“Welcome to Aloha Rock Gym,” says Jeff Jackson, a UH Maui College English professor, veteran rock climber, and co-owner of this new business.
Walking through the doors of the 10,000-square-foot Kahului building, you’ll see walls covered in colorful climbing holds.
“We've got the bouldering walls start right here,” he explains. “Bouldering is the type of climbing that you do without ropes. So we've got big pads, you can climb up and jump off onto the ground and fall onto the pads and not be hurt. And they're about 15 feet tall.”
Keep walking, and the walls get higher.
“You see that we got rope climbing," he motions overhead. "It's about 40 feet tall, so plenty big, especially in Maui, where we haven't had much outdoor climbing, and people are just becoming familiar with the sport. This will be a great introduction to roped climbing.”
A group of six friends and family members passionate about the sport came together on Maui over a dream that’s been four years in the making.
“So what we're psyched about is basically making a community center,” Jackson says. “So one of the things that Aloha Rock Gym will provide is a place for people to come together in kind of a healthy environment, exercise, gather and socialize.”
Jackson says it’s been a journey.
“This is the first climbing gym — believe it or not, amazingly, there hasn't been an indoor climbing gym on Maui, so we're really excited to put that together. And it hasn't been easy.”
Scott Odell is one of the owners, along with his wife, Kevalin Hutachinda.
“It's right here in Kahului, next to Costco. It's 10,000 square feet,” Odell says. “It was a huge logistical effort.”
“Many landlords said, ‘No,’” Hutachinda adds. “We had no credit history. They didn't want climbing walls bolted into the ground. They didn't really see the vision really, so our landlord took that bet on us, because he too had felt how empowering climbing was for his life and his youth as well.”
The walls were built and installed by the world’s leading climbing wall manufacturer from Bulgaria.
“We have something like 8,000 climbing holds that Tyler and Kevalin picked, literally by hand, like with every ounce of love and energy that went into it,” Odell says. “And so we built this super special place to be an uplifting and empowering space for the community.”
For the team, it’s all about community.
As they waited for the gym to take shape over the past several years, they partnered with other local organizations to do mālama ʻāina cleanups. They raised money among the global climbing community for Maui fire survivors. Odell and Hutachinda hosted a displaced Lahaina family in their home for two years, even building a climbing wall in their backyard for the kids.
Now, Aloha Rock Gym’s Kokua Program partners with local organizations like Imua Family Services and Maui Economic Opportunity, working with underserved and at-risk youth. They’ll bring kids in to climb regularly. As part of the gym’s Founding Membership program, members can choose the Kokua Membership to pay a little extra. A portion of those fees will support those youth.
Odell says the recently launched program has already gotten a lot of support.
“We've had a lot of people that said, yeah, for just 10 bucks a week extra, I want to make sure that another kid in the community has access to climbing.”
Tyler Dail is one of the owners, along with his dad, Tony, and wife, Angie. He specializes in setting routes, or positioning color-coded holds in patterns of varying difficulty. He’s even done it for national climbing competitions. He’ll be changing the gym’s routes regularly, so there’ll always be new challenges.
Now, he straps into his harness, ties the rope in a figure-eight and shows us how it’s done.
“Jeff is going to be the belayer,” he explains. “I'm going to be the climber.”
As the belayer, Jackson stays on the ground to take up the slack in the rope as Dail climbs.
“So once we've checked each other, make sure there's a stopper knot at the end of the belay loop, then we're ready to climb,” he explains. “Cool! Climbing!”
“As Tyler climbs up, I'll just keep taking up the rope,” Jackson says, standing below him as Dail scales the wall like a spider monkey. “I'll be pulling it through this device. And that way, if he was to fall, he'd just swing from the rope. He wouldn't fall any distance at all.”
Once Dail reaches the top, he leans back into the rope and Jackson lowers him down.
“You're off belay,” Jackson confirms, as he unclips his carabiner.
When new climbers come into the gym, all the equipment you need is included, and you get a safety tutorial before jumping in.
The team makes sure the gym is welcoming for everyone, regardless of experience.
“It's really exciting when the community comes in here and they have no idea what they're coming into, and then they look and they see these walls, and all of a sudden they're climbing, and the kids are having fun, and it ends up being a really inviting environment,” says Tony Dail. “It's a sport where you can have literally the best in the world standing right next to a 10-year-old who's trying for his first time, and everybody at every level is having fun.”
Now, Aloha Rock Gym is just waiting on its final certificate of occupancy from Maui County. After all, it’s also the first time the county has issued a climbing gym permit. Hutachinda says it was easy to feel lost during the lengthy construction and permitting process.
“Sometimes you kind of lose sight a bit, but then when you see kids climbing… that brings us back," she says. "This is why. It gives light to the end of the tunnel for us.”
The team hopes to hold a grand opening later this month.
They encourage the community to learn more at their website and sign up for their newsletter to be the first to know about the opening events.
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