On September 6th, "Sparrows Climbing Gym" (Honcho, Hirakawa, TEL 0172-88-9257 ) will open near Konan Railway "Hiraga Station".

This store is a refurbished apple warehouse that was built in the 1955s. Shinobu Nagao, the store owner, is an architect living in Hirakawa. It opened when I started bouldering with my daughter four years ago. Remi, who is the second daughter of Nagao and is currently in the sixth grade of elementary school, has a track record of becoming second in the national competition of lead climbing competitions in the fourth grade of elementary school.

The store area is 200 square meters. It is divided into a bouldering area with a wall of 4.5 meters in height and a root area with a reed wall up to 10 meters in height. The renovation was done by himself, taking advantage of Mr. Nagao's core business. I raised the ceiling of the route area and left the apple warehouse door as an entrance. I left the graffiti on the wall and used the insulation as it was.

Mr. Nagao said, "I was originally looking for a property to build a gym that could be used as a practice place for my daughter, but I happened to find the same apple warehouse. I was planning to dismantle it if there were no users." "Because I drew the blueprints myself and constructed it, I'm sometimes surprised that I did it alone?" he smiles.

We asked four setters from outside the prefecture to install the hold. “We asked people who would also set up a venue for the national competition,” said Nagao. We also prepared a wall exclusively for preschoolers and set up a basketball goal link. Reimi also helped create a wall for preschoolers.

The usage fee is 1,800 yen for the general public, 1,600 yen for students, 1,100 yen for middle and high school students, and 900 yen for elementary school students and younger (above all day). In addition, general price is ¥1,500 for up to 2 hours, and general price is ¥1,250 for daytime (14:00 to 16:00) and nighttime (21:00 to 23:00). Above, membership registration is required (registration fee = 1,200 yen, no annual fee). An experience-based course that does not require member registration = ¥2,550 (including shoes and chalk rental fees) is also available. Rental fee is shoes (300 yen), chalk (100 yen), etc. Parent and child discounts and accompanying parents are free.

After opening the pre-opening for 2 days for those who have experienced bouldering, some people said that they had attended for 2 days in a row. Mr. Nagao said, "In Aomori, the national polity was held in 2025, and bouldering, which is also an Olympic sport, is attracting attention, but the competition population is small and there are few practice places. We plan to open schools in the future. I would like to create a place where children can be interested and enjoyable."

Business hours are weekdays = 14:00 to 23:00, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays = 10:00 to 21:00. Closed on Tuesdays.