How much is too much for your climbing gym?

TLDR: we pay $14/day. I'm not going to answer "how much is too much?". If I say $X is too much, they'll raise the rates to $(X-1).

The bf and I climb at Salt Pump in Maine. It's a very nice gym, with good route-setting, excellent and friendly staff, and nice clean/new facilities. $14/day is reasonable, although obviously I wish it were less.

We buy a punchcard which gets you 11 days at the gym. Usually the punchcard is $175, but since we are members of the AAC, we get a 10% discount (IIRC). So with the discount, it's about $14/day. It's well worth it to stay in reasonable climbing shape over the winter. I'd buy a membership, but the gym is so far away (~ 1.5 h each way) that it's not feasible to go more than once a week. And if we miss a week somehow, the punchcard is definitely a better deal than the membership.

I find that I'm just sick of the gym thing. I think it has a lot to do with the casual crowd in there. They don't really climb they just hangout and call themselves "climbers". I find most of them totally obnoxious. Climbing is serious business!

Tradiban wrote: I find that I'm just sick of the gym thing. I think it has a lot to do with the casual crowd in there. They don't really climb they just hangout and call themselves "climbers". I find most of them totally obnoxious. Climbing is serious business!

its more of a meat shop than anything with all of the yoga pants and dudes (shirts off of course) who only lift weights but do it at climbing gyms now because of the girl to guy ratios....

Tradiban wrote: I find that I'm just sick of the gym thing. I think it has a lot to do with the casual crowd in there. They don't really climb they just hangout and call themselves "climbers". I find most of them totally obnoxious. Climbing is serious business!

The most serious endeavor ever undertaken!

To be honest I'm over climbing gyms myself as well.  The air quality usually sucks and they have gotten so crowded over the past 13 years.  Thankfully I'm not broke as fuck like I used to be so I'm just building a damn wall in my backyard.  Only 10' tall but 20' wide with a top out and you can traverse around the entire thing (about 50' for a full circuit) for endurance training.  So I guess my answer is that I would pay thousands to NOT climb at a gym!

Here in Oakland, with the Sierra @ 3 hours and Yosemite @ 3.5, gyms can be key here depending on your needs.

For a Touchstone pass I paid $891 up front for 12 months, or $74.25/mo. If you pay by month it's $84, + $100 initiation if you're new or returning from having cancelled your membership. $10/mo to freeze, I think.

Includes a free membership for our girl til she's 12, one guest pass per month plus one Fri night when members can bring a friend for free, what I find to be generally good route setting, high enough walls though you always want higher, a good lead cave and a good bouldering cave at our home gym Berkeley Ironworks. Sauna, classes, etc but like others I don't use those much. Good imo array of hangboards and weights.

With this membership you can go to any Touchstone gym. There's another a 15 min bike ride away in downtown Oakland, in SF, and semi-confirmed rumors of another to be opened in West Oakland in future. This is important because god damn has it gotten crowded. The lead cave is generally not too crowded, but the bouldering walls and the top ropes get swamped at peak hours. We need that third gym here in the east bay to ease the crowding.

damn. this thread (and the air quality one) sure makes me feel lucky as hell about the gym I go to.

the yearly offer is ~$400
monthly is 65, and a frequent flyer program lets you earn 2 or 3 free months per year if you go often enough.

above $0

As long as it's cheaper than a month of therapy, it's worth it to me economically

San Jose, CA (Same Touchstone chain as Sirius above) 

"Family Membership"
$84/Parent 1
$74/Parent 2
$74/Children (13-17)
$0/Children (0-12)

My older son and I pay a total of $158/mo which is crazy, but since the younger two kids (under 13) get in free it sort of averages out. We climb there 2 or 3 times a week since it's only five minutes from the house. Decent gym, lots of routes and never too crowded at the times we go (mid-afternoon or weekend mornings). 

The better gym is $90 per month. The cheap old small gym is $59/month.
Punch cards are the way to go.

Full price walk in day pass at Planet Granite in Belmont, CA is $25! I visit twice a month while on business. Mesa Rim , Reno day pass is $17. MR is three times the size, you aren’t climbing over each other, and best of all, it’s not the Bay Area. Location, location, location,,,

other wrote: The better gym is $90 per month. The cheap old small gym is $59/month.
Punch cards are the way to go.

