Aiming for new heights

Nation's Business, Feb, 1997 by Carla Goodman

Mark Melvin's business often has him climbing the walls. That's when the founder and general manager of Mission Cliffs Rock Climbing Center, in San Francisco, isn't introducing others to the joys of scaling the center's 14,000 square feet of indoor "terrain."

For Melvin, climbing is a hobby-turned-business that has proved highly profitable. Launched in August 1995, Mission Cliffs earned gross revenues of $750,000 and a 20 percent operating profit in its first year.

Indoor rock climbing has become a popular sport, attracting hikers, climbers, and others looking for a change in their exercise program. Since the nation's first indoor rock-climbing gym, Vertical World, opened in 1987 in Seattle, 350 similar facilities have opened around the country, according to estimates by the Outdoor Recreation Coalition of America, a trade association based in Boulder, Colo.

Melvin, whose 15-year climbing history includes 14 ascents of El Capitan, in California's Yosemite National Park, left a secure corporate-banking career to fill a void in the indoor-climbing market. "Here was a field I knew well and which gave me a chance to fully develop a new business," says Melvin, 36.

It took nine months of work with the San Francisco City Council to settle concerns of earthquake safety and parking for the building that Melvin would lease and renovate. The center houses weight and locker rooms, showers, saunas, a pro shop, and a massive climbing wall, built of steel, plywood, and concrete, and standing 50 feet high at its tallest point and 200 feet wide.

To raise the $500,000 he needed, Melvin rounded up 30 people who invested $5,000 to $25,000 each. Some were family members or friends, but the majority, says Melvin, were "climbers interested in seeing an indoor rock-climbing facility being built."

Three months before Mission Cliffs' opening, Melvin undertook an aggressive marketing campaign to sign up members. Using mailing lists purchased from two mountaineering magazines, Climbing and Rock & Ice, Melvin's staff sent fliers to climbing enthusiasts who lived or worked within 10 miles of the center. 'We started with climbers because they would spread the word for us," says Melvin.

Offers of discounts for early memberships and tours of the unfinished facility produced surprising results: Half of the 250 charter members had never climbed before. Mission Cliffs' two largest membership groups are youngsters and people 20 to 35 years old. The center's current membership base is 1,000. Individuals pay $50 a month for membership; a family of four pays $105 a month. Nonmembers pay a daily use fee.

Mission Cliffs offers climbing and instruction in basic techniques and in belay, the method of securing climbers by ropes. Instructors are available for private lessons and monthly clinics on advanced climbing techniques. Youths ages 7 through 15 participate in mock competitions and enjoy indoor and outdoor climbing at Mission Cliffs' summer camp.

"I don't think you can maintain your edge without continually innovating," says Melvin. "Otherwise, someone is going to do it better." He and his 10-person staff continually offer new programs, such as family climbing nights, corporate parties and team-building events, and sponsorship of climbing events to raise money for nonprofit organizations.

Melvin and his investors are now exploring growth options. In December, Mission Cliffs announced the acquisition of Class 5 Fitness, a climbing gym in San Rafael. Another avenue of expansion, Melvin says, could be managing climbing waDs for businesses such as health clubs, which would convert unused space to offer the activity to their members.

"We're on the path of a million-dollar business," says Melvin. "The next question is how to get to $2 million. I think we can do this in other places very well.