Since The Front opened at 1450 S 400 W in 2001, it’s been hosting legendary events.
Legendary as in, college kids trying to download a highlight reel and shutting down their dorm’s internet in the early 2000s. Legendary as in, our metal walls shaking from noise while Alex Puccio sends her hardest during finals. Legendary as in, spending two years on a trail dig to open climbing opportunities for all. Lean into the legend and read about some of our favorite moments in Front history.
Rosaasen Rocks, Lee Leads. (2004, June). Rock and Ice, (133).
PCA: Pusher Open 2001
In 2001, the PCA (Professional Climbers Association) partnered with Pusher to host their first annual SLC competition at The Front’s brand-new location on 300W. This, of course, is where our facility exists today—our current bouldering area (“OG”) still lives within the same former car dealership. The PCA’s competitions in Salt Lake were often the first of the season and ran alongside the Outdoor Retailer Tradeshow. For the inaugural event in 2001, The Front and Pusher offered a 20k cash purse for those who rose to the top of 200 competitors. If you can imagine 200 athletes in OG, it would be crowded. Adding in 300 spectators, we imagine we may have broken fire code.
Construction on the OG walls had just wrapped up not 24 hours prior to the event. In VHS footage of the comp, you can see construction equipment stuffed in corners, as well as spectators who couldn’t get tickets peering through our glass windows, and athletes struggling to get off the ground on historically sandbagged routes. Just as much as the video itself, the comments below speak to the specific zeitgeist-y time and energy of the event.
John Stack, who podiumed at several Our PCA events in SLC and moonlights as VP of Operations at Vertical Solutions, reflects on the 2001 competition:
“There was nothing like it—there hasn’t been anything like it since. The energy in the room was crazy when Myriam first got off the ground. So loud… We had only finished building the walls the night before, we were riding high on that, too.”
M@. (2004, Fall). Lowdown #07: sendfest. Urban Climber, (7).
Di’namik 2017
The PCA ran its last fabled climbing tour in 2004, leaving a gap in the local competition scene. In an effort to restore the mystique of the early 2000s Salt Lake climbing community, The Front began its Di’namik series in 2013. Still running alongside the Outdoor Retailer Tradeshow, but this time partnered with Petzl, Di’namik welcomed professional athletes and citizens alike. Coined a “Big Little Comp,” The Front welcomed over 300 competitors and 1500 spectators at Di’namik’s peak in 2017.
We could speak to the energy, to the grit, and the pure chaos of Di’namik 2017, but we think the recap says it all without words. Don’t miss this moment of Alex Puccio topping W3 like it’s easy (spoiler: it’s not). Or maybe Matt Fultz on M1. It’s no surprise these two took home the win.
Like the PCA tour in 2001, our Salt Lake City facility’s expansion into ropes had just recently opened. Maybe the expansion wasn’t completed the day before competition, but the Vertical Solutions walls are spotlessly clean, with no rubber smears speckling the birch surface. What better way to utilize new space than to build up bouldering areas on the ropes floor? This has remained one of our favorite party tricks, flipping over a space for a couple hours of legendary sending.
9th Street Boulders 2021
While we’re proud of our moments in competition history, we are perhaps most proud of our spot in Ogden climbing history: the time spent outside the gym confines, improving our community. If you’ve been up to Ogden, you know Benni. A steady presence at The Front’s O-Town gym, our most dedicated Trail Pig, and board member of the OTN, Benni is a jack of all trades.
When we think of the meaning of the word legendary, we think there’s nothing quite as legendary as Benni’s spearheading of the 9th Street Climbing area. Benni identified the area, established routes, and made it his end goal to make the climbing accessible. With so many low impact climbs, with most settling between 5.6 and 5.10, Benni wanted to make the area a breeze to get to, easier to set a top rope anchor at, and all around more welcoming.
Working with the city, Benni gathered the troops (Ogden members—you know his ability to get you to sign up for a dig!) and built stairs up to the area. 52 erosion-proof stairs were needed to create a “one way up, one way down” stairway to the anchor point. Each step takes two hours of work, making this project something huge. Over 15 trail digs later, and two years of work, 9th Street is one of the cleanest, best maintained crags in Ogden. We wouldn’t have the access we do without Benni and his Trail Dig team.
We’ve got a big history, with tons of stories. As we continue to build up who we are and grow, there’s space to get involved in all things legendary. Join one of our citizens competitions—we’ve got Bouldering League coming up where you can feel like you’re in the PCA from any location. Trail Digs are starting back up this month—sign up at Ogden’s Front Desk to be an honored Trail Pig. And grab some Front Merch the next time you’re in—there’s nothing sweeter than running into someone in the wild who knows the chair, knows the gym, and knows our story.
This month, members get 30% back on apparel that reps our brand.
