Slippery gym holds

I'm on vacation in Florida. I recently went to the only climbing gym in the area. Gotta say, it was terrible, and I'm not even a hard ass about things like this. I wasn't expecting much, but it was ridiculous. It was hot and crowded (not the gym's fault). Two things were terrible.  1) the holds were SO slippery. It was as if they'd been used for the last decade and never brushed. What's up with this? Does this mean the gym never changes the routes? Or that its clientele doesn't ever brush the holds? They were so slippery I was slipping off warm up routes.  2) The route setting was totally chaotic. It was as if my seven year old daughter had set the problems. They just made no sense. It's hard to even describe. Is this because I'm in a generally non-climbing area of the country, and good route setters are hard to find? 

Tbh I wouldn’t expect Florida to pull the greatest route setting talent compared to a state with more actual climbing available.

They may change the routes but not wash the holds before they’re put back up. 

Coral Cliffs? 

I encountered a gym like that in Houston once when visiting, and it was gross. But it's not just the "non-climbing areas of the country." There's a gym here in my decidedly climbing-centric area that has apparently stopped washing holds between settings. Seemed to coincide with a change in corporate ownership. Coincidence?

All we can do is vote with our feet.

Humidity is a bitch. Sounds like the CT gym in the 90's.

rock climbing wrote:

Movement? I heard that the old movement gym in boulder is pretty gross. I didn’t go there in years.

Haha oh yeah: old holds that are never cleaned, terrible setting everywhere - and for whatever reason, they really mess up your climbing shoes making a resole impossible. Best to avoid :)

None of the Movement (or former Earth Treks) gyms in the Denver area wash or replace their holds regularly. It's OK, polished hands preserve your skin and polished feet help you train body tension ;) 

Eric Metzgar wrote:

I'm on vacation in Florida. I recently went to the only climbing gym in the area. Gotta say, it was terrible, and I'm not even a hard ass about things like this. I wasn't expecting much, but it was ridiculous. It was hot and crowded (not the gym's fault). Two things were terrible.  1) the holds were SO slippery. It was as if they'd been used for the last decade and never brushed. What's up with this? Does this mean the gym never changes the routes? Or that its clientele doesn't ever brush the holds? They were so slippery I was slipping off warm up routes.  2) The route setting was totally chaotic. It was as if my seven year old daughter had set the problems. They just made no sense. It's hard to even describe. Is this because I'm in a generally non-climbing area of the country, and good route setters are hard to find? 

No clientele ever brushes holds, I am the only person I ever see scrubbing holds in any gym.

Basically, route setting is expensive labor wise, so little gyms will try to cut that cost as much as possible. If I walk into a gym and the routes are polished, I turn right around. 

Tradiban wrote:

No clientele ever brushes holds, I am the only person I ever see scrubbing holds in any gym.

Honestly, what is up with this? I almost never see anyone brush holds either. Maybe people want the extra challenge?? I just wanna send and feel good about myself.

I've noticed that in gyms that have lots of brushes laying around, people tend to brush, but in gyms like my local one where a) all the brush sticks are various degrees of broken and b) there are only 2 of them, no one really brushes holds.

Yoda Jedi Knight wrote:

Honestly, what is up with this? I almost never see anyone brush holds either. Maybe people want the extra challenge?? I just wanna send and feel good about myself.

They think chalk is sticky like glue?

I’ve definitely noticed a trend over the past 20 years or so of hiring younger, and much less experienced outdoor climbers setting routes in gyms, as well as more of the trendy running/jumping type routes. Which is an unfortunate and annoying trend IMO. 

If this is an older gym, it’s very possible that they have been using the same old holds for over a decade, and the holds just lost texture from a decade of power washing. Holds are expensive to replace, and it is possible that people in charge haven’t noticed how bad the holds are, bc the change had been gradual.