While I'd love the option of going to the gym that has auto belays on the days I want to work endurance, I can't swallow the punchcards. They're still ~$17-$19 per visit. I just checked the last full month on my climbing tracker and I went 19 days. That averages out to be under $4 a visit for my $75 per month. 

And that's the heart of my threshold. If I'm using the gym a lot, I'll pay more (though $75 is definitely getting close). At $90 or so, I'd consider pausing it during the warmer months. At $100, I'd look at other options. 

climbing friend,

gym of grand valley climbing center, region of grand junction, co, piloted new rip off policy some whiles back of charging you $8 to utilize them lead ropes, in addition to what you have already paid! great odin's raven, may they see the error of their ways!

Aleks Zebastian wrote: climbing friend,

gym of grand valley climbing center, region of grand junction, co, piloted new rip off policy some whiles back of charging you $8 to utilize them lead ropes, in addition to what you have already paid! great odin's raven, may they see the error of their ways!

Be careful saying anything remotely negative about GVC.  You might get facebook stalked by the owner and several nasty emails asking you to remove those remotely negative comments.  It is a legitimate possibility.  

Sirius wrote:and semi-confirmed rumors of another to be opened in West Oakland in future. This is important because god damn has it gotten crowded. The lead cave is generally not too crowded, but the bouldering walls and the top ropes get swamped at peak hours. We need that third gym here in the east bay to ease the crowding.

Grapevine says GW closes when West O opens.. hope that’s not gospel...

s.price wrote:

Just curious but why are rates going up? Are gyms incurring higher costs to operate and passing it on or just raising prices because they can?

Locally we only have a non profit co-op bouldering gym. 40 bucks a month or 420 for the year.
Gym climbing bores me but I support it anyway for the community. It's been open about 8 months but I have yet to go.

Prices are going up (at least in socal) because everyone and there MAMMA is signing up to be real hard core plastic pullers. The largest and by far highest quality gym in San Diego for example, Mesa Rim, has raised prices 3 times in the last three years. it used to be 71, then to 82 and now finally this year 94 (i think?). My guess is that people are still signing up in groves. Until consumers buck the trend and start cancelling memberships, prices will continue to rise.

Important to note as well that Mesa Rim dominates the San Diego market and realistically has no competitors (for those who want to sport wank) and has all of the best locations for those office junkies who need to pull on their plastic after work.

Jake Jones wrote:

Do they allow you to bring your own rope?  If not, then that is a ripoff.  Most of the gyms I've been to that offer lead ropes do so for free- especially the ones that require you to use their ropes (which is only one that I'm aware of).  If the ropes are in good shape, and they offer you the option to bring your own, then I don't see the issue with charging for lead ropes.  They're not free and they should get changed out frequently.  Some places they do, some don't.  I bring my own rope because more often than not, the lead ropes at the gyms I climb at either have dead spots and sheath slippage bad enough to make the rope look like an elephant trunk when you lower, or they're thick enough to hold up a suspension bridge.  Plus I prefer to know the history of the cord I'm climbing on. YMMV.

I've never heard of a gym that allows you the option of EITHER bringing your own rope, or using theirs. All the gyms that I've been to have just one policy, not both.  Either you must use their ropes for leading, no outside ropes allowed, or you must provide your own ropes, the gym doesn't supply them. But it would make sense...

I pay $45/month (student rate). It's a small, old gym with few amenities. Which is perfect. I'd be bummed if my only options were Touchstone-style gyms that charge twice as much per month for a bunch of services I have no intention of using.

s.price wrote:

Just curious but why are rates going up? Are gyms incurring higher costs to operate and passing it on or just raising prices because they can?

Locally we only have a non profit co-op bouldering gym. 40 bucks a month or 420 for the year.
Gym climbing bores me but I support it anyway for the community. It's been open about 8 months but I have yet to go.

Short answer: Because they can.

They will justify the raise with "We are remodeling to serve you better" blah, blah, blah, but I think it's obvious that the gym is super busy and by weeding out some of the on the fence folks they can ease the crowds a bit AND improve the bottom line.

In reality the crowds don't ease up because people just pony up more so it's a huge win for the gym's profits. I don't think climbing gyms have hit the price ceiling yet, crossfit is like $200/month!

Fanny Pack wrote:

What do you have against sport?

How much time do you have?