Climbing Gym Essentials and Concepts

So we've all been to gyms that have features, walls, programs, equipment and procedures we like and dislike. What do you like most about your local gym and what do they do that you would like to see done differently or implemented?

I'd love to see my gym with a pulley system to remove weight for hangboarding.

most gyms that i have climbed at keep the temperature way, way too hot. it becomes more of an excercise in chalking, as opposed to exercise....

slim wrote:most gyms that i have climbed at keep the temperature way, way too hot. it becomes more of an excercise in chalking, as opposed to exercise....

So, so true. This applies to all seasons too. In the summer, powerful AC is a huge benefit, and I'll choose which gym to go to in the summer entirely based on temperature. I don't care how good the setting is, if it is 90 degrees in there...

But in the winter...it is still too hot! Why on earth do they crank the heat up to 70 in the winter? If belayers are wearing shorts and t-shirts, it is too hot to rock climb; this applies to both inside and outside. If they would only keep the gym a comfortable hoody temperature...

Last fall, I had this misfortune of going to Go Vertical in Philadelphia. There was probably a 40 degree differential in temperature between the floor and ceiling, say 110 degrees at the top of the wall easy- it was crazy. It used to be a warehouse, and I'm sure retrofitting AC to the ceiling would have been way more expensive than pumping it out at floor level, so I can't totally blame them. Unfortunately, they also chose to set the worst routes I've ever climbed on in any gym ever, so it made for a pretty bad combo.

EugeneCaffrey wrote:I've seen multiple gyms use pulleys, brc has one used in conjunction with a cabled weight machine. I used it once when I had an injury to my index and couldn't really hang off anything. But other than that I can't really understand its utility. It would seem that you could just start with larger holds and progress from there. I would be curious to know how people utilize this training method.

Train the hold size and type you wish to improve and use pulleys with counterweights to provide progressive resistance if bodyweight is too much.

Jake you beat me to it!

basically what I'm saying is I'm a fat fatty and I'll never amount to anything - I need to be 1% body fat to send 12s ya?

The gym I frequent in boston (or just outside boston) has been getting better, they added a kicker to their campus area so now it's closer to a system board.

From what I understand and have been leaning towards (an adolescent in my training career) is that I would rather very gradually weight my fingers than move to a smaller hold and potentially "spike" the difficulty.

JCM wrote: Why on earth do they crank the heat up to 70 in the winter? If belayers are wearing shorts and t-shirts, it is too hot to rock climb; this applies to both inside and outside. If they would only keep the gym a comfortable hoody temperature...

amen brutha! 55 degrees is where its at!

I would like my local gym better if their route setters were more creative. The crux of just about every route at both gym locations is routinely a huge reach.

TMC wrote:I would like my local gym better if their route setters were more creative. The crux of just about every route at both gym locations is routinely a huge reach.

Huge reaches are the ONLY reason I can climb! Screw those tic-tacky moves between pissy little crimps! I'm happiest when I'm jumping from jug to jug :)

Hire knowledgeable climbers and setters to work at your gym. . . Carabiners in our area is an example in every way of what NOT TO DO.

Maintaining a proper temperature is a good point, something the owners probably don't even consider starting out.

The pulley system for the project board could be done similarly to a pull-up assist machine found in most regular gyms. Im thinking you could modify or add a project board to the top of one of the these pull-up assist machines or fix a piece of plywood above it with t- nuts spread around and just affix the proper hold you want to train on..

Morgan Patterson wrote:Hire knowledgeable climbers and setters to work at your gym. . . Carabiners in our area is an example in every way of what NOT TO DO.

Care to elaborate?

What I like about my local gym:
- Variety of terrain, plenty of options from slabs to roofs
- Tall walls for TR and lead
- Wall-to-wall crash padding in bouldering area (as opposed to moveable pads)
- Temperature is generally cool (gets warm as you go higher, but not as bad as in some gyms I've climbed in)
- Holds rarely spin
- Routes are changed at a good frequency (able to project without getting too bored)
- Staff is generally competent and strict, reducing (not eliminating) the amount of risky, idiotic behavior (especially w/r/t belaying) that I have to witness
- Belayers can use whatever device they want, so long as they pass the test using it
- Pretty good music: nice variety between rock, electronic, hip-hop, etc., and pretty good volume
- Access to other fitness equipment (and yoga classes, etc. though I never have done that)

What I don't like:
- Holds don't seem very well-maintained, and are often kind of greasy
- Although routes are generally thoughtfully set, seems to be an over-reliance on slopers and pinches
- Not enough cubby/storage space, people wind up strewing their stuff all over
- Relatively small bouldering area
- Often feels crowded, not much area to just "hang out" (e.g., if you're the third in a group and not climbing or belaying)
- Dedicated training options are limited (campus board and hangboard available, but in cramped space and only a single hangboard)

For those that are wondering, I climb at Mission Cliffs here in SF. I just moved here recently and have only really climbed in small gyms (in NJ and ME) before, so maybe over time I'll think of more things I don't like and will take some of the benefits of a big gym in a major metro area for granted, but this is how it stands now.

slim wrote:most gyms that i have climbed at keep the temperature way, way too hot. it becomes more of an excercise in chalking, as opposed to exercise....

