Welcome!

Welcome to the official Minnesota Climbing Cooperative blog. The Co-op blog was created for sharing information about the climbing community and starting positive conversation among climbers from around Minnesota.

If you would like more information about the Co-op, please visit our main site, mnclimbingcoop.com.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Meeting Location

The May 15th meeting will be hosted by me & Kris in our backyard. We'll be voting on some very important issues, so if you want a say in things, you'd better be there! We'll be deciding if we want to be an LLC or actual Co-op. We will then be nominating a "board or directors" to continue the process through some of the finer, legal issues. We will also be spending some time talking about our bylaws and what they should be. If you need directions, please email me @ lynnj13@gmail.com or call my cell 651-208-6318.

If it's not raining, we'll climb on our wall after the meeting!

Bring a lawn chair to sit on, we only have about 6 of our own!!!

Time to get this train out of the station!!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Next meeting Date Set & Overview of Spaces

Hello there! We are having our next meeting on Saturday May 15 @ 7pm. Location to be determined! Any suggestions? Perhaps, we could have it in one of the other spaces. So on that note, I'm going to list out the 4 different spaces we've viewed with potential so far, and their pros and cons. Please comment if you feel I've overlooked something very positive or negative about any of these!

Bolger Building Space 1
Stats: 900 sq feet, ___ feet clear ceiling height, $900 a month(suggested price)
(IMAGES COMING SOON....SOON AS SOMEBODY SENDS ME SOME!)
PROS
•CHEAP! About a buck a square foot gross!
•Tall ceilings
•Private Bathroom & Kitchen area
•Private entrance off parking lot w/ lots of parking
•Right across the street from a bar
•Close to Campus & NE Minneapolis
•AC (air conditioning)

CONS
•Cinder block construction/may need to build all of the walls supportive structure $$$
•Uncertain of ceiling truss strength & ability to hang any structure from it.
•Group consensus felt it was a little small
•We have to keep our bathroom & kitchen clean
•Someone saw a rat during our meeting in the space


Bolger Building Space 2
Stats: 2500 sq feet, ___ feet clear ceiling height, $1200 a month(suggested price)













PROS
•CHEAP! Same deal as the other space!
•Private GARAGE DOOR entrance & potential for "person" door as well!
•Plenty of parking
•Public(building) bathrooms, (we don't have to clean them!)
•Lots of space, room for some growth
•Right across the street from a bar
•Close to Campus & NE Minneapolis
•AC (air conditioning)













CONS
•Cinder block construction/may need to build all of the walls supportive structure $$$
•Uncertain of ceiling truss strength & ability to hang any structure from it.
•NOT directly off from parking lot, (Like the other space in this building) but has back door w/ interior corridor to the space.




Thorpe Building Space 1
Stats: 2,496 sq feet, 14-16ft clear ceiling height, 3 room-spanning bridge cranes, $1325 a month













PROS
•Amazing existing steel structure strong enough for our needs,(WAY cheaper to build our walls)
•Directly across the hall from a bathroom we DON'T need to clean
•Windows along one whole length of the space (the long one too!)
•2 Huge window fans installed at 2 points down wall, excellent ventilation.
•Room to grow
•Coffee shop (and it's a good one) attached by interior hallways!
•Just within our price range
•In NE Minneapolis














CONS
•No direct/designated entrance (though they are willing to give every member a key or a keycard)
•We would likely be paying for all/most of the keycard system & install
•No AC, but big ass window fans
•High voltage line attached to I beam on one side
•Costs more than either Bolger space







Bridge Cranes







Thorpe Space 2
Stats: 4,11o sq feet, 21.5Ft clear ceilings, 1-3 room-spanning bridge cranes, $2,182 a month













PROS
•Gorgeous space with windows along top 3 of 4 walls!
•Perfect shape for maximum usable space
•PLENTY of room to grow & grow & grow
•Existing steel structure provides almost limitless wall design possibilities (free standing boulders/stalactites/arches)
•Ceiling is tall enough for vertical or "roped" climbing
•Directly across from bathroom, (that we are not responsible for cleaning)
•Connected by hallways to awesome coffee shop
•In NE Minneapolis













CONS
•TOO Expensive, unless we get a sweet deal
•No direct/designated entrance (though they are willing to give every member a key or a keycard)
•We would likely be paying for all/most of the keycard system & install
•No AC, NO big ass fans(yet), but good potential for easy ventilation install thru windows
•Expensive! But that's before any negotiations...












•••The bridge crane rides along the top of the I-beams that are half way up the wall. They sit @ 14 feet at the top. The one you can see in the other space is easily rolled down, and there is the possibility of getting 2 more!


Please comment below or email your thoughts to me @ lynnj13@gmail.com

LOCATION OF UPCOMING MEETING ON SATURDAY MAY 15TH TBA!!
CHECK BACK SOON
!!!