Ce petit centre de blocs aux couleurs éco-anar-communautaires est le fruit de l'union d'un montréalais et d'une américaine des prairies du Midwest. Ils se rencontrent de par une nuit de printemps bien étoilée en plein cœur de Séoul, la mégapole sud-coréenne. Ensemble ils découvrent et cultivent un amour démesuré pour l'escalade et le plein-air.

En 2012, ils décident de s'installer à Montréal et d'y ouvrir un petit centre de blocs inspiré des très petites salles souterraines et chaleureuses qu'ils fréquentaient à Séoul.

Ce petit centre devient vite un lieu de rencontres, de partage, et de défis qui alimente humilité, émerveillement, et gratitude.

Au cœur de cette très petite entreprise: la conviction que les TPE jouent un rôle vital dans l'épanouissement des communautés tant et aussi longtemps qu'elles demeurent petites, intimes, intégrées. Nous rejetons l'idée fixe que la croissance continue est indispensable à la santé (pour ne pas dire la survie) d'une entreprise et nous nous engageons dans la voie de la simplicité volontaire vers la convivialité et la résilience.

About the owners…

Hi! We're Philippe and Lacey, the founders of Shakti. Philippe was born and raised in Montreal, Lacey comes from the farmlands of rural, western Kansas. We met while teaching English in South Korea in 2007 where our relationship, our love of climbing, and our appreciation for small scale, community-focused bouldering gyms all began.

In 2012 we made a decision to settle in Montreal and make a home here. Though we thoroughly enjoyed our years in Asia, we were seeking a more permanent sense of rootedness and community. We built Shakti with our English teacher savings, some loans from friends and family, and a strong desire to create the community we craved.

Building a small gym is somewhat unorthodox in North America, where bigger bigger bigger seems to be the model of choice. But we had a strong inkling that Montreal would embrace the intimate, neighbourhood gym that we so loved in Seoul; and we’re over the moon that that has turned out to be the case.

We're grateful every day for this place, for the people who share it with us, and for all the climbing adventures it's taken us on. We hope to climb with you for many years to come!

We are guided by our core values of community health, simplicity, thrift, and mutual aid.

We believe that small businesses bring health and vitality to communities, and reject the notion that constant growth is necessary or desirable. We believe that constant, profit-driven expansion is at the root of what ails us culturally, economically, and spiritually. We attempt to combat this by supporting the small and local, and by staying small and local.