“The Ledge” What is it?
The First Ascent team is proud to announce “The Ledge” at the Avondale gym. This is FA’s new co-working concept, designed to provide office spaces to our community to work on their projects between climbing their projects.
Starting today anyone who comes to co-work at Avondale will obtain access to one of a number of portaledges – hanging from our 60-foot tall walls – fully equipped with (at minimum) a lapdesk, a power-strip to plug in all essentials and a small basket to hold office supplies so they don’t roll off and fall to the ground.
An office/work adventure
The elevation chosen – in 10 foot increments – determines the cost and amenities when reserving space at The Ledge.
Here’s a breakdown of the five elevations co-workers can choose from (each upgrade in elevation gain gets everything the lower elevation portaledges get):
The lower level 10-foot-off-the-deck The Ledge office includes the essential lapdesk, power-strip and a basket.
At 20 feet the portaledge office is beamed access to 20% quicker Wi-fi, and complimentary bottles of water are belayed up when ringing a small bell (included).
At 30 feet one gets a desk to sit in, a chair, a lamp, a wide-brimmed gardening hat with a bottle of 30-spf sunscreen to combat the effects of harmful UV rays at higher elevations, and cans of spray paint to unleash your inner Banksy on the wall behind your portaledge when inspiration strikes.
At 40 feet, a Lazyboy is provided along with delivery of espresso drinks or drip coffee (hot or iced) via drone from our new FA Quick Coffee app (available on Android and Iphone)… optional cream and sugar is precision-dosed and premixed prior to the flight’s departure in the cup’s insulated carriage; Instagram-worthy latte art included on all lattes, cappuccinos and traditional Italian-style macchiatos. (note: FA will not serve decaf… decaf is basically just dirty water… so just don’t)
The 50 foot FA The Ledge office includes all amenities the 10-40 foot hanging offices do, but also an optional standing desk upgrade, mini-weather station with up-to-the-minute updates from NOAA, polarized alpine mountaineering sunglasses, oxygen tank for the thinned out air and a push-button GPS tracking beacon that can summon an FA employee to climb up to give on-demand high-fives. For an additional fee at this elevation, a BASE jumping parachute can be provided for those moments when nature calls in a hurry.
The future of the climb/work hybrid lifestyle
Our mission is to serve and grow Chicago’s vibrant climbing community. We’re excited to invite climbing freelancers, writers, students and anyone else who needs a quiet place for work – or another place for browsing the Internet in comfort – to partake in this wonderful new addition to the First Ascent brand.
And coming June 31st: “The Mantle,” a fully wired, digitized and optimized conference space for rent on the Anvil (top-out boulder).
By: Gabriel Skvor
PS April Fools!
