Uniting Canada's Largest Climbing Community

Toprock Climbing – Opening In Brampton Spring 2017

Toprock Climbing is one of a number of new climbing facilities opening in Southern Ontario in spring 2017. We caught up with owners Trevor Davis and Kevin Allen and discussed their love for climbing, their desire to help climbers of all abilities improve their skills and the excitement of opening Brampton's first climbing gym.
Toprock Climbing Gym
Congratulations on the new gym. Can you tell us a bit about yourselves and how you got into climbing?
Toprock Climbing: Thanks! Kevin Allen and I (Trevor Davis) are the two behind Toprock Climbing. Kevin first started climbing in Waterloo where he started his high school’s first rock climbing club. I began climbing at the University of Guelph – that’s where Kevin and I met. We both began volunteering at the university climbing club. It was here where we were also introduced to outdoor climbing and our love for climbing really grew. Since then, climbing has taken us all over the world and allowed us to meet countless amazing people.
So why open a climbing gym?
Toprock Climbing: Over the last 10 years, climbing has had an incredibly positive impact on our lives. Eventually, we decided to move climbing from a hobby to the centre of our lives. Opening Toprock will let us give people the same opportunity that climbing has given us. Brampton is a developing city with great youth sports programs. We see the opportunity to share climbing with a new community and want to be the ones to make it happen.

The location of The Toprock Climbing in Brampton.

Can you tell us a bit about the gym? In particular the overall size, the height of the walls and the general angles?
Toprock Climbing: Toprock is primarily a bouldering gym with about 2500 square feet of climbing. Our bouldering walls are 14 feet in height from the top of the mats. We have a shorter wall for kids and beginners as well as a 20-foot auto belay wall. Our angles range from straight vertical to a 65-degree overhang and everything in between. There will also be a training area.
Who is building the gym?
Toprock Climbing: Our friends at Rockwerx Canada are building our walls.
Toprock Climbing Gym

Trevor Davis and Kevin Allen of Toprock Climbing Gym

What do you think will set Toprock Climbing apart from other climbing gyms?
Toprock Climbing: We noticed that climbing gyms sometimes lose focus on the development of their members. Too often they are only focused on getting beginners in the door or training their elite climbing team for competitions. Our aim is to bridge the gap between beginner and expert climbers. We aim to accomplish this by having “climbing ambassadors” to help answer questions and offer encouragement. Additionally, once a week we will give free lessons to members on the fundamentals of rock climbing. To complement these goals our gym has an open-spaced design so it won’t feel crowded and no one is separated from the rest of the gym. All in all, we hope to build a great community of strong, helpful climbers.
What have been some of the unexpected challenges you’ve encountered while trying to open the gym?
Toprock Climbing: Finding a suitable location proved to be harder than expected. We didn’t want to compromise on our vision for Toprock so we had to be patient. Fortunately, we eventually found an ideal location that we were able to design from the ground up.
Toprock Climbing Gym

Toprock Climbing Gym

Now how about some pleasant surprises?
Toprock Climbing: The positive feedback we’ve received from the Brampton community has been very encouraging. People are excited to see a climbing gym come to the city. Brampton is a growing community where many people work or live and Toprock brings the convenience of a new climbing gym to their doorstep.
Who do you see as the typical customer at Toprock Climbing?
Toprock Climbing: Toprock is Brampton’s first climbing gym. This means that we are aiming to build and grow the climbing community within Brampton. As such, we expect a lot of new climbers, particularly youths coming to Toprock.
Toprock Climbing Gym

Trevor Davis and Kevin Allen of Toprock Climbing Gym

Will you offer any complementary courses or clinics?
Toprock Climbing: We want to put a focus on the development of new climbers. This means we will be hosting free technique sessions as well as free training classes open to all members.
When do you hope to be open?

Toprock Climbing: We will be open early 2017.

Toprock Climbing Gym

Toprock Climbing Gym

More details about Toprock Climbing are available at http://toprockclimbing.ca/
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Gus Alexandropoulos is a freelance writer who has been involved in the outdoor industry for over 35 years. During his career he has been the editor at Canada’s national climbing magazine, as well as the gear editor for a national cycling magazine, triathlon magazine and running magazine. His work has been published in Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, and he has been a guest on television and radio broadcasts. His passion for climbing began in Ontario in the mid-80s and he continues to travel extensively in search of crisp conditions and steep rock.