About

About us

The people behind ELYS

Two owners, one gym – and the idea that bouldering in Basel should belong to everyone.

Oliver Zgorelec

Initiator, founder, owner & executive board member

Born in Dornach in 1979 and raised there. Trained at the Scuola Teatro Dimitri, he worked as an actor in film, television and theatre, later as a videomaker and climbing coach. Oliver is the father of ELYS: he conceived the gym, made it happen and turned bouldering in Basel into a sport for everyone. Today he leads it as an executive member of the board.

Tobias Faust

Owner & executive board member

He has known Oliver since school. Tobias was managing director of Neue Medien Basel AG and has led kult.kino Basel since 2016 – since 2020 together with Gini Bermond. In 2026 he became co-owner of ELYS. He brings culture, operations and entrepreneurship from cinema – and runs the gym together with Oliver.

How ELYS began

For a long time Basel had no urban bouldering gym of its own. The idea and the drive came from Oliver Zgorelec – he is the father of ELYS. In 2018, together with Paul Kramkowski, Jürgen Funck, Till Schmidlin and Moritz Schmidlin, he won the City of Basel tender for Volta Nord, along with a 20-year contract. They built the gym together. Oliver’s aim from the start: to make bouldering in Basel a sport for everyone, not a sport for a few.

What followed was a meeting place for St. Johann: walls, a bistro, training and a space for children. The gym sits inside the ELYS cultural building, a converted former logistics hall on Elsässerstrasse.

Today ELYS Boulderloft covers more than 2,000 square metres. Oliver and Tobias are the owners and lead the gym together as executive members of the board.

Milestones

2018
The tender Oliver Zgorelec – the father of the idea – convinces the city with Paul Kramkowski, Jürgen Funck, Till Schmidlin and Moritz Schmidlin: a gym that climbs and connects. Green light for Volta Nord.
2019
Lease signed Plans take shape. In December the lease is signed. The ELYS building – once a Coop warehouse – wins the Sun21 award the same year for sufficiency and renewable energy.
2020
Build and opening Interior work starts in July; the walls are by Walltopia. In December the gym opens – in the middle of the pandemic, without a big party, but with the first guests on the mats.
2021
Movement playground Together with Felsly and Kinderbüro Basel, a 500 m² «rock and forest» space opens. Children designed it themselves during the 2020 autumn holidays – funded by the Christoph Merian Stiftung.
2022
The new hall In autumn a second bouldering area is added. The movement playground sits between the two halls. Roughly 1,500 m² become more than 2,000.
2026
Two owners Four of the five founders sell their shares. Oliver Zgorelec and Tobias Faust have since been the owners and lead ELYS as executive members of the board.
Today
A place to stay New boulders every week, courses for every age, a busy bistro and a community that shows up in rain or sun. The mats are ready.

What we stand for

Move, boulder, meet

We never wanted just a sports hall. ELYS is a place to train, to meet and to spend time – from the first climb to a project at your limit.

Thought through with children

The movement playground was created by children for children. Families, schools and people with disabilities belong in the house, not at the edge.

Local and considered

Our bistro is vegetarian, largely organic and works with partners from Basel and the region. As a member of IG Kletteranlagen we follow current indoor climbing safety standards.

Curious?

Best to just drop by. Shoes are here, so is a short intro – and the mats are ready. Opening hours & directions · Movement playground

Updated: September 2026