Alex Vanotti
March 15, 2018 13:20
It's hard to write a critical review since this is the only real gym option in the area, but here are my honest thoughts after 3 years of membership:
1) The route setting cycle needs to be dramatically shortened. There are still numerous routes in the lead area that were set back in 2017 (As of 3/15/18). I love to climb but often find myself leaving the gym out of boredom rather than exhaustion. It's hard to stay motivated and train if you've done the same routes over and over again.
2) The gym needs to figure out an effective system for pairing up solo climbers who are looking for belay partners. They have a wrist-band system but I have yet to see it actually work. Most of the gyms I've been to have an easy system where the front desk staff makes an announcement "Is anyone out there looking for a belay partner?", and it's very effective. Not only is it easy to implement, but it's a great way for members to meet new partners. I've asked the front desk staff it this would be possible but the response was "we don't do that here". I know that there is a meetup group but I think an informal system for regular walk-ins should be implemented.
3) The music is terrible. Truly terrible. They have a rock-bot app that allows members to request songs, but in practice it turns into a painful mishmash of Skrillex, Abba, Coldplay, Tiesto, and then Journey. No joke, that was the lineup one night. Go ahead and play Abba all night long, but please just give us a theme of some kind.
4) There are often children running around unsupervised, sometimes dangerously so. I've seen multiple kids nearly get crushed while running under people who were bouldering above them. I understand that this facility has multiple user groups, but please do a better job of managing this during peak week-day hours.
5) Gym management needs to better manage their facility scheduling, particularly with regards to the youth climbing team. I'm a huge fan of youth climbing teams and I'm very impressed with the level of coaching this team gets. But scheduling their practice/training sessions during the peak 5-8pm weekday hours should be looked at. The gym is already packed during this time, and having a group of 10-20 team members taking over a wall during that time seems sub-optimal. If no other feasible time window exists, perhaps "reserve" a few routes for team practice during that time and notify members ahead of time, similar to how a pool has reserved lanes for swim team practice. Right now the entire scene on a weekday evening is quite chaotic and unpleasant to be around.
I hope this gym can reduce the chaotic vibe that currently exists on weekday evenings. I'm a fan of the route setting (aside from the frequency) and I think this gym has a lot of potential.