Meet Chris Tansey | Rock Climbing Gym Owner & Operator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Tansey and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Life is full of risks and rewards. Opening Gecko Climbing Gym for me was a journey into the unknown, a walk of faith, with so many chances to fail and fall flat on my face. Although I went to school and received a youth ministry’s and biblical studies degree as well as achieved a Masters of Divinity, I believed this was possible. I served as a children’s, youth and college pastor for about 14 years of my adult life and always maintained a passion for the outdoors, camping, cycling, trail running and of course rock climbing. The idea of opening a climbing gym was exciting and has always been there since my early college years. When I was 32 years old, and somewhat plateaued, I decided to go for it. In May 2019 I networked like crazy, went to climbing industry conferences and obtained an SBA loan in January of 2020, right before the pandemic hit. Thankfully, my bankers and realtor were committed to me through the process because I was the underdog trying to open something huge when no one could predict the future. We must of had 40 landlords tell us no, not interested, until we landed our current North Phoenix location in October of 2020. It took 6 months for the construction phase and we opened 1 week after Governor Ducey removed business occupancy limitations due to the pandemic. The timing was perfect and the reward for all the hard work and risks taken was felt by the community’s embrace of our climbing gym.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I feel this was answered in our first question, but here is another good story.

My wife and I were all over the place in regards to coming up for a name for our climbing gym. One evening, as we were entering through the front door of our home we noticed geckos in the alcove above. One of us said, “Geckos are great climbers,” and the other said, “Gecko Climbing Gym!” We debate to this day who actually came up with the name.

Gecko Climbing Gym is actually a perfect name for an Arizona climbing gym as geckos are everywhere, a common backyard decor and even our freeway art uses geckos in the large murals.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
There is a lot of pressure in this question and there are so many possible answers!

I would definitely find time to enjoy our climbing gym together as well as an outdoor climbing trip somewhere! We could climb on Camelback Mountain or the Superstitions in the winter, or in Flagstaff or Pine in the summer. We would get some mountain biking in the McDowells and some cycling across the Sonoran Desert to Bartlett Lake. You know, those long 50-100 mile rides. It would be fantastic to get a camping trip together on the Mogollon Rim, or a whitewater rafting trip in the Grand Canyon! There is so much to explore and enjoy, the possibilities are endless.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Of course my family deserves my greatest thanks! My wife Catherine, our kiddos, my grandparents, parents, in-laws and extended family all supported this dream in becoming a reality. I’m especially grateful for the Climbing Wall Association, my SBA bankers, realtor, wall supplier, general contractor, landlord, and the 100 or so members committed to our climbing gym before we even opened!

Website: geckoclimbinggym.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/gecko_climbing_gym/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/GeckoClimbingGym

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/gecko-climbing-gym-phoenix

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@geckoclimbinggym9523

Image Credits
Ryan Ferrian Jake Chappell Makayla McGarvey Bella Wang