Sender One Training Center - OPENING SPRING 2021

Construction kicked off in early January with the arrival of Vertical Solutions, who are providing beautiful bouldering walls for this space. The Sender One Training Center is located in the same plaza, McFadden Place, as Sender One SNA and right next door to Gear Co-op. Once completed, we will have limited operating hours for youth and training programs to practice while we slowly open up for member reserved hours.

Learn more about the space by reading our initial announcement.

Sender One Playa Vista - OPENING SUMMER 2021

We are scheduled to begin construction in mid-February with a projected opening date this summer for our very first bouldering only climbing center. If you haven’t already, take a peek at the facility design and walls by Walltopia and head on over to Sender One Playa Vista’s homepage to sign-up for further updates.

Learn more about what this space will have to offer in our announcement post.

Sender One Westwood - OPENING 2022

Still, in its early stages of planning, Westwood is moving at a slightly slower pace with a projected opening in 2022. We have met with the design review board for Westwood Village and the wall designs are almost done. When we decided on opening our second bouldering only climbing center at Westwood Village, we knew that we’d face some challenges due to the historical value of the building. Stay tuned for additional information about Sender One Westwood later this year.

Learn more about this location in our announcement post.

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Although the unexpected events in 2020 slowed the progress of our new locations, we’re happy that we can begin moving forward and cannot wait to open these Sender One locations. We’re looking forward to creating more climbing experiences while welcoming existing members and new folx to the community!

Dear Sender One Community,

Thank you for all of your support during our second shutdown as best as you’ve been able--for sticking with us, and for returning.

It’s been over a month since SNA reopened again.  Each day and evening since then, the staff and I have seen more and more familiar faces (albeit under masks).  I am also just astounded by the number of LAX members that unfroze their memberships and have been making the drive to Orange County.  After months of living under a cloud of uncertainty, the progress in just the last few weeks has brought all of us hope and reminded us that our passion and efforts to help others discover and connect with climbing are meaningful.  We may just “run a climbing gym company,” but we see how important it is to have this space for all of you to get through the days ahead.

Over the past few weeks, we have listened to you and--within the constraints placed on us by public health regulations--slowly expanded our capacity, our hours, and welcomed back punch pass users.  We have also brought back on-demand instruction, private training, and aerial silks.  Before each step, we carefully evaluate its potential effects on the risk and safety to our community of members, customers, and staff.

If the coronavirus pandemic continues to remain in check, and hopefully improve, we will look at continuing to expand operations at SNA, such as: opening the SNA fitness center for member and punch pass users; welcoming back Sender City Annual Pass holders; and allowing day users and guest passes for members.  As a parent of two little girls, I dream of a time when birthdays are celebrated in Sender City once again--even though I know this may be far in the future.  

Many of you have also asked the staff and me about construction progress on Playa Vista, Westwood, and the SNA training center.  All of these projects are still happening, but any major movement is on hold until 2021.

Despite all of these hopeful and positive steps forward, each day I walk into one of our gyms, I remember what it was like not too long ago, and how different our pandemic-stricken present continues to be.  To continue to keep Sender One open, we all need to keep meeting our personal and social responsibilities to comply with health and safety guidelines the best we can--especially as we enter the flu season.  I also cannot avoid the fact that each day, when I review Sender One’s finances, I see the same reality--under current state and local guidelines, where SNA is allowed to open at only 10% capacity in the “red tier,” Sender One loses more money being open than it would if the gym remained closed.  We opened for our community and our staff and because of our core values--but the truth is Sender One needs help.

To that end, alongside 25 other California indoor climbing companies, Sender One has helped form the California Indoor Climbing Coalition (CICC).  The CICC’s first mission is to petition state health authorities and the Governor’s office to allow indoor climbing facilities to open in the “purple tier”.  Based on the science and data we have received from medical and public health professionals; and the experiences of literally hundreds of climbing facilities across the country that have been open the past 4 months, we know that with social distancing, vigilant mask-wearing, and the move to liquid chalk, indoor climbing facilities can meet state and local health guidelines.

I’m writing to ask for your help.  Over the next few days, the CICC and each of its member organizations will be contacting their state representatives and local legislators.  At the same time, each member organization will be asking their respective community of members and customers to email the Governor and California Public Health office.

Please join Sender One and the CICC in this effort.  Contact the governor’s office by sending them a letter from our website: www.ciccoalition.org.  Tell your friends who climb at other indoor climbing facilities to do the same.  We will get through this, together!  

With love and gratitude,

Alice Kao
Co-Founder, CEO

PS - We are thrilled to announce that a Covid-conscious Bouldering League is returning to Sender One SNA! More details can be found at www.sender.one/league.

