Cornerstone Climbing Community
Cornerstone Climbing Community
Where: Castlegar, BC
Year Established: 2020
Website: climbcornerstone.myshopify.com
Owner: Kiefer Burrows
We specialize in climbing hold manufacturing and outdoor retail.
Give us a brief description of your manufacturing processes and philosophy.
Start-to-finish hand-made indoor climbing holds. We begin with foam for the original shape, then make moulds with hollow backs to reduce material. The moulds are then filled with polyurethane, finished, washed and shipped.
How many employees and/or contractors do you work with?
One.
What brought you to the Kootenays and how long have you been here?
The rock climbing brought me here. A few years ago I started climbing here and fell in love. Ever since then I had wanted to live in Castlegar. Finally, this year, I was able to make the move.
Tell us about the history and relative work experience of your founder(s).
I have been climbing for the majority of my life and it has always been a dream to do something in the industry as a career. I started shaping foam in 2020 and then learned how to produce a finished hold in just a few months. From there I quickly learned everything I could to reduce material and streamline the production as much as possible. The climbing hold industry is a very secretive one, so I needed to teach myself and watch as much YouTube as possible. Now, almost four years in, Cornerstone is a trusted Canadian climbing hold manufacturer, shipping worldwide and will soon be producing climbing holds for other companies in Canada.
Describe the mission, vision, goals, and aspirations of your company.
Currently the mission is to streamline the manufacturing process further, using things like 3-D printing to speed up some of the slowest processes. The next goal is to open a small but state of the art climbing gym in Castlegar to bring indoor recreation to the city as well as to create a place to showcase the climbing holds and grow the manufacturing facility.
