Mission: Expanded

When we opened First Ascent, we had one simple mission: to serve and grow Chicago’s vibrant climbing community. My partners and I are longtime climbers, and we joined forces to create a space for climbers of all experience and ability levels to enjoy the sport they love, develop their skills, and connect with other climbers.

At launch, we thought of yoga as a complement to climbing, something that climbers would enjoy doing occasionally to rejuvenate and restore their achy climbing muscles. Over the last year and a half, we’ve come to see yoga not as a nice addition to our climbing gym but as an essential part of what we do. We’ve excitedly watched the climbing and yoga communities learn so much from each other at First Ascent. And we’ve gathered an incredibly talented group of yoga instructors that have taught us a thing or two about proper shoulder alignment, “flying” (see: AcroYoga), and taking time out for self care.

In fact, we’ve enjoyed being the connection point for climbers, yogis, and fitness enthusiasts so much, we had to expand our mission. Moving forward, First Ascent exists to serve and grow Chicago’s vibrant climbing, yoga, and fitness communities.

Improving Yoga at FA

And so I’m excited to announce that we’re revamping the yoga program at First Ascent. Starting April 1st, we’re launching a new, improved yoga schedule at both our Avondale and Uptown facilities. Our goals for re-launching the schedule are simple:

1. Add and adjust yoga class times around the schedules of people in our community. We’re especially excited to launch our 7:30 am and 12:00 pm classes, as well as more classes on the weekends.
2. Update class names and descriptions to better suit each class. For example, you’ll now see Yoga For Climbers: Power and Yoga For Climbers: Restorative on the schedule.
3. Add 75 minute classes to serve the maturing yoga community at First Ascent. That extra 15 minutes allows instructors to teach more challenging poses that just don’t fit into an already jam-packed 60-minute class.

The Schedules

Without further adieu, below are the new yoga schedules. You can also peruse the new schedules and sign up for classes on our website: just go to First Ascent Avondale’s yoga page and/or First Ascent Uptown’s yoga page, then navigate to April 1st and beyond to see the new schedule in action.

I hope you’re as excited about these changes as we are. If you feel at all disappointed that your favorite class has been changed, I encourage you to explore the new schedule with an open mind. We have the same great instructors and new class times to meet your needs – I’ll bet you’ll find a new favorite in no time.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email us at yoga@firstascentclimbing.com. Otherwise, we’ll see you in a yoga class soon!

Dan Bartz is co-founder and Director of Marketing & Adult Programming at First Ascent.