The Midwest Climbing Academy started as a project between 3 dissatisfied climbing coaches some time in 2012. During the following year and some months, their pod of 3 had expanded to many. Lessons were learned, plans were made, and by the end of 2013 they had opened opened as a youth-only climbing gym with a focus on climbing teams.

Since that time, we have learned a lot. We have learned a lot about our athletes, and about ourselves. We have learned that age is less important than attitude. Any athlete has the capacity to demonstrate the grit and consistency required to be really good at something; in our case, climbing. So, in 2016, we decided to expand our program to include memberships to our private facility.

FOCUSED GROWTH has become the ethos at our school since this time. This idea was not created, it was observed. Our members have many interests an motivations that they use climbing to achieve. We all have a story to tell. Competition athletes, outdoor boulderers, weekend warriors, trad-climbing journeymen, perma-projecters, and even brand new climbers all make up our ranks. The common denominator is a single quality: These people want to grow.

Growth requires a focused effort. It requires consistency. In many cases, it requires support.

Our objective is to provide a facility that not only enables you to grow, but makes it as easy as possible for you to do so. Whether you new to climbing and don’t know what you are doing, or know what you are doing and just need a place to do it, we make our best effort to provide you with the tools you need. We believe that a private facility is one of the underpinnings of this effort. The foundation of climbing growth lies in consistent and unwavering effort. Oftentimes, climbing environments are filled with variables that undermine this consistency. From an onslaught of individuals choosing a climbing gym as their social venue, to not having the training implements needed to follow through on a multi-week training plan, a commercial climbing gym is often not the correct tool for the job when it comes to consistent focused climbing growth.

In addition to our climbing space and facility, our staff includes World Cup athletes, elite routesetters, double digit boulderers, Guidebook authors, and the like. All very well travelled. Private lessons or simple chatting at they gym are great ways hear our stories and see what you can apply to your own. Just ask, we’re happy to share.

Growth, by definition includes change. For that reason, quantifying what happens here and putting it into an ‘About’ section is an incredibly difficult task. In fact, if it was easy to say what happens here, we likely wouldn’t be growing at all. No matter what is going on here, the following will remain true: We are a community of people that want to grow. We are committed to helping each other do that. Come join us; perhaps you could teach us something.