The Dalles chronicle., February 15, 2020, Image 13

COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE
BUSINESS
REVIEW
February 2020
Hood River News / The Dalles Chronicle
Bouldering community
Climbing in the light of stained glass:
A church is transformed
KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor
From Rock of Ages to rocks for all ages, the former
Asbury Church has been transformed into Hood River’s
fi rst full-scale indoor climbing gym.
Brimstone Boulders opened earlier this month on
State Street near Sixth, the realization of a two-year
project by new building owners Jen Altschul and
Conor Byrne.
Th e high-ceiling space has become an indoor climbing gym,
drawing locals and visitors aged kindergarten and up. Altschul
and Byrne purchased the building from Andy and Claudia von
Flotow; the downstairs tenant, Bright Beginnings Preschool,
continues in its 26th year. After initial remodeling in 2018, the
building briefl y housed a martial arts school.
Th e stained glass windows remain, along with other vestiges
of the former place of worship, built in 1896, but the pews have
been replaced with palisades of climbing walls and thick mats.
Th e former Methodist church saw its last worship service in
2012 and was decommissioned in 2013. Brimstone’s new
exterior sign incorporates the Biblical image of a woman
climbing a rock that is the focal point of the primary stained
glass panel.
Brimstone Boulders opened
earlier this month on State
Street near Sixth, the realization
of a two-year project by new
building owners Jen Altschul
and Conor Byrne.
Routes, or “problems,” start in the sanctuary and continue
on the north side with walls suitable for beginners.
“We want this to be a living room for outdoor sports in the
Gorge,” Byrne said. Th ey envision speaker series, trip reports
and movie nights, in addition to the individual climbing and
the youth program and other group climbs, and competitions
they said will be “not super-competitive.”
Brimstone is about bouldering, as opposed to rope climbing.
Bynre explained, “Ultimately it comes down to ‘what is
protecting you when do fall?’ Falling happens in climbing,
In bouldering you’re not climbing super high stuff so the thing
that’s protecting your fall is a pad.
continued, page 4
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