.

It sounds a bit ridiculous. But I've seen a lot of people get hurt falling in bouldering gyms- including a friend who was a very strong climber and broke his back in the gym.

Closed fists sounds stupid, and it may be a little over and beyond the typical 2 minute "dont climb above this height, dont fall on people" intro, but then again... with liability insurance, a gym has to play to the lowest common denominator, and there are a lot of idiots out there.

Brassmonkey wrote:So a new gym just opened nearby in my area and a lot of people are jumping ship to go to the new gym (PRG East Falls) because of a myriad of worthwhile reasons. Regardless, a good friend of mine was telling me about her experience there and what she had to do to be allowed to climb there. Wait, when I say climb, I mean boulder. No ropes, no belay's. etc. She had to take a bouldering test. Yes, a bouldering test. They made her properly position her crash pad, and made her fall onto closed fists, as this apparently prevents injury. They then made her take "unintentional falls" onto her back as well. When she messed up the fist thing the first time they told her if she messed up two more times she would have to take a bouldering class to be able to climb there!!! Please, pleaseeee tell me this is as ridiculous and hilarious as we all thought and not a common thing at other gyms. Also she is a very attractive young female, strong boulderer, and others at the gym said they didn't have to do any such test. Chime in!

At my local gym you have to take the TR belay test to be allowed to boulder. Now that's rediculous!

bad falls bouldering in the gym is probably one of the most common ways of getting hurt inside ...

Lawyers and liability perhaps. Sounds crazy though.

I don't need lessons in how to fall...instead I need them to provide lessons to parents so they don't let their stupid kids run underneath me when I'm about to dyno to the last hold.

I have no problem with gyms requiring tests, since I'm sure they're only doing what they need to do to cover their asses legally.

People often get hurt in gyms because of poor padding, not because of how the climber falls.

David Sahalie wrote:People often get hurt in gyms because of poor padding, not because of how the climber falls.

David Sahalie wrote:People often get hurt in gyms because of poor padding, not because of how the climber falls.

Thank goodness I passed the test at Morrison.

The way I figure it, the moment Locker walks in the door of ANY "Climbing" gym, he should be offered A ONE WAY TICKET OUT THE BACK DOOR!

Brassmonkey wrote: They made her properly position her crash pad...

Seeing as PRG Oaks no longer provides belay devices for TR, I'm not surprised at this nonsense. Glad I let my membership lapse....

This practice of testing bouldering falls on a crash pad before allowing bouldering will end as soon as someone is hurt trying to fulfill the requirements of their test. Good luck gym trying to defend "we asked her to fall onto her back multiple times" in a court.

Am I the only one who noticed that last bit of the OP? Maybe dudes were trying to Mack on a pretty climber and wanted more time to work their game? Haha

Just as a counterpoint for how the rest of the world works.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting a climbing gym in Munich, Germany. You walk in and give them your money. No tests, no waivers, no nothing. Just a "have a good time". Then you walk by the bar! on the way to the walls...where everyone is leading, not a top rope in the entire place.

So our country is so %^&$%ed in so many little ways.

I had to take a test recently on how to use an auto belay, which was new for me. I've used auto belays a couple of times and honestly they seem pretty intuitive, clip to self, climb, clip back to anchor. But I guess given the number of people who have been hurt because they failed to clip in to their auto belay it makes sense. My gym even added an extra clip in so you're clipped to the auto belay twice.

willeslinger wrote:Am I the only one who noticed that last bit of the OP? Maybe dudes were trying to Mack on a pretty climber and wanted more time to work their game? Haha

I don't really think this is all that ridiculous. You have to get a lead test, and a top rope belay test to do those, why it is so hard to believe they'd add bouldering. There are lots of people who get on the bouldering wall without knowing what they are doing because they are beginners and don't know partners yet for anything else. People get hurt all the time. If you're a good boulderer and know the rules, then it's just a couple minutes and you pass, big deal. If you don't know, then they make you take a class and prevent a stupid injury from someone who doesn't know better. I'm not against one time tests because gyms are a business. They need to make sure you're safe and get the money from classes when they can. All businesses worry about these two things. The only thing I don't like is when they charge money for tests because all tests should be free. Its weird other people say they haven't had the test but I doubt they were doing it because she was a pretty girl. Its not like making her take a test will make her want to date them and watching someone take practice falls is super attractive. Maybe its just a new rule they didn't have before.

Locker wrote:" Its not like making her take a test will make her want to date them and watching someone take practice falls is super attractive"... To be totally honest, that really would depend on the angle of view.

I've worked a climbing gym since 1998 - it is kind of hard to imagine all the inventive ways people come up with to hurt their selves if you leave them go it alone without some training - especially teenagers. We don't have any formal "tests" but we don't just turn them loose either. Insurance companies can also write some strange rules for a company to follow - and follow them you'd better. Thankfully we've not had anything more serious than a few strained muscles here.