Dear FAmily,
We hope this message finds you, your family, and loved ones well!
Great news: First Ascent will reopen all of our Chicago locations on Monday July 6th!
With Chicago health officials’ announcement yesterday that the City is moving to Phase 4 of reopening this Friday, we’re beginning preparations to reopen the gyms and welcome you back. We’ve waited months to send this email, and we can’t be more excited to get back to serving our community the way we love to once again.
As we reopen, we are implementing many changes to enhance our standards for health, safety, and cleanliness, taking them to the very highest level possible. Some of these changes will require you to take extra precautions and change your routines, and some of them might feel strange at first. We ask for your understanding, flexibility, and help as we implement these changes to keep our community healthy and climbing strong. We truly are stronger together.
Our reopening plan is laid out in full on our website and is linked below. One important component of the plan: we will open for members only access at first. We know that might be disappointing news for our Day Pass visitors and 10-Pass holders, but we’re doing so primarily to ensure our reopening protocols are able to meet the demand safely before opening the gyms up to the broader public.
Click below to review our comprehensive reopening plan.
We also want to take this moment to express our immense gratitude to the FAmily for your support during the closure.
Thanks to your support, First Ascent was able to cover some of its expenses and keep a few staff on to manage the day to day during the closure.
Though we made the difficult decision to furlough the majority of FA staff in April – including ourselves – as we prepared for the extended closure, your support enabled us to set up an assistance fund for any staff who had difficulty getting unemployment insurance.
And now that we’re on the road to recovery, we are working to bring back as many staff members as possible to prepare for reopening. We know we’ll be on this road for a while and there are still some twists and turns ahead, but thanks to your support, we are confident that First Ascent will be around to serve our community and employ our staff for many years to come.
You also showed up in a big way for your fellow Chicagoans by donating time and resources to support our neighbors facing food shortages these past few weeks. It’s inspiring to see this community get stronger even when we are apart, and that’s why we can’t wait to be together again, even if things are a little different for a while.
We look forward to climbing with you again soon!
Best,
Dan, Joe, Jon, & Dave | the First Ascent founders