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How ghetto is your gym?

Original Post
chuffnugget · · Bolder, CO · Joined Sep 2011 · Points: 0

With all the multimillion dollar gyms going up, some are way behind.

Wooden holds, rock holds, bad setting, greasey holds, no AC, kids underfoot unsupervised, musak, shirtless fat sweaty old men...

Or Maybe your gym has 'crappy' holds?

climbing.com/news/study-fin…

Michael Sweeney · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2014 · Points: 0

Do water-logged crash pads count? What about a constant B.O. smell? Ropes that are fuzzier than my unshaven face?

chuffnugget · · Bolder, CO · Joined Sep 2011 · Points: 0

Absofrickinlutely!

john greer · · modesto · Joined Jun 2009 · Points: 110

ALL OF THE ABOVE...
PLUS ROUTES MORE THAN A YEAR OLD. GOT TO HAVE SOME FECAL FILM AFTER A YEAR OF USE.

Michael Sweeney · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2014 · Points: 0

I forgot one: duct tape to repair several holes in the floor mats.

Mark Lewis · · Salt Lake City, Utah · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 260

Both Momentum locations in UT are awesome, great gyms! I think the bouldering area in the Millcreek location smells like stale urine for whatever reason, anyone else sense that funky smell back there?

mediocre · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2013 · Points: 0

They didn't need to do a study to prove that. When I worked at a gym I would cringe seeing all of the people going in and out of the bathroom in climbing shoes.

Joan Lee · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2014 · Points: 140

"Crux" gym in Slo has got to be the cleanest gym in the world!
Has anybody ever inhaled bat shit on here?

Bill Kirby · · Keene New York · Joined Jul 2012 · Points: 480

Earth Treks in Maryland is great place to stay shape for when I can get the f**k outta Bmore. The gym and staff are top notch. Some of the members attitudes there contain feces though.

Taking a wiz and washing hands are a routine right before leaving the gym.

mustardtiger · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2011 · Points: 20

What about walls that have been under construction for years. We get new holds and new routes regularly though so I can't complain.

Eliot Augusto · · Lafayette, CO · Joined Dec 2013 · Points: 60
mediocre wrote:They didn't need to do a study to prove that. When I worked at a gym I would cringe seeing all of the people going in and out of the bathroom in climbing shoes.
I think this would be a valid point if it wouldn't happen regardless of whether or not they wore their climbing shoes in the bathroom. If people wear the tennis shoes out and walk into the climbing area, sit down on a bench, and put their climbing shoes on where they just walked. It may not get as dirty as quickly that way, but the same thing still happens.

Oh, and your tooth brush most likely has E. coli on it. And pretty much everything else in the world except a microprocessor manufacturing plant or a DuPont chem lab.
Petsfed 00 · · Snohomish, WA · Joined Mar 2002 · Points: 989
David Sahalie wrote:Anyone heard of gyms spraypainting holds? Apparently, Walltopia walls have a texture that repels tape, so holds have to be spraypainted the same color for the route to be one color. Thinking this would have holds slick cuz the porous texture gets filled... Maybe also locks in the fecal film.
In the same way that trapping a mosquito in amber locks it in. Once its locked in, its not really a threat anymore.
Mike Cara · · Hendersonville, NC · Joined Jul 2014 · Points: 21
coralcliffs.com

This place has to be in the running.
No A/C.
25 foot walls
No water fountain
Prison yard style weights
Mattresses under their "homemade" bouldering wall
Routes that finish above the anchor
Routes that cause massive pendulums
mediocre · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2013 · Points: 0
Ben Beckerich wrote:I occasionally find syringes, torn womens underwear, and broken liquor bottles at my gym
But what does the gym look like outside of the managers office?
Paul-B · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 115

Went to a gym in Ohio, in an old church. Most of the routes went up into the steeple. Still had original stained glass and everything. No A/C, it was summer, at least 20 degrees hotter in steeple than down at the base- 90+ degrees. Nearly impossible to finish hard routes because of the massive amount of sweat.

Benjamin Chapman · · Small Town, USA · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 18,818

Your gym is what you make it. Get involved. If you don't like something, say something. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Nobody can read your mind. Speak up.. Pick up after yourself. Don't expect others to do it.

Creed Archibald · · Salt Lake City, UT · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 1,016

Some say "ghetto." I prefer words like "quaint" and "homey."

Neyma Jahan · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2014 · Points: 65

my gym in chaing mai - is the most ghetteo faarking "handmade" gym in the ghetto, but it has made me a better climber than any fancy S.Cal gym. . .

they pour all the holds themselves and they have a chimmney, slab, arete and lots of steep(er) walls on top rope and lead at various grades and not to mention the 2x4 roof beams as the anchors. . but why not. . .

not to mention it is sweltering in the tropics with no AC and I look like I just jumped in a pool after a session there. . but there is something nice about it.
and I do love the $2.50 "belay service" (i am not kidding you!) for when I show up without a partner.

llanSan · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2014 · Points: 130

my gym in chaing mai

!We want pictures! !We want pictures!

Sean Sullivan · · Idyllwild, CA · Joined Apr 2010 · Points: 105

While I agree that fecal matter on holds is disgusting, I think that people forget that gym climbing, no matter how good, is still gym climbing. My favorite gym was the City Climbers Club at Columbus Circle. It was the size of a basement, the walls were 15 feet high, the holds were old as hell...but it was dirt cheap and the bar was a short walk! It kept me in good enough shape to get out on the weekends and I was happy. Other gyms in NYC, like Brooklyn Boulders or Chelsea Piers, are much nicer agreed, but you pay for it. If I had to choose between a cheap, crappy gym or a nice, expensive one, I'd go crappy every time...and save that chunk of change for a Mohonk Membership.

Sean (tommy)

Mike-R · · springfield, Mo · Joined Dec 2011 · Points: 45

20 year old wood chips for a floor, no heat, no a/c, re-stuff homemade crash pads, static rope for top ropes that pig tail or are not long enough for both climber and belayer to be standing on the ground, no ventilation so you are always inhaling chalk, donation bucket for new holds.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

General Climbing
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