After remaining dark since May 29, 2011, Searcy’s only rock gym, Zion, reopened its doors to the public on Monday, Jan. 23.
“We’re still in our giddy stage — our crew and our regulars — because we’re open again,” owner Sean Hudkins said.
Hudkins said Zion and the Underground Café closed last year due to financial issues beyond his control and the building both companies were housed in fell under the ownership of First Security Bank.
Hudkins said he and his wife formed Peace Agenda, LLC, to purchase the building and permanently once again establish Zion in the community. Now Zion has a covenant in the contract for the building that states Zion will remain in its current location unless the future owners agree to pay for its relocation.
As part of the reopening, Zion held a free-climb day last Saturday and will host another free-climb tomorrow from 3 p.m. to midnight.
It also announced several changes for the gym, including a $5 “Ladies’ Night” that includes free gear rental every Thursday and cheaper semester passes that now cost $65 with gear and $60 without instead of the passes that cost more than $120 last spring. For an additional $15, climbers can also purchase rental gear for the entire semester. Hudkins said that he plans to occasionally give free day passes to members with semester passes so they can invite their friends to climb at Zion too.
“Instead of having a group of hardcore climbers, we want to open it up to anyone who is interested,” Hudkins said. “We hope our regulars will bring their friends so they can see if rock-climbing is for them.”
Additionally, the routes on the climbing walls have been redone to create routes that meet the skill set of anyone who comes to climb at Zion. The most difficult routes are now in their own room, called The Crux, which derives its name from a climbing term that denotes the most challenging and complex moves on a route.
Sophomore Jerry Eberly, one of the employees at Zion, said he is glad that the routes are now more accessible to climbers of all levels.
“Now everyone can feel the lightning adrenaline feeling of success when you get to the top,” Eberly said.
Other upgrades to Zion include new equipment to strengthen core muscles.
Hudkins also said he plans to start selling sports drinks, sodas and energy bars at Zion, and he wants to transform the area that used to be the stage of the Underground Café into a hangout spot with couches and a projection screen that will play feature-length films that focus on rock-climbing. According to Hudkins, all of these upgrades are in place to convert Zion into a haven for people in Searcy.
“Our purpose is to share Christ’s love through the medium of climbing,” Hudkins said. “We want to provide a safe atmosphere for people to be in community. Harding students can come here to escape from campus, and kids who normally wander around on Pleasure and Woodruff can have a place to go.”
Junior Ben Hall, who also works at Zion, said he agreed that Zion’s existence is more than just providing a place for rock-climbers to hang out.
“This is a great place for community,” Hall said. “That’s what our goal is — to create a community of climbing and make a ministry of it.”
Be sure to check out The Link at thelink.harding.edu to catch more photos and video to find out more about Zion.
