SCARBOROUGH — The town’s first climbing gym, Salt Pump Climbing Co., is open for business.

The 10,000-square-foot indoor climbing center at 36 Haigis Parkway offers rope-climbing and bouldering, rock walls nearly 50 feet tall, general gym fitness equipment and a yoga studio.

Plans for the climbing gym were first presented to the town in October 2013. Co-owner Taki Miyamoto’s conceptual plans, specifically for the building’s facade, were initially criticized by Planning Board members, who worried the facility would look too much like a warehouse.

Miyamoto altered the appearance by adding more windows to break up the building lines, as well as rounding the exterior frame with faux rock faces and trellis structures for ivy.

The building is at the corner of a small pond just off Haigis Parkway, less than a mile from Maine Turnpike Exit 42.

Miyamoto has partnered with Mark Richey and Freddie Wilkinson in the venture. Richey and Wilkinson both earned the Piolets d’Or Award in 2012 for being part of a three-man team that was the first to summit Saser Kangri II in India during a two-month expedition. Before their summit, the peak was the second-highest unclimbed mountain in the world, at nearly 25,000 feet in altitude.

According to a news release from the business, “We believe climbing can enrich our lives and that its culture makes the world a better place,” Miyamoto said. “When we open our doors, you will see our first efforts toward putting this belief into practice.”

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