- It's a completely different type of movement and activity than anything else you're gonna get.

It's not the adrenaline, like fast racing carts, or zipping down a hill or anything like that on skis.

It's more of a social and a mental and meditative, almost, but yet, physical and high-energy activity.

So, it blends a lot of unique factors together, and you get that exposure, that height exposure you get, to the top of these walls, and you feel like you're up there and you had to earn it, too.

It's kind of a sneaky way to get a workout while having a good time with friends.

- [Chris] After spending time in Colorado, Kevin was ready to reconnect with Northern Michigan and family.

His plan, however?

Well, that was quite literally up in the air.

- Certainly a passion, a love for climbing, and then roots here in Traverse City and then starting a family which then shifted our focus on, all right, maybe we should move to Michigan and be closer to our roots, closer to our extended family.

But we were living out west out in Colorado for the years prior.

Had our first daughter and thought about, hey, what's the future look like?

Didn't wanna live somewhere without climbing.

And Traverse City was a place without climbing.

Indoor, outdoor, really nothing around here.

So, sat down, started doing all the due diligence, building the business plan, because we have a pretty unique requirement for what our space needs to look like.

So, as you can see behind me, we've got 45-foot tall ceilings.

So, we've got walls that are over 40 foot tall in here.

And, yeah, that was something we didn't want to compromise on.

So, it took a while from inception of the idea to arriving here in Traverse City to finally securing this location, designing and building the space, and opening our doors, it was quite a run of time.

- [Chris] Climbing isn't just about walls, it's about community, too.

- We've really built a climbing community from ground up.

Yes, there were climbers here that were present already and they showed up and a lot more of those than we realized, too.

But a whole host of brand new climbers and a lot of those people have fallen in love with it, too.

So, I've really given them an opportunity to, yeah, to engage in a new hobby, find a new passion, relate with people that they can do it with.

- [Chris] If the thought of climbing makes your palms sweaty, don't worry.

ELEV8 is friendly for beginners, too.

- We have climbers of all levels.

We've had climbers in here that are, you know, competitive climbers that go to youth nationals.

And then we've had people in here that have never seen or touched a climbing wall and have no idea what it is or what it means.

And then there's different disciplines of the sport as well.

There's the shorter wall without the harness.

There's the taller walls where you're using the harness.

There's some where it's automatic, you just clip in.

Super simple.

We can teach a first timer how that works in just a minute.

And then there's others where you're using climbing equipment to belay and using the ropes and you have to understand the knots and the systems and the commands and the techniques and all that.

So, there's kind of this hierarchy of, with understanding the systems at work here.

So, yeah, there is really truly something for everyone.

So, someone can walk in never having climbed before and we'll get them geared up.

We'll talk them through all the safety that they need to know and they can have a full day of climbing.

Pretty streamlined, chill process.

People come in and within 10 minutes we've got them on the wall climbing.

- [Chris] The experience for every climber is different, but you can find out a lot about yourself in the process.

From upper and lower body strength to vision and problem-solving.

- There's basically roped climbing and then there's unroped climbing.

The only reason we use ropes is because you're climbing high enough off the ground that it would be dangerous if you were to fall, right?

So, with the bouldering wall, which is this section of wall here, there's thicker mats underneath it because if you do fall, you're free falling to the ground.

So we've got thick, cushioned mats.

Each climb on the wall is gonna have, at different moments, it's gonna require different things of you to, to kind of solve this physical puzzle that's on the wall.

In here, it's super supportive, too.

It's pretty unique.

When people are climbing, it's not a head-to-head competition against someone else.

It's not one team versus another.

You're not necessarily comparing how I did with how you did, I'm comparing how I did with how I did last time, maybe, on that route, or how I want to be able to do it, right?

So, it's kind of us against gravity and the wall.

When you climb, everyone wants to see you succeed.

And people share movement ideas.

If someone's like, "Hey, I'm stuck on this.

Got any ideas for that?"

And people share that intel.

But there's all types of bodies out there doing the things and getting to the tops of walls.

And that's kinda what's cool about it, too, is like everybody solves that problem on the wall in a different way.

So, you know, if I climb with my daughter who's half my height, she's gonna climb something way differently than I am.

And it's really awesome to watch that sometimes, some of the creative solutions that they have to come up with and the workarounds.

Because like, being taller, you end up getting scrunched up and it's uncomfortable for you where someone else is like in a more comfortable position.

So, every climber kind of has a unique experience as they go up the wall.