Above: Marc Heileman climbing in his Columbus, Ga., gym. Left: Heileman holds a rotatable component that adds variety to a climbing wall.
intertwined with mine, so when we lost him, I dedicated myself to preserving his memory with my own work,” Heileman said, pointing out that the boots Wingo wore during the accident now hang in the Treadstone gym as a reminder of this commitment. RISK AND REWARD
assignment in Georgia. A single class on the campus ropes course got him hooked. “It’s impossible not to be enthusiastic about climbing,” Heileman said. “It’s a real accomplishment to be at the top of a rock wall and know you did this all yourself. Plus, nothing in climbing is standardized; it’s different every time you do it. So you can enjoy the process of getting stronger and accomplishing your goals without locking yourself in a basement somewhere and lifting weights. Climbing takes you beautiful places you couldn’t go otherwise.” Heileman channeled this excitement into his first post-graduation job, helping run climbing activities for the WinShape Wilderness program on Berry’s mountain campus, in addition to building his own skills scaling such lofty peaks as California’s 14,505-foot Mount Whitney, Africa’s 17,057foot Mount Kenya, and more recently, the 3,000-foot vertical wall of Yosemite’s El Capitan, a favorite of experienced climbers. His upward trajectory took a serious turn in 1998 when an accident on Mount Whitney claimed the life of good friend and climbing buddy Jeff Wingo (93C). Although Heileman wasn’t present when the accident occurred, it affected him tremendously, causing him to reflect more deeply and channel his athletic passion into service. “Jeff’s climbing career was very closely
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Heileman’s entrepreneurial spark ignited late in the 1990s when he was working as activities manager at an Atlanta church gym. Asked to expand the activities offered, he responded with: “Why not start a climbing program?” “How?” would have been an appropriate next question. The sport was still so unknown that very few contractors had the knowledge to build what was needed. So he did it himself, drawing on his own knowledge and experience to build a rock-climbing wall, bouldering room and ropes course that in 2003 became one of the first church-based climbing programs in the United States. About the same time, Heileman authored an article on the value of rock climbing for personal fitness that was featured on the cover of an industrywide fitness management magazine. The article encouraged gym operators to bring rock climbing into their facilities, and demand surged. “I don’t know how important I was to that sudden popularity,” he said. “But I was finding my niche in spreading the word about climbing. It felt good to help popularize the sport in ways it hadn’t been before.” Encouraged by growing demand, Heileman launched his company, originally called Cliff Dweller Rock Walls. It was a risky proposition considering the industry’s
infancy, and he had to craft a business plan from the ground up. Soon, however, he was building rock-climbing facilities as far away as Kenya. “It took a lot of hustle in those early days to convince people rock climbing was viable,” he recalled. “But I just took every chance I got to build climbing walls. I couldn’t walk into an empty building without visualizing one. I even walked away from a salaried job to do what I was passionate about.” In 2012, Heileman and his wife opened Treadstone, and the couple has been reaching for new heights ever since. In addition to planning for new facilities, he hopes to spend more time on his own climbing career and is looking for ways to expand his role as a consultant: He currently does significant work as a leadership-training consultant for Chick-fil-A operators, a role that brings him full-circle to his first climbing job for WinShape, an organization created by Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy and his wife, Jeannette. But Heileman’s first priority always is to spread the joy that climbing has given him. “At Treadstone, we’ve got a Christcentered mission to help people written into the business plan,” he said. “But we also want to give people the confidence that comes from achieving a goal. Sharing that sense of capability through Treadstone has been a great experience. I’m more excited about climbing now than the day I started.” B Editor’s note: Now an alumna, Maxine Donnelly wrote this feature while serving as a student writer for Berry magazine.