The Spot vs Boulder Rock Club - Re-Do

I am looking for a gym this winter.

I need to know where to spend my money and get a good gym membership. You can only get so much from their website or a one time visit.

I guess the REAL questions are

How busy/packed on average?

Is there "team" or JRs that take over at a certain time?

Quality of routes?

How often closed (comps)?

Attitude?

Here ya go:

mountainproject.com/v/brc--…

They are both busy/packed if you go at the peak times. I have a dual membership and don't really worry about that. If it is busy, I just deal with it.

Sometimes some jr's take over at both, but I usually miss them or can work around them. Flexibility is key.

Quality of routes is good at both. Personally I find the problems at the spot more interesting than the routes or problems at BRC. I think BRC's routes are pretty consistently graded and generally high quality and a little on the soft end. In my opinion, the problems at the Spot are the best I have ever climbed in a gym.

I am not sure how often they are closed and it has never bothered me.

Attitude. I am fine with the attitude at both. People are people. I think the average age at BRC is greater if that matters to you.

Get a dual membership if you can afford it. I usually go to the spot but sometimes it is nice to get on roped climbs. There are a lot of self-belays at BRC which is nice.

If you can't get a dual membership, you might consider what type of climbing will make you a better climber. I think there is a big difference between training on boulder problems vs training on routes.

The Spot--
Parking can be a hassle on Monday afternoons ($5 discount day)
Some of the employees at the desk are pretty rude and give off real bad vibes.
Always crowded
Unrespectful asshole hipsters who have never been on a route before will jump in front of you to steal your problem.
Good routesetting...tends to be very gymnastic and more about strength than technique
No rope routes

(some people speak highly of this gym but personally it's not my cup of tea...i like the other two much better)
2 out of 5 stars

BRC--
Better parking situation than the other gyms
Very friendly staff. So friendly that the routesetters will actually walk around, watch you do their problems and then have a conversation about it with you. Wiley is cool too!
Pretty laid back atmosphere, everyone is friendly and pretty respectful of one another.
Good routesetting...not as many gymnastic power problems but a lot more technical problems.
Handful of great roped routes
(my personal favorite)

5 out of 5 stars

Movement--
Parking here is like trying to find someone at the downer who isn't trashy.
Friendly staff and a friendly laid back atmosphere.
Great routesetting with tons of great roped routes and a small but good selection of bouldering.
Very architectually appealing design, clean, new, modern.
Also has a good fitness/weight room.
You may have to wait for a lead rope for upwards of 30min on busy nights.

(very nice gym...the only reason its not my favorite is because i cant afford it)

4 out of 5 stars

If you show up after about 6pm at the Spot or BRC you won't run into any kids teams. They pretty much run 4 to 6.
Hope that tid bit helps.

I know the Spot will let you in for free on your first visit. I don't know if the other two gyms in town have a policy, per se, (I realize you didn't ask about Movement, but it we'd be remiss to not discuss it), but I'll bet if you talked to a manager at those gyms, they'd also let you in for free/deeply discounted rate. Though I could be wrong.

I get a pass at Movement for a couple months in the winter. What I dislike the most about it is the pricing structure; it's pretty expensive and you can't have a monthly recurring pass if you buy less than six months or something like that. In Boulder, that's a little ridiculous considering the amazing weather and amount of easily-accessible climbing for most folks. I also think they received a significant federal grant to build the gym (because they built it "green"), so it seems they should be able to keep their pricing in line with the other roped-climbing gym in town. But I haven't seen their books so I don't really know that; it's definitely an assumption on my part. I can only hope that they pay their employees better than the other gyms since they charge more for their month passes.

I like Movement better than the BRC mostly because the routes are longer. The parking is slightly better at the BRC. When the Movement lots fill up, there aren't many options for overflow parking; at least at the BRC when the lot fills up, you can simply park a block down the street and walk a short distance.

In terms of route setting, gym climbing is gym climbing to me. They both have quality setters. I wonder if they employ grade VIII setters.. ;-)

The little kids/college students/hipsters can be a little annoying at the Spot, but if you're assertive, you can usually avoid any hassles with them. However, I can no longer boulder so that's not an issue for me.

IMO, It's worth the price of a day pass at each of the gyms to find out which one(s) you like. If they won't let you in for free on your first visit, I would ask if they'll at least let you put the price of your day pass towards a month membership if you decide to go that route.

--Marc

P.S. I just noticed that you can expand the typing and thread-review boxes when you're responding to a thread. That's a bad-ass feature Mtn Proj admins!

I got really tired of climbing at 'the cock rub', mostly because they have a kid sized wall that they don't use (better to let children run and play underneath maxed out boulderers). Also there are some serious punk attitudes regarding cutting off climbers that are waiting to climb (ie jumping in front of someone that is tying in). The cock rub is classic Boulder climbing snobbery.
The spot is packed and smells like a gym sock, but the climbing is super fun, and there seems to be less 'rock cock' attitude.

On a side note I see the spot has opened the 5 before 5($5 day pass before 5 pm) to the general public while simultaneously increasing the price of this admission to $8.

From what I can see the cost of a day pass has gone up $1-$4 at each boulder gym somewhat recently.