photo. So I understand that this is not just an indoor rock climbing facility. Andre, can you talk more about what else high climb offers? Yeah, so in that photo, if you're looking at the hanging bars there, you can it right in the middle of it, there's a wood panel and there's some grips that you could hang on. You can train your fingers strength, specifically for rock climbing on those. That's something that is a little bit more advanced when you're wanting to climb harder things. Finger strength is something that's very important. So yeah, so we offer different training options for that. Yeah, we also have a youth team that comes in practices three times a week. They're training to compete. Eventually, they'll be trained and strong enough to compete at the national level and hopefully at the Olympics, so on the world level. Now that climbing has become an Olympic sport. I did not even know that. Thank you. One fact. Anthony, did you want to add to that? I did. So you know, it's interesting. Climbing unlike other sports is really democratic in the sense that it has more to do with your ability to control your fear, your problem solving and your technique. So you will see people who in other sports might be outclassed because of size or physical strength are outclassing other people because of their courage, because of their problem solving abilities. And as Dave was saying with the kids team, we're hearing a lot from the parents. They're just doing better in school. They're attacking problems in a new, different way. So it is one of those things that we just really encourage everyone. It's kind of like yoga meets bodybuilding. It's very difficult to explain the first time. On that note, let's pull up the video, just so people have an idea of what else High Climb offers. So if you guys can talk more about what's going on here. Yes. So this is our yoga and fitness program. We offer modern dance, which you saw at the very beginning, functional fitness, which is our high intensity workout classes. We have a really robust yoga program, Ashtanga Mysore yoga offered here in High Climb. We're only one of two facilities in the state of Hawaii that offer that kind of yoga. We do take more of a traditional take on yoga than the more Western version that you might be receiving, say at other yoga studios around the island. We have certified personal trainers like Nick and his colleagues that help people. You know, a lot of climbers come in and they're intimidated by weights and they see them or they're intimidated by people who are using them. And so Nick and his team's job is really to help people condition themselves for climbing. And it is one of those sports where you are, you're working on your mental, you're working on your physical and in a lot of ways emotional because you are confronting these very human limitations. That all sounds really compelling, Anthony. And now I understand why Nick is always like, you should come in and check us out. And I've been like, I don't know, that sounds really intimidating. But the way you explain it is very appealing. So thank you for that. We are going to go on break. But when we return, we will be asking more questions to our team here at High Climb Pre-Tune to Connecting Hawaii Business on ThinkTech Hawaii. Today we are talking about High Climb and we have three members of High Climb's leadership team. Anthony, let me pose this question to you. You mentioned that you as a facility try to be open or are open 365 days a year, is that right? With COVID, how did that affect you folks? Oh, man, the COVID question. So we opened July 1st and everybody has their own COVID story. Ours actually begins in 2019. Our owner got the lease for the building. So we began all the projects in 2019. We had the shutdown as everybody probably remembers about March 12. And he got the lease like March 10. He got the keys to our building. And so we immediately had a state lockdown and he was on the hook for everything. The walls coming to Island. So as we started to build up, all of our walls actually were shipped in. We went with an American wall builder out of Utah. So it took five containers, a team of five men and women working seven days a week, starting April 15. And we just watched all of the regulations for COVID ticked down. And so gyms and fitness classes were completely offline for a while. And they brought us back on at 50% capacity. Fitness classes were only allowed up to six participants. So as we were getting ready to open, we were just watching those numbers. Like, were we going to be able to even open this gym after a considerable investment? And luckily by July 1st, we were able to go to 50% capacity. We hold about 268 people according to our fire code in the building. The owners have asked that we maintain it at about 150 just so everybody's comfortable with all of the pandemic restrictions. Because climbing is an individual sport, because the facility is open air, we have two large garage doors on either side. Our roof is actually one of those old kakaako double roofs that are open at the top. We have birds that sometimes come and fly in. And when you climb to the top of our lead wall, you can actually look out across the tops of the roofs and kakaako. So it is a very, during the pandemic, it is a very open air inviting space for people. Face masks are, you know, optional here. We have sanitizing stations throughout the facility. Our holds Andres team strip, clean and reset a section of the wall a day. At the end of five weeks, the entire gym has been reset and cleaned. We have a staff that goes through every morning and sanitizes all of the benches and everything that everyone touches. So like I think any small business, the pandemic has really pushed us to, you know, try new things to make things work. Wow. Thank you, Anthony, for going over that. As part of High Climb Leadership team, what are some lessons that you've learned? Andre, let's ask you that question. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, so it as far as route setting, it's our responsibility to be as inclusive as we can. That being making sure people who've never climbed before make it to the top of the wall and enjoy that experience as well as challenging people have been climbing their whole lives. So we've have a pretty broad span of clientele and users that we are catering to being as inclusive as we are, whether it's size, shape definitely brings in a lot, lot more people than I'm used to seeing in climbing gyms, like let's say in mainland 10 years ago. So seeing, touching on what Anthony mentioned earlier about it being a more of a community center because we do have offer a lot of options like our cafe and we have Wi-Fi and workspaces. I also see it as a cultural center where people from all walks of life are able to come in here and all enjoy the same exact experience getting either getting to the top of the wall or falling a lot because there's a lot of falling that happens and a lot of failure. But yeah, no, that's been a huge lesson for me. I've definitely really enjoyed seeing the different types of