Opening a gym
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Duck's tone might not have been the best, but he makes a good point about your climbing background, and I'll also point out your lack of business experience. |
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Auto Belays are a waste of $$ and space. The liability is huge. A large gym near me had someone incorrectly clip in and wound up falling. The result is all the auto belay routes only go halfway up the wall. It's a waste of space. |
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SBA loans are mostly secured by real estate or equipment. I expect an SBA loan would only be attainable if you intend on purchasing the space you intend on operating in as a start up business. They would not put much value on installed walls as collateral. |
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webdog wrote:Auto Belays are a waste of $$ and space. The liability is huge. A large gym near me had someone incorrectly clip in and wound up falling. The result is all the auto belay routes only go halfway up the wall. It's a waste of space.No one has incorrectly tied in or been dropped by a belayer? I find it funny so many find fault in the auto belay when it is user error that causes the injury..... I would like to see documentation that the liability is Huge for an auto-belay. |
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webdog wrote:Auto Belays are a waste of $$ and space. The liability is huge. A large gym near me had someone incorrectly clip in and wound up falling. The result is all the auto belay routes only go halfway up the wall. It's a waste of space.They are great for mornings alone. And 2'x2'x1' isn't huge. Its also out of the way of anything that you could possible want to climb at the gym, unless its the ceiling joists. I also gave the BRC my money for auto belays alone, so that I could still train at 6am when its snowy and no one else I know wants to go. As for liability, a gym that I know had to put in twist lock carabiners through a figure eight on a bight on ALL of their top ropes. That way the people that top roped didn't tie a knot wrong. They also didn't hang draws on any of their bolts, so that lead climbing was also taken out of the realm of the their liability. They had a dozen or so auto belays though. The place is called Climb Nashville East. And some people will sue for anything. Just because one guy in one place was an idiot and tried to blame someone else doesn't mean that everywhere has that issue. OR there was a legitimate issue with the device. Since it works off of magnets, it can drop people quicker than intended under the right circumstances. They require preventative maintenance, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out the gym didn't do this. |
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Duncan, |
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Duncan, |
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I am by far no expert on this but have friends that have built gyms, including Joe Hardy and his bros who have built the plastic stronghold successfully around MA. If the gym is that far from you, there may be a market for you, especially if there are colleges closeby. You may risk Joe coming in and building a nice, fancy, state of the art gym next to yours though if that much potential exists! My friend here near Red Rock is building a gym and has partners; all are longtime, experienced climbers who have spent time building relationships with those in the industry and attending OR shows so have contacts and knowledge on materials; you may want to check that out and visit several gyms across the nation. Working at a climbing gym is definitely a good start too. Good luck.. but also be aware that if you post publicly about this, the hiring gym may easily find out what you're up to! |
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This is one of our local gyms. It was built in part of a converted movie theater (REI is in the other half). It cost over $4M to build. |