One of the best parts of climbing is the partnerships that come from it. Diablo Rock Gym has proudly facilitated a number of life-long friendships and recently, a marriage.
Melinda Armstrong began climbing in middle school. Three years ago, when she became the middle school youth director at Saint Matthew Church in Walnut Creek, she began climbing in earnest.
“It seems I see Melinda in here every other week with someone new,” said DRG manager Hans Florine. “She’s so good at organizing a group of youths and introducing them to the gym and climbing, hard to believe she’s not on our payroll.” As the youth director, Melinda often takes young adolescents into the gym for the first time. “It is has been great to introduce students to climbing and give us an activity to get to know one another.”
Ethan Johnson, a Senior Manager of Strategic Planning and Sales Analysis at Kellogs Cereal Company, joined Armstrong on an after church climbing function four years ago. The pair soon became solid climbing partners. “DRG was where Ethan and I became friends and later where a lot of our date nights happened,” said Melinda. The pair traveled to Vegas, Pinnacles, Yosemite, Tahoe, and to crags across California.
On December 29th, the pair tied an even more important knot, marrying at the local Saint Matthews Church in Walnut Creek. After the wedding, Melinda and Ethan took family members to the climbing gym and climbed with them, introducing them to the activity that brought them together.
The pair climb in the gym regularly. They stopped by three to four times a week to climb but during wedding planning they had to taper done to twice a week. Now that the ceremony is over they’re hoping to get in more often. “There is a strong sense of community there, that’s one of the things I love about it,” said Melinda.
Climbing at the gym offers not only a great chance to get fit but the opportunity to meet the perfect partner. Just another awesome reason to go climbing!