Dear Sender One Members & Community,

When Los Angeles and Orange County gave the green light for Sender One to reopen, I found myself conflicted...again.  In March, when we first shut the gyms down, I found myself torn between trying to save Sender One and doing what was best to fight the pandemic.  I am happy and relieved that we are able to reopen the gyms, but I ask myself the same questions as when we closed the gyms in reverse.  “Is it responsible to reopen?  Should we require masks while climbing?  Will members want to climb despite all that we will ask of them so that they can?“

Added to these questions about balancing Sender One and everyone’s physical health, there are now overlaid a whole other group of questions that, as a Chinese woman running an indoor climbing gym business, I’ve also started to ask myself.  “Could Sender One have done more to promote justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion?  How do we do more right now, when it feels like it takes everything we have just to save Sender One to be a place that can even ask these questions and take more action?”

I feel the weight of these questions every day--both professionally, but also personally.  My husband and I come to the gyms almost every day, knowing that to be able to do that and save Sender One, we ask my mother to watch one or both of our daughters every day.  Is the risk worth it?  Every day the gyms are closed, the company is in the red; opening the doors only means we are less in the red.  Under these circumstances, can and should we risk Sender One’s future right now by giving some of the resources that we do have to those who need it more?

I don’t know the “right” answer to any of these questions, much less all of them at the same time.  How do I perfectly and simultaneously save Sender One as a business; keep people safe while they come to climb; and forge more diversity and inclusion for people of color in a space that I know from personal experience could use it more.  It will be a delicate balancing act to answer these questions and then act consistent with those answers.  But I am certain we will do everything we can--choosing with our hearts and guided by our core values--to do our best.  I am also certain that we will do everything we can to learn and do better after the inevitable missteps and mistakes we will make.  I know this because this is how we try to run Sender One in all of its aspects every minute of every day--with empathy and humility, but also conviction.

How do I know this?  Because I see around me a community of members that also reflect our core values.

I could hardly contain my emotions through my mask when I saw the first familiar faces come into our Santa Ana gym last week as I gave them their health screenings.  I definitely would have broken into tears if I could have hugged them.  I have talked to as many members as I could the past few days and I have been blown away by everyone’s kindness and willingness to do everything we’ve asked them to do to climb.  I’m also overwhelmed by how much everyone has appreciated our efforts; we honestly didn’t know how this was going to go after everything that has happened in the world.

Everyone is making their own decisions about if they want to return to climbing.  Many of you are not ready, and we thank you for remaining part of our community of members even though you aren’t climbing right now and may not for sometime.  You could easily have cut your ties and I wouldn’t blame you.  It is a difficult dilemma we know very well--the physical, economic, and ethical quandaries that come from even just deciding to just go to the grocery store, much less go to a climbing gym.  Everyone’s answer to the question of when they will climb again is going to be different.  We will be here for you if you decide you are ready to return.  

For the members that have returned, thank you.  We recognize that when you come to the gym, pay your dues, you are entrusting us with your hard earned wages; your health and the health of those close to you; and the stewardship of the community that calls Sender One home. Thank you for following our new rules. Thank you for climbing with masks on.  Thank you for reaching out to us and giving us constant feedback so we can continue to do better  And most of all, thank you for re-discovering and re-connecting with us through climbing.

Over the next few weeks, if it makes sense to, we will slowly and carefully allow other stakeholders into the facility--customer groups including youth teams, punch pass holders, and day users.  Please know that at each step, we are constantly evaluating whether it is the right call, and we aren’t afraid to modify that call if the situation changes.   

Many of you have asked about Playa Vista, Westwood, and the Santa Ana training center.  All of those projects have been delayed, but are still happening.

I’m also happy to let you all know that we are actually hiring.

I want to leave you with this.

My seven-year old daughter asked me recently, “Mommy, did your school get cancelled because of the Coronavirus when you were in 1st grade?  When are things going to be normal again?  When can we stop wearing masks?  When can I hug my friends?”  And I said, “I don’t know.  This has never happened to me.  Actually, this has never happened to anyone who is alive right now.  All we can do is the best we can each day, and then get up and try to do it again tomorrow.”  If there is anything positive that has come out of the pandemic, it has revealed to me what is truly important--in ways that are impossible to ignore.

With love and gratitude,

Alice Kao
Co-Founder, CEO

You get a mask! And you get a mask! Everyone gets a mask!

In all seriousness, face masks are scarce and hospitals are running out. It is highly recommended that we reserve surgical and N95 masks for healthcare workers on the frontline, combating Covid-19.
That's why we've put together a little how-to on making your own face masks at home using minimal supplies. We do want to note that it is still VERY important that we practice social distancing and to only leave the house or apartment for essential reasons. These simple masks will come in handy when you need to make a run to the grocery store or pick up a prescription at the pharmacy.

STEP 2:

Fold the top and bottom sides towards the center.

STEP 3:

Flip it over carefully. Fold the top and bottom sides towards the center again.

STEP 5:

Fold the left and right ends towards the center. This is the side that will cover your mouth and nose.

VOILA!

You're all done. Now you have a mask to help protect you while looking stylish. We also suggest that you wash this regularly, so it's good to have a few handkerchiefs or cloth napkins handy to swap out for a clean mask.