people that come in here. Yeah, all different cultures and backgrounds kind of bringing, the climbing is bringing everyone together in this one space and we're able to share and talk and enjoy it. Yeah, as long as we're doing our job, yeah, as long as we're doing our job, creating climbs that are, you know, yeah, that everyone enjoys. That's awesome. All of you make such a good argument for anyone to check out High Climb. Nick, if I were to ask you the same question, which I am, like what are some lessons that you've learned? Pretty new to this space here. It was interesting. We have to really market ourselves. There was a huge push, but it wasn't as popular as it is now. I mean, it's definitely taken off. Being a part of the CPT program, that's a group, yeah, I'll actually over extend myself a little bit to get a lot of clients in order to give a cat to somebody to train them to the point that they're really getting the whole size of it. Yeah, it's been a great learning experience. Now, I'm in my group, it's very nice to have a bunch of regular clients. We're going to show them our data. Anthony, are you able to, of course you are. That's the same question. What are some lessons that you learned? You know, it's so interesting. Somebody once described it as, it's such a good metaphor, as having a baby, right? And you want that baby to take that first step and you keep picking up that leg and forcing it and trying it and then it moves its left leg and you're like, oh, my baby's a lefty. And so many times we've wanted this to walk and we thought, oh, it's going to make that first step with the right foot and it's the left foot that goes forward. And just being open to that evolution, we have an incredible response from the community that's joined us. We have some grassroots groups that have sprung up, some that we've encouraged. On Friday nights, we have a wahine on the ropes and it's a holding space for women climbers to come together. 54% of our members identify as women. That was not what we were expecting. This is following your community and providing them the things that they're looking for. We have a grassroots group of LGBTQ plus members that have started a group called ROCSE. They're going to have their first climbing event, July 8th. We have Kanaka Climbers, which is a local nonprofit here in Hawaii that works for the ethical and equitable access to outdoor spaces that holds a meetup once a month. They've been meeting here for the past six months, once a month, giving information and education to climbers about exploring Hawaii and doing it in a respectful and honorable way, ethically and equitably. So yeah, just listening to the community and let them take the lead for us. Wonderful. And you mentioned July when there is a monumental significant date for a high five. Anthony, what is going on in July? It is our one year anniversary. We opened at 6 p.m. July 1st and at 5 p.m. on July 1st, they were still finishing the walls. We had all of the people outside and they were literally cutting steel inside and our wall builders told me they would be done at 5.30 and they were done at 5.30 on the dot. And so July 1st is our anniversary. We're going to be starting it off with a giant barbecue for all of the team members at the owner's home. And then we will be closing a little bit early on the 4th of July to give our team members that whole weekend off. But all throughout the month of July, we'll be celebrating different aspects of our community and at the end of July, we're going to have a members only night here at the facility. That sounds awesome. Is there anything else that you would like to add, Nick? I can say that I hope to see you in here. I've been talking to you for a while. My training, I'm going to default to that because that's my specialty here. It really improves your life over. Even if, you know, we all start at different points, even if it's from on and off a chair, like I have some older combinations. Just having that strength in those ranges of motion to give you some insurance most people actually injure themselves, grabbing something out of the back seat in their car, they twist their body and reach back. Oh, I took that back, right? Or you slip in the shower, you lose about a second. If you're strong in the range of motion, it will be fun. And that's surprising to climb in here, getting to the bottom of the road. Definitely well. I'll see you in here. That's what I'm going to add. Thanks, Nick. What about you, Andre? Anything else you'd like to add? Yeah, I'd also like to see you come in here. You're definitely not going to be the newest climber, which is awesome. There's definitely going to be somebody who comes in here after you maybe while you're climbing and you can share that same first time experience. I definitely want to encourage people to visit their climbing gyms wherever you might be, wherever there's a local gym around you. And really, because it is a new industry relatively, there's a lot of opportunities for growth and development within the industry. Like right now, if I want to get feedback from our community, we have an app that the users can use. They can upload videos of themselves. They can also comment and rate any of the climbs that they get on. So that's like a source of feedback that we can use. And yeah, I just encourage people to go into your gym and have fun and see if you can communicate to the route setters. Thank you, Anthony. Let's wrap up with you. Anything else you'd like to add and how can individuals contact or reach out to you? Definitely should not have ended with this. Our mission is to improve people's lives through indoor rock climbing. And it's so basic. You hear everybody trying to describe it. We all feel this thing when we climb because it is so open, because it is so welcoming and so democratic. You're also overcoming this human limitation right next to another person overcoming their human limitation. And you form the most incredible relationship. And rock climbers will be friends and come up to the front desk and ask for the name of the person they've been climbing with for months, because they skipped the whole intro and got straight to being friends. And there's no mad, what do you do for a living? It's all about how did you finish this problem and people working together in collaboration. So it is, as people are coming out of the pandemic, it's such a great opportunity for a healthy new awakening after the pandemic shutdown. They can reach us at hawaiiclimballspelledout.com on our website by calling us at 808-888-2999. And they can email us at info at hawaiiallspelledout.com. Thank you again so much for being on the show. And again, for making a great argument for people out there, including myself, to check out hawaiiclimb. This has been Think Tech Hawaii's Connecting Hawaii Business. And we also want to thank Jay Pytel and the staff at Think Tech Hawaii for making shows like this possible. We had Michael and Hailey who helped us out today. Until next time, aloha. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at ThinkTechHawaii.com. Mahalo.