Climbing gym design

I'm looking at designing a facility, have a solid general concept of layout, have seen my share of climbing gyms, but would like to crowd-source any thoughts, ideas, observed flaws, annoyances, etc you've encountered during your interactions with the world of plastic. Thinking more about the physical space than the operations within, however I value input of any sort if you are inclined to respond.

Gym to include TR, lead, boulder, fitness - standard amenity line-up.

Oh, and I promise to take all comments as gospel
Thx!

Don't neglect bouldering it shouldn't be some after thought, anybody who's serious about training pretty much only use training facilities and the bouldering facilities.

In your boulder be sure to make any terrain features more exaggerated than you think they need to be. i.e. make any arches taller and span a wider space if possible, make overhanging prows longer or wider, and slabs should be vast if you have them. This allows you to take full advantage with these features instead of setting the same 2-4 types of routes on them over and over again. Also, top-out boulders are gimmicky; I would rather have 2-3 more feet of wall space than be able to top out on a boulder.

Agree with Ben on most things except the topout boulders. If you have room for a few definitely worth it imo, especially if they have relatively challenging geometries (sloping, hard to hold, over overhang, etc). I feel like most new climbing gym walls have become too tall anyways. 15 ft should be fine

My two favorite climbing gyms are Planet Granite San Francisco and Sender One LAX. Worth checking them out in person or at least online. Sender One was purpose built as a gym. PG SFO is some kind of old military building on the Presidio. Both have lots of rad features.

One thing that's missing from a lot of climbing gyms is a good social gathering space/work space. I know it seems odd but having a social center of gravity really helps the atmosphere of a gym. Another gym in LA, Cliffs of ID, has a cool outdoor/indoor interface with an area with tables where people gather, work on computers and eat. A couple nights per week they have food trucks outside and sometimes beer tastings. Again, great for the fostering of social connections. 

More cracks, please.

Royalties for members should include at hand pet adoption and free stickers. Without being a blind pet enthusiast you're not a real "outdoorsman" right? So offer free rides at your local adoption agency! This is how we do it in Cali anyway

Take a look at this for inspiration


Negatives from my experience:
- overly textured walls, too aggressive finish.  Yes, they make smearing easy, but at the cost of dirty looking walls in a couple of years. And, wall rash! Saw designs of gyms using pu coated plywood walls, they are good enough. Forget about "natural looking" walls, they don't.
-absence of separate kids/party zone. Separation keeps the noise down. Kids walls can be made shorter, they are less intimidating for beginners. Also, kids require radically different setting. Kids zone can also be used for teaching belaying, etc.
- absence of teaching zone
- using main space for yoga/acroyoga/flavor of the month yoga and closing down the whole gym
- opening gym late, especially on weekends. Loved when local gym started opening at 9am on weekends - show up, get some climbing in, have the rest of the day do whatever.
- not enough AC, and absence of ceiling fans to move air around even with AC.
- no water fountains
- no changing rooms/lockers.
- terrain not challenging enough for roped climbing
- not enough lead gear (quick draws and anchors) for roped climbing.
- route/problem density not high enough. That tends to happen when monochromatic route (one color per route) setting is used and setters are understaffed or not creative.
- route/problem difficulty determined by the color of holds. Yeah, cool idea, but very difficult to implement; mostly wastes holds and setter's time.

 Suggestions
- design the gym to allow setting off a cherry picker - your route setters will be more efficient and thankful. That would put brackets on wall height, overhang, gym layout.
- since the speed climbing is a thing (hold your thoughts)  make sure to have full size speed wall.
- have a separate bouldering area with walls just filled with holds, trying to fill all wall space, without any preset problems.
- separate workout area - cardio/weight.
- invest in air filtration.
- that felt flooring looks awesome, but cleaning out blood and vomit off it is a PITA.

Kev V wrote: I'm looking at designing a facility, have a solid general concept of layout, have seen my share of climbing gyms, but would like to crowd-source any thoughts, ideas, observed flaws, annoyances, etc you've encountered during your interactions with the world of plastic. Thinking more about the physical space than the operations within, however I value input of any sort if you are inclined to respond.

Gym to include TR, lead, boulder, fitness - standard amenity line-up.

Oh, and I promise to take all comments as gospel
Thx!

While designing picture climbers on your wall and their fall lines. I've seen wasted space because designers didn't think about the practical use if the wall as opposed to to just how it looks.

Go with bright colors, "realistic" looking walls are anthing.but.

You are not trying to recreate the outdoors here, can't be done, "wow" the customer with your presentation.

With regard to bouldering zones, avoid the igloo effect!  This occurs when bouldering caves and inside corner walls concentrate and crowd patrons in the fall zones; that shit is so 90s.  The antidote is freestanding mushroom boulders that will spread your patrons about your floorspace. 

Some things I really appreciate in gyms I visit:
Big soft pads in the boulding area.  The ones more like gymnastic crash pads than outdoor bouldering pads.
A separate beginner / kids area.
An isolated / out of view of the main area workout room.  Keeps climbing dust off all of the workout equipment and you don't feel like you're a zoo animal.
A slab section in the bouldering area, great to be able to mix it up and nice when you bring less experienced climbers.
A campus area and/or hangboards with jugs.  Useful for loosening up.

My local gym and I think this place is about perfect.

that guy named seb wrote: Don't neglect bouldering it shouldn't be some after thought, anybody who's serious about training pretty much only use training facilities and the bouldering facilities.

Don't listen to this guy. Bouldering is a last real resort since its really not even climbing.

My home gym has a really amazing separate kids and party facility. Keeps the pandemonium isolated. And it's a lot of fun. I suspect this feature is a huge revenue machine. Probably as cost a ton to build.

​Sender City​​​

designate a kids' area and keep them contained there

The biggest problem with climbing gyms is that too few of them are built in Darien, IL.

Separate kids area, stretching area, slab bouldering wall, more cracks, offwidth crack training area, adjustable systems board

ventilation, lots of fans, and as many windows as possible - would be my subjective answer as to how to keep me there for as long as possible. everything else you probably already know or was already mentioned above.

Nut Tool wrote: More cracks, please.

I'm gonna take this a step further and also say make them weird sizes. There's a gym in Minneapolis that has a whole section of offwidths that are super cool and a good chance to practice something that (in our area) is generally pretty hard to find outside. 

John Wilder wrote:

They’re not cheap, but not as expensive as you might think. If I was building a gym in a retail shopping center, this would absolutely be part of the design.

I also suspect that since the party area doesn't need regular route setting it saves money in that way. Plus it's a great gateway drug to full climbing addiction.

Not just more cracks, but better cracks.  Walltopia does a great job in making gym surfaces, but their cracks are terrible unless you are practicing from endless splitters.  I wish there were small features interspersed inside the cracks to make it more realistic.

Matt Himmelstein wrote: Not just more cracks, but better cracks.  Walltopia does a great job in making gym surfaces, but their cracks are terrible unless you are practicing from endless splitters.  I wish there were small features interspersed inside the cracks to make it more realistic.

This is true. But at least when we get outside those granite or sandstone cracks seem like a piece of heaven.