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 Jeff Butterfield and Casey Newman, Bar Harbor, 1984
In 1984, Maine native Jeff Butterfield and fellow New Englander
Casey Newman opened GALE FORCE CLIMBING
in Bar Harbor -- the first independent climbing school ever
established in Maine. Operating out of a small storefront
on Main Street, GFC tried mightily to convince visitors to
Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park that rock climbing was
a sport worth experiencing. Surprisingly, despite millions
of seasonal visitors to the area, the pair discovered they
were at least a decade ahead of their time: back then, the
average visitor preferred window-shopping and a drive around
the Park Loop Road to outdoor physical activity. After just
two seasons of operation, GALE FORCE CLIMBING closed its doors.
 Chris Kane, Tangerine Trip, El CapOver the next decade things in Bar Harbor
slowly started to change. By 1994 – ten years after GALE FORCE CLIMBING – rock climbing had moved from fringe sport to mainstream activity, fueled in part by the indoor climbing gym phenomenon that had swept the country. Local resident and experienced climber Chris Kane, decided that the time was right for Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park to once again have a resident climbing school.ATLANTIC CLIMBING SCHOOL was born.
By 1995, its second year of operation, ATLANTIC CLIMBING SCHOOL
was so busy that Chris asked Jeff Butterfield to join him
as a climbing guide. In 1997 Jeff became a 50% owner of ACS,
and in 2000, Chris returned west to pursue other interests
and sold his share of the business to Jeff Butterfield.
 Eli Simon and Pete Fasoldt, Newfoundland, Canada 2008
After almost 15 years of service as a guide and over a decade of ownership, Jeff has turned ACS over to the next generation of local climbers. Eli Simon and Pete Fasoldt, both of Camden, Maine, began guiding for Atlantic Climbing School in 2005 and 2006 respectively, and purchased ACS inc. in 2009.
The new ACS logo combines elements
from the Gale Force Climbing and first generation Atlantic Climbing School logos.
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