Climb 1884

07/19/2022

We are so happy to see Seth Asimakos and the Kaleidoscope Social Impact team pick up where the Climb 1884 team left off with 58 Broad St. It’s so great that the church and property will continue to play a key role in the community. In the coming months and years, we look forward to seeing their team bring their vision to reality with the church becoming a space for entrepreneurs, artists and enterprising non-profits and the property behind the church transforming into much needed housing here in the city, including affordable housing options. David Alston and Mary-Gwen Alston wish to thank everyone in the community and the Climb 1884 team for all their tremendous support over the past year and wish the team at Kaleidoscope all the best as they write this great new chapter for this wonderful building and property.

Former property owner David Alston hands over the keys to the former Church of St. John the Baptist to Seth Asimakos, general manager and co-founder of Kaleidoscope Social Impact.

05/27/2022

And a big thanks goes out from all of us to for all the incredible work he put into our collective dream for the last 9 months. We couldn’t have been able to make the progress on the building and work through all of the moving parts if he hadn’t been on the team. Wishing Derek all the best as he starts in his new job on Monday - they are incredibly lucky to have you!

05/10/2022

This week we have some very difficult news to share. You have been such an amazing community and we’ve so much support from all of you. We appreciate you all greatly. The team at Climb 1884 has made the emotionally-hard decision to not move ahead with building a climbing gym at the 58 Broad Street. This decision was a very difficult one especially considering the tremendous general and climbing community support we have received since sharing the idea. We have been working with an incredible extended team of people to try to figure this out over the past 11+ months. What we discovered was that setup of the building is just not conducive to how a ropes climbing gym typically gets built.

Most ropes climbing gyms are built in steel constructed warehouses with concrete floors and for good reason. The most cost effective way to build climbing walls is directly on concrete pads while using the steel beams in the walls and ceiling to support the walls. Our location unfortunately has none of these attributes and thus we had come up with designs to overcompensate for this. Using a complex set of engineering approaches the plan had us essentially building a complex concrete and steel building structure inside the church. Unfortunately this essentially offset any of the cost advantages, and then some, of utilizing the church structure in the first place. No matter how many variations we looked it the constant requirement for all this extra complexity, and the costs associated with it, made the business case for this location not work.

We will be putting the building back on the market at the beginning of June, essentially one year after we purchased it. The team is proud of the role we played in saving and investing in this beautiful building. This 138 year old structure is now moving forward with a new roof, repointed and rebuilt brickwork, new windows to replace damaged ones in the basement and vestry and a new heating system. We’ve learned a lot this past year about what it takes to build a gym and, who knows, if the right type of building is found in the future perhaps we will dust off the business plan once again. Thank you again for your generous support.

03/24/2022

Such a great profile piece in Gripped on Greg and the growing climbing scene here in NB.

New Brunswick had 64 new routes at 13 different crags established in 2021 and the community continues to grow

12/24/2021

The latest full-colour designs just landed at .superette in the St. Nick of time! And don’t forget, while supplies last, with every purchase of a Climb 1884 tee or hoodie you can save your receipt and exchange it for a free day pass during Climb 1884’s opening week in 2022! Could have a career in modelling? ;)

12/18/2021

Guess what?! Climb 1884 tees and hoodies now available at .superette in the corner of Princess & Sydney just in time for the holidays! And to make it extra special, while supplies last, for every purchase of a Climb 1884 tee or hoodie you can save your receipt and exchange it for a free day pass during Climb 1884’s opening week in 2022!

09/06/2021

Thanks Mrinali for dropping by on Saturday to share our story. With some pews left after the sale hopefully we will hear from a few others to find homes for them as well and further increase the amount for Ascent New Brunswick’s resource fund. Thank you again!

But the new owners of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Saint John are selling off the benches to make space for their new climbing facility.

09/05/2021

Thanks today for all the volunteers from Ascent New Brunswick in helping to deliver and move pews and all the people who showed up to purchase a pew as part of our fundraiser. While many pews found new homes we still have a few left so if you are interested and missed the sale today please let us know.

Watch Saint John church begins transformation to climbing gym Video Online, on GlobalNews.ca

09/04/2021

Thanks to Khalil Akhtar at CBC this week for letting listeners know about the big pew sale and Ascent New Brunswick fundraiser today from 10am-2pm.

Are you in the market for some hard, somewhat uncomfortable seating for your home? Well -- you're in luck, because dozens of church pews are for sale in Saint John with proceeds supporting recreational rock climbing. We learn more.

08/26/2021

Thanks so much to Owen Clarke at Gym Climber for covering our story.

The Church of St. John the Baptist, built in 1884, will soon become New Brunswick, Canada’s largest climbing gym.

08/20/2021

We have started the process of reserving pews for those who would like to purchase them. If your name was on our "interested" list you should have received either an email or a Facebook message today. If you haven't received a message and are interested or would like to be added to the list, please let us know. It's not too late, but they are going fast!