OUR BACKSTORY
The dream birthed in a crawl space
The inception of Coeur Climbing Company occurred in a dusty crawl space of a home in Coeur d’Alene, ID in the winter of 2009. Daniel Shaw, one of the current owners, had just stopped working as an Earth Science teacher at Post Falls Middle School to become a stay-at-home dad. As an avid rock and ice climber and previous rock climbing guide, he sought a way to continue advancing his climbing passion during the cold wet winters of North Idaho. While his newborn son took naps upstairs, he converted his 1000+ sq ft crawl space into an expansive bouldering gym.
Immediately after its completion, it became a popular hangout spot for the youth group he worked with at his church. Word spread and it quickly became known as the place for serious climbers to congregate and share their passion for climbing. Daniel saw the incredible need for building a climbing community in his hometown and sought ways to expand his vision to the public.
the first iteration
One of Daniel’s good friends owned a CrossFit gym in town and convinced him to allow Daniel to build a climbing wall at that gym for public membership use. After only a few months of operation, the CrossFit location was foreclosed on and they were forced to move. This ended their partnership because the new location could not accommodate a climbing wall.
Despite this, Daniel kept the dream alive and went to social media to find a like-minded entrepreneur to join him in a venture to bring a commercial climbing gym to Coeur d’Alene.
the second iteration
Soon after, he met Josh Jackman a local climbing coach and was re-acquainted with Lisa Adlard, a local gymnastics gym owner with an avid climbing daughter. The three set out to make a mega gym with climbing, gymnastics, and Parkour, housed in one building. This grand endeavor proved to be too costly for the three and they parted ways, leaving Daniel the opening to invite new partners to join his efforts.
the third iteration and brand launch
In early 2019, Daniel joined forces with two climbers who had moved to Coeur d’Alene with specific intentions of starting a climbing gym in a much needed location. Jeff Fowler and Frank Dusl were both contractors who had recently moved to the area to build a climbing gym from the ground up. The three quickly formed a partnership and sought funding and land acquisition for the project.
Daniel formed a partnership with Kris Pereira, the CEO of Ginno construction and bought an acre of land with Kris to build their dream gym. Daniel, Jeff and Frank spent the remainder of 2019 designing the gym and working with Ginno to get a construction schedule ready to begin in early 2020. The 12,000+ sqft gym with 50’+ high walls was fully funded and designed and ready to begin construction by late March. They established their branding and launched their website in the spring of 2020.
on hold because of the pandemic
Everything was going smoothly until the entire world came to a screeching halt as the Covid pandemic reared its ugly head. Ginno convinced the three partners to hold tight and see if it would blow over quickly. As everyone knows, the pandemic did not run its course very quickly and the owners of Coeur Climbing waited until the spring of 2022 to begin trying to resurrect their project.
The building was re-bid and construction costs more than doubled. Their favorable low interest rate more than tripled, and Ginno Construction was unable to continue with the building and land partnership. This left the three with few options for funding their dream.
Frank decided it was time for him to move on to other pursuits and moved to Lander, WY, but Jeff and Daniel decided to keep the dream alive. They used their confident and outgoing personalities to inspire two outside investors who had local family ties to embrace their CDA climbing gym vision. Jeff Dance and his brother-in-law Brad Tanner caught the contagious climbing gym owner dream and helped back the project, allowing it to move toward a reality. The then-current environment did not allow for a ground-up build, so the 4 new partners began looking for existing buildings to lease for their use.
fourth time’s a charm
After scouring the Coeur d’Alene area for available properties, they discovered a perfect location with a large warehouse building that would accommodate an expansive climbing gym. They signed a lease on the building near I-90 in Post Falls, conveniently located between Spokane Valley and Coeur d’Alene. Their new location wouldn’t fit the 50 '+ walls they had originally envisioned, but it was perfect for a world class bouldering gym and still had ample roped climbing to give their guests a well-rounded climbing experience.
The road to bringing Coeur Climbing Company to completion was still not easy but the partners never gave up and are poised to open in Mid June of this year. The goal of building a community of climbers in a welcoming and fun environment that mitigates risk has always been in the forefront of their pursuit to bring the area its first full service climbing gym. That dream never wavered in the 10+ years it took to make it a reality. And it is the owners’ deep sense of pride and mission to use their skills and passions that have fueled the arrival of this amazing service to their community.
industry partners
