Karabin Climbing Museum
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Museum at the Phoenix Rock Gym

For years the area above the bathrooms at the Phoenix Rock Gym was not being used. Eventually in 2004 a retail store named “Over the Crux” occupied the space but first a stairway had to be built and a railing containing the space was built for the store. Over the Crux eventually closed their store then I got the inspiration to open a store of my own named “AZ Cliff Hanger.” But first I told the gym owner Dief that my store had to have a roof built onto it and I must have a ladder that slid across a wall in the store that would access higher up shelves that would hold the many shoes I will have for sale. I always admired libraries that had tall sliding ladders. So Dief built the shelves and the sliding ladder and I completed the roof onto the store. 
So in October 2006 AZ Cliff Hanger went into business. But the recession in 2008 made my small business really tough to compete against the larger stores, and at that time many climbing gear manufacturers decided to sell their own products on their own websites which undercut the smaller business climbing stores. In 2010 AZ Cliff Hanger went out of business. Then in 2012 another store named the “Tufa Gear Shop” took the space and sold climbing gear and then went out of business in 2014. The upstairs space sat open once again for over a year. In 2016 we decided to turn the space into a lobby adding a long counter top for people to use as a desktop while they were viewing the climbing going on every day in the gym. From there I began to create displays of historic climbing gear which slowly filled in every open space left in the lobby, and along the stairs leading up to the lobby. The lobby turned into the Karabin Climbing Museum. In all actuality I was very glad to get the space back since I put a lot of time and passion into designing it for my past store. Every year I create new displays for the museum, or redo some of older displays to share the many awesome pieces of climbing gear created over the years. The Karabin Climbing Museum totally rocks!!!!
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With the help from Justin with Planetary Climbing, we created a display where people can interact with the gear.

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On the corner wall by the museum was a few hundred photos of fun climbing moments shared through the years with many friends. February 2020 I replaced the photos with a awesome large art piece named "Climbing Spirit."

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The original floor for the AZ Cliff Hanger store was made up of thousands of climbing stickers. Here is a photo of Summit Cox having fun assisting me in repairing the floor with sticking a few hundred more stickers onto it.

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