Press Release: January 23, 2023
Climbing Collective Acquires Inner Peaks
Climbing Collective is excited to welcome Inner Peaks Climbing and Fitness (“Inner Peaks”) to its group of regional climbing gym brands. Inner Peaks is the leading operator of indoor climbing facilities in Charlotte, North Carolina, and joins Philadelphia Rock Gym in the Climbing Collective family. With this acquisition, Climbing Collective will have seven gyms in operation, three in development, and an exciting pipeline of new locations that positions it to become one of the leading operators of bouldering and climbing gyms in the U.S.
Climbing Collective was formed by a team of experienced operators to build community-centric climbing gyms across the United States with an initial focus on the East Coast. Climbing Collective seeks to grow its platform by expanding its existing brands and partnering with seasoned operators seeking to grow their local operations and join the Climbing Collective community. Climbing Collective currently has new facilities under development in Philadelphia, Charlotte and Albany that are expected to open in the next twelve months.
Doug Cosby and Page Lee, founders of Inner Peaks, will continue to lead the existing operations in Charlotte while also taking new roles at Climbing Collective as Director of Business Development and Creative Director, respectively. They describe the decision to join Climbing Collective as “a unique opportunity to grow our company by combining our experience with that of other long-term climbing gym owners and the business acumen of the Climbing Collective team.”
Mathew Barnett, CEO of Climbing Collective, welcomed Inner Peaks to the Climbing Collective family commenting, “the remarkable community Inner Peaks has built in the Charlotte area as well as the deep market knowledge of Doug and Page matched the attributes Climbing Collective seeks as it grows its family of climbing gyms. We look forward to helping our operators secure their local markets by continuing to deliver an authentic climbing experience to our growing customer base.”
Climbing Collective believes that long-term climbing gym owners and operators have a unique understanding of their local markets. It seeks to create synergy between studio entrepreneurs’ years of experience and a larger organization’s business insights and resources to launch exceptional climbing gyms on an expedited schedule.
Parties interested in learning more and potentially joining the Climbing Collective family should reach out to Mathew Barnett at [email protected].