OGDEN — Don’t call it a climbing wall.

A new gym in downtown Ogden, The Front, may be centered around rock climbing and bouldering, but also functions as a full-fitness facility for all types of athletes.

Sure, the centerpiece of the gym, which opened about a month ago, is a series of climbing and bouldering walls ranging from about 15 to 40 feet high. But unlike your typical climbing gym, The Front also features the amenities of a regular fitness facility — weights, exercise bikes, showers, changing rooms, and even yoga classes.

“We want to separate ourselves from other gyms,” said Shane Bryson, an experienced climber and manager of the new facility. “It’s a full-fitness facility. It’s not just for the climber.”

More than 10,000 square feet of bouldering, lead and top-rope walls, plus a complete set of strength and cardio equipment, provide year-round training and recreation.

The Front caters to all climbers, from beginners to seasoned pros. It offers a range of simulated climbing terrain for both learning and refining skills and strength.

One of its main features is “The Pit”, an area of top-rope and lead climbing walls that rises about 40 feet from the floor. Builders dug eight feet into the ground to create the higher walls, which feature more than 15 sport climbing routes catering to climbers of all skill levels, including a roof area that rises to a near-horizontal pitch at the top.

The Front has ropes, harnesses, shoes and all other necessary equipment for rent, or guests can bring their own gear to use.

There’s also a smaller climbing area for kids, and a crack climbing area for those who are so inclined.

Perhaps the most unique feature of the gym is a 16-foot-high bouldering wall featuring problems ranging from novice to expert.

Consisting of finished wood and backed by rolled steel, the wall is peppered with thousands of painstakingly installed T-nut anchors that allow for mixing and matching of holds in different locations on the wall, creating endless possible combinations of problems.

Bryson said there’s nothing it like in Utah, at least north of Salt Lake City.

“We have the best set routes and boulder problems anywhere,” Bryson said, adding that he plans to organize major competitions and events at the bouldering wall.

The rope climbing and bouldering walls were built by Vertical Solutions, a Salt Lake City company owned by John Stack and Dustin Buckthal, who also owns The Front. Stack is part owner of The Front as well.

To complement its climbing and bouldering walls, The Front also provides instruction and training classes.

From youth and adult climbing classes, pilates, to the increasingly popular yoga for climbers, classes at The Front are designed to improve technique, strength, balance and flexibility.

The yoga classes are taught by Maggie Smith, an instructor and climber who moved to Utah from Michigan last year and has been involved with the gym from the beginning, helping with the design, construction, and founding membership drive.

Smith, who received yoga training from an internationally known instructor in Michigan, said the gym is currently offering 13 classes per week in the mornings and evenings. She hopes to expand that to 20 classes per week, and offers several types of yoga training, ranging from more athletic, workout-type styles to slower, more restorative styles.

“It’s catching on in Ogden with the huge outdoor community,” she said. “It’s good for these athletes. It helps prevent injury and balance the body.”

The facility also plans to add more exercise and fitness equipment, and has plenty of room to expand into what is currently open space at the south end.

The Ogden location is the third for The Front, which also has gyms in Salt Lake City and Boise. Bryson said the Ogden location is the largest of the three.

The Ogden location offers daily rates, monthly and annual memberships, as well as punch passes.

In keeping with the other tenants of the renovated AmeriCan complex, such as Amer Sports, The Front has preserved the natural wood and steel framework, along with the large window panes that allow ample natural light to stream through.

Bryson said that with all of the outdoor recreation-related business and activity that exists in Ogden these days, it’s a perfect time for The Front to become part of that scene.

The response so far has been very positive, and the gym has been reaching out to groups ranging from local corporations to local Boy Scout troops in an attempt to drum up more interest.

“This is the biggest climbing gym north of Salt Lake,” he said. “Ogden needs this.”