An old no-longer-open gym i used to climb st used to have holds like that. It wasn’t until the new manager started buying new holds regularly that we all noticed how polished the old holds were. Honestly, I didn’t mind.  Climbing routes like that got you ready for polished limestone outside.

Wildly stupid route-setting… yeah, I’ve encountered that all over the country. Haven’t sampled Floriduh, but NJ also got that in spades, from what I’ve seen. But on the flip side, you get used to your own gym setting/setters, and someone visiting from out-of-town might not agree with your view of your own gym. If this terrible gym is still in business, they must be setting routes that their clientele likes well-enough. And it’s hard to parse out the different components of what made you feel like the setting was horrible. Travel, holidays, extra food, sleep disruptions all make you climb somewhat-worse. And when we climb worse than we expected we tend to dislike the routes that make us feel bad. 

Ive been climbing in this gym near Ft Myers while on vacation and for some reason everyone who climbs there uses liquid chalk that the gym provides for free. Almost every route has one hold near the crux that is just super slimy because of the liquid chalk. Its almost as if brushing wont even help. The walls also seem to be never reset.

Bad holds make good climbers. Bad routesetting is a bummer though.

Really feeling this thread. The gym I climb at in Stockholm has quite possibly the oldest and most polished holds I've ever seen. It has actually crossed the threshold from annoying to down right impressive. Basically almost all the routes become impossible after a week,... but they leave them up for like 6 months (9 months was the longest I've seen). The slickness is usually the first thing that gets discussed when I bump into any friends at the gym: 'Oh hey, have you tried that red 6c, fucking impossibly slick now. Yeah I know, I got it right after it was put up but can't do anything on it now'. 

I once came across one of those halfmoon crimp disc-shaped holds and no joke all the texture was worn off on the edge of the crimp leaving the translucent polyurethane exposed, it had essentially morphed into a dual-tex hold. I'll take a pic and post it on this thread next time I see it, it's truly remarkable. Everyone knows this hold I'm talking about, it has to be at least 20 years old and it should be in a museum. 

I try to keep a positive attitude and just appreciate that it's probably helping to make me stronger; but god damn it gets annoying/humbling when you can't make moves on a route a full number grade below your limit. They do pressure wash their holds which might be part of the problem as Lena pointed out. I was told from a manager at one of the Bay Area Touchstone gyms that they no longer pressure wash holds as it removes too much of the texture (makes sense). Not sure if this is still true but it's just what I heard. 

Slippery holds are endemic in all gyms these days, making for a less pleasant and potentially dangerous experience for climbers overall. Glad to see the pressure washing issue come up. CWA should at least do a survey on the subject, better yet a test on the effects of power washing. I see it on areas of holds where climbers' hands and feet would never reach, where the entire hold is clearly polished, even reflecting the gym lights. These holds are the holds climbers suddenly pop off of, especially while clipping, and eventually populate landfills before their time. A process for retexturing them would be super useful.

Oh Peter, you actually reminded me of something I meant to write. This Stockholm gym actually IS resurfacing their holds. They called it recoating. The result is that they are SUPER gritty, like grabbing onto a piece of corral. This has now become yet another topic that gets discussed when I bump into someone I know at the gym: 'How's your skin from those resurfaced holds lol'. Here's an Instagram post they made about it:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CjuuGcMDS7K/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

BFK wrote:

Oh Peter, you actually reminded me of something I meant to write. This Stockholm gym actually IS resurfacing their holds. They called it recoating. The result is that they are SUPER gritty, like grabbing onto a piece of corral. This has now become yet another topic that gets discussed when I bump into someone I know at the gym: 'How's your skin from those resurfaced holds lol'. Here's an Instagram post they made about it:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CjuuGcMDS7K/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

That's super interesting to see. Is there any info on who does this and what the process actually is?

Peter Beal wrote:

....climbers suddenly pop off of, especially while clipping, and eventually populate landfills before their time..

Hah! Selective quoting can be great for comic effect.