Interesting. Our gyms are routinely too cold, in my opinion. Painful on the fingers/toes some days.

TMC wrote:I would like my local gym better if their route setters were more creative. The crux of just about every route at both gym locations is routinely a huge reach.

This is common here too, not with every setter, but with some.

Temperature is definitely important, spent an afternoon at Christmas bouldering at the gym near my parents. It was hot as hell, the water fountain was broken, soda machine just took cash, and they had a shirts on policy, it was miserable.

It's cool to get kids climbing and teams/parties are a huge income generator for gyms. That said, if it's a team thing or a party, there needs to be a gym supervisor comfortable saying something to kids if they're out of line. Same gym had kids running around and climbing underneath me, with their coach/whatever just watching.

That same gym on the other hand had a member rating system for their routes, something I think my gym could benefit from. This might help with the huge move crux thing, and give setters some feedback on what members like or want. I think Planet Granite even does this digitally.

Also, don't schedule classes at weird times. Yoga at 8am, workouts at 5:30 etc make it really hard for people with jobs to get to them.

Dislikes:
- Shredded tire flooring and no crash pads
- No separate area for the "birthday party" crowd.
- Not labeling the start-hold of routes with difficulty and setter. - a gym i go to grades the routes on a whiteboard you have to constantly walk back to.
- Imitation rock walls - like Nicros Art-wall. Fun at first, but 3 years later, they're boring.

Likes:
- Foam flooring, and large crash pads in decent shape.
- separation of the "party" area
- Sensible belay policies. - My favorite TR system is an ATC, steel autolocker, 11mm rope, and the rope wrapped around a 6" pipe 1.5 times at the top. ATC is anchored to the floor. So long as the belayer pulls in rope, there is no way to drop them, they just slowly lower.
- Simple belay procedures - with the above setup, it is possible to belay w/o a harness, A gym i go to just secures the belayer to the station with a "belt" made from a 8' rope segment so they can't walk away. This is GREAT for those birthday parties with 20 kids, the parents can be the belayers with minimal training.
- provide gym lead ropes, but allow me to use mine if i want.
- labeling routes with difficulty (or color coding the tape)
- varied terrain - how about some Slab bouldering, not just "pull out of the cave".
- Color coding the tape on boulder problems by difficulty.
- A large collection of V0- routes that a brand new climber can have success on - ie - hey, new person, you should try all the orange taped routes on the boulder, then work on the greens, etc

What I like about my gym: pretty much everything... i.e.

1. Paid and excellent route setters. You get more varied, interesting, and frequently changed routes. Ratings take member opinions into account, but only to a certain degree. But no outright sandbagging. Interesting and challenging routes at whatever grade keep me coming back.
2. Varied wall angles.
3. Friendly, helpful staff. Route setters actually sometimes watch members climb new routes, will sometimes add a jib or two, or change the grade, or give beta if you ask. There is expertise but not a lot of attitude.
4. Employees are present in the gym on a regular basis (not just @ front desk) and intervene if there are unsupervised kids running amuck, noobies doing scary things, etc.
5. Autobelays
6. Free coffee in the AM's, oh yes.
7. A good array of non-climbing workout equipment, incl. cardio. Free fitness classes for members.
8. Coaches who have different approaches, can help climbers at all levels. Free or low-cost classes on some basics seem like a good idea.
9. Separate areas for kids, teaching.
10. Lead ropes, replaced frequently.
11. Places to sit and talk.
12. Showers. (clean)
13. Friendly regulars (members) create good atmosphere, more fun.
14. Open early and late reduces crowding, gives access to people with all different kinds of jobs/situations.

I've climbed at a gym that had fixed belay devices on almost every route, and do not like this. I don't think gyms should encourage untrained parents attending 1x for a birthday party to take on this role. (They should hire gym staff to keep their kids safe. This has the secondary benefit of employing climbers...).

Don't like:
1. Please no profoundly rap-type loud music until after noon.

I climb at the (venerable? wonderful?) Boulder Rock Club. Have climbed at half a dozen other gyms around the country.

John Marsella wrote:I just wish that the BRC would lubricate the slide. It's cool, but I definitely don't build up enough speed on the way down.

Head first on your back is faster and more exciting.

You do wonder what some silicone spray would do though...

One thing that I'm not sure I saw was so far was an overall sense of attitude among the regulars and the staff. It can be a serious buzzkill if the staff is not as excited for new climbers as they are for the rockstar gym rat to be crushing his 5.15 pink route. The way the staff conduct themselves directly affects the dynamics of the gym, both socially and in terms of safety.

On another note, I used to work at a gym that was built by Entre-Prises. The wall was made of fiberglass and molded to look like a textured rock face. Worst design ever. No surface was flat, as a result large holds were out of the question and holds were breaking constantly. T-nuts were difficult to replace. Screw-in holds were not possible...rant rant rant.