Sunshine Coast climbing gyms Boulder Heads and Flow Bouldering reveal reasons behind sales boom

With sales soaring and hundreds of new members signing up, bouldering gym owners reveal the reasons behind the sport’s appeal. Here’s why people can’t get enough.

Boulder Heads co-owners and siblings Jad Lee, left, and Temma Lee, right. Picture: Tristan McCool.

Sunshine Coast free-climbing gyms say sales are climbing as people become more aware of the social and “addictive” sport.

Flow Bouldering is a premium bouldering facility along Cedarbrook Dr, Forest Glen, which opened early last year by couple and experienced climbers Angel Freeman, 25, and James Hembury, 34.

Mr Hembury said the number of members and walk-ins have risen dramatically since opening, with revenue climbing 20 to 30 per cent in the past six months.

“We’ve been slammed,” he said.

Mr Hembury, whose member base has risen from 100 to more than 300, said customers typically aged 18 to early 30s have been flooding the place in the evenings after work, saying he was now “running low on space”.

Flow Bouldering owners James Hembury, left, and Angel Freeman, right. Picture: supplied.

He said the sport was social, “addictive” and Instagrammable, adding that people “feel like a boss” when they post videos of themselves climbing on social media.

“Once you start climbing, it’s one of the only things you talk about,” Mr Hembury said.

Climbers at Flow in Forest Glen. Picture: Eddie Franklin

The couple opened the facility because it was their dream to open a climbing business – a goal recently achieved by another duo in the region.

Siblings Jad Lee, 36, and Temma Lee, 33, founded one of the region’s newest bouldering gyms, Boulder Heads, along Edison Cres, Baringa.

Boulder Heads co-owners and siblings Jad Lee, left, and Temma Lee, right. Picture: Tristan McCool.

Mr Lee said sales were steadily rising as people started to notice the sport following the release of a popular free-climbing documentary, Free Solo, and the sport’s debut in the Tokyo Olympics last year.

“That’s bringing a spotlight on the sport,” he said.

While bouldering venues were now “popping up all over”, he said the sport in Australia was lagging behind compared to the rest of the world.

“It’s going off over there, but it’ll get here eventually,” he said.

Mr Lee described his venue as a “Covid baby” given he launched it after losing his income while working as a DJ in Berlin during the pandemic and being forced to fly home.