Climbing Gym Research: How did you gain interest in climbing?

I am posting this thread to have you the climbers help me with collecting information about climbing interest as it relates to age, geographical location, former interest, personal significance and the value/benefits climbing gives you. Include things like lasting relationships, new experiences, personal challenges, mental health and physical health benefits etc. 

This is all because I am putting together a business proposal that’s focusing on starting a local climbing gym within the city I grew up. I recently moved home with my family and there are no mountains. So, I want to get started on this amazing goal and dream of mine and help others get to the mountains and cliffs with confidence. You can provide as little or as much information as you see fit. I won’t be presenting any responses publicly, rather I’ll be using them as data to better display the benefits and potential of a climbing gym in the community. 

Dude, lemme tell you about the climbing gym I learned to climb at in south Louisiana! It's Southern Stone now, owned by my friend John, and before that it was Rök Haus, owned by my friend Art.

As you know, Louisiana has no climbing. Like, I know of _two_ visible rocks in the whole state that barely qualify as rocks. One of them is just hard dirt, at that. So climbing isn't really something people do down there.

Art opened Rök Haus in the 90s after having spent a bunch of time in Yosemite earlier in his life, being a badass. He saved up everything he could, and sold everything else to finance the place, then built all the walls inside with some friends. The place was old school, because back then it was just ... school, there weren't really much older climbing gyms around. The floors were Teva rubber scraps, there was a climbing boulder in the middle, and roped climbing walls around the perimeter. Critically, there was also lead climbing! The money to keep the place open was made from birthday parties and scout groups, but there were also a good number of members.

Now, I think I went once when I was real young with the Cub Scouts, but I'm not sure if that actually happened or if I just really wanted it to happen in my childhood memory. But the first time I went as an adult, it was one afternoon because my roommate asked if I wanted to go to a climbing gym. That sounded fun, so I was in.

I must've spent half of that evening just trying to get upside down on a less-than-vertical wall, for some reason that seemed like the most fun thing I could do! And I remember Adele working that evening thought it was silly, but also convinced me that I could do it if I kept trying.

And I went back again, and again, and ... I mean, that place became a second home for me. Some friends and I rented a house nearby because it was a few streets from the gym. Then I bought a house a couple streets further away, and proximity to the climbing gym was a big, big part of that decision.

I loved the gym, I would stop by right after work and stay until it closed. I worked there (very briefly), helped out with kids' birthday parties, helped Art (then John) with building stuff, repairs, cutting the grass, everything. I set routes there for years (I apologize if you thought my routes were stupid. They probably were haha)

And the reason I loved Rök Haus/Southern Stone so much is for the community. The gym was where all my friends were. We did as much lounging around and chatting as we did climbing. We would play Add-On, give beta, talk shit, see who could plank the longest, walk the slackline, make up goofy boulder routes, we just had so, so much fun.

And I don't know if it was just because it was the South or whatever, but if a new person or group showed up to the gym and looked like they were stoked, or maybe a little intimidated, or any emotion other than apathy, any one of the regulars would make an introduction and ask if they wanted to climb with them. Like, it was hard to be a stranger in our gym, you'd generally get rolled up into some group shenanigans sooner or later! Art and John were instrumental in creating and sustaining our gym's culture. They're super friendly, super outgoing, and super knowledgeable, and they love sharing that enthusiasm for climbing, no matter what kind of climbing it is or how hard you climb. Art taught me to trad climb and aid climb! John is a dumb strong climber and he would spend just so much time with anyone who wanted to try something, whether it was their first V1 or first lead, or first V9 or whatever. Everyone in our gym was super positive and supportive, we all loved seeing people trying new stuff, or hard for them stuff, and succeeding. 

Art and John did us all a massive favor by organizing a climbing trip once or twice a year, and teaching the new climbers how to lead climb safely, clean sport routes, and not be utter turds at the crag (we were loud, and definitely put lots of ropes up on the wall though

Here's a video of Art doing the chair traverse (you may have seen this already, and you should definitely try it one day). This is the kind of stuff we got up to at Rök Haus and Southern Stone!

https://youtu.be/2i2_XDRfkio?si=AsJyU4eRfqvnK8Ar

I see my post got clipped above, and I don't remember exactly what I said, but I also made a point about us having to drive at least 6 hours for any climbing, and 8-13 hours for the good stuff. That was a great way to make friends fast, stuffing 4 or 5 people into a Civic, driving 6-8 hours after work on Friday, not sleeping much, climbing all day Saturday and half of day Sunday, then getting back home at midnight on Sunday so you can be at work or class for early Monday morning. Three day weekends were a godsend, because then we could go to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, 10 hours away!

Duncan Domingue wrote:

I see my post got clipped above, and I don't remember exactly what I said, but I also made a point about us having to drive at least 6 hours for any climbing, and 8-13 hours for the good stuff. That was a great way to make friends fast, stuffing 4 or 5 people into a Civic, driving 6-8 hours after work on Friday, not sleeping much, climbing all day Saturday and half of day Sunday, then getting back home at midnight on Sunday so you can be at work or class for early Monday morning. Three day weekends were a godsend, because then we could go to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, 10 hours away!

That’s a wonderful recap of a lot of life and experiences lived in the Climbing gym. Thank you for that input I think the best reward  that comes from investing in people comes from stories like these and from people like you who glean so much and find such purpose and direction and meaning, community, mentorship and drive from the people around you. Great recall and beautiful share! That’s a rad sounding gym and I’ll be visiting next time I go to orange beach, AL

Bb Cc wrote:

It hasn’t been the music, especially loud. The gym is a very social place. Excessive noise detracts from the desire to go or buy a membership.

The music is hard to nail and nearly impossible to please everyone. I can remember hating quiet music when I needed the amp and hating loud music when I needed the peace. Depends on the day. Maybe a dirty (PG) jukebox would be the right medium. 

As it relates to age, I don’t think there’s a better activity than climbing to benefit an older person. I’m 65 now (how the hell did that happen?) I started climbing 50 years ago but took a long break, starting up again in a gym in 2019.

Climbing has added strength, flexibility, endurance, and made me feel younger. I have no aches or pains and feel like I’m 25. Well, a fit 45, anyway.   My climbing partner is 63 and his chronic back pain went away when he started climbing.  I plan on keeping this up for as long as I can walk. 

Jericho H wrote:

The music is hard to nail and nearly impossible to please everyone. I can remember hating quiet music when I needed the amp and hating loud music when I needed the peace. Depends on the day. Maybe a dirty (PG) jukebox would be the right medium. 

Or perhaps your gym could consider not playing overhead music at all, since many patrons will be rocking an earbud anyway. "BYOBeats."

As an added benefit, maybe people who are introduced to climbing without background music would be more conscientious of bringing music outdoors, too.

F r i t z wrote:

Or perhaps your gym could consider not playing overhead music at all, since many patrons will be rocking an earbud anyway. "BYOBeats."

As an added benefit, maybe people who are introduced to climbing without background music would be more conscientious of bringing music outdoors, too.

If you were the GM, what would your policy around music be?

F r i t z wrote:

Or perhaps your gym could consider not playing overhead music at all, since many patrons will be rocking an earbud anyway. "BYOBeats."

As an added benefit, maybe people who are introduced to climbing without background music would be more conscientious of bringing music outdoors, too.

WHAT?!

Here, let me turn this down….

Duncan Domingue wrote:

Here's a video of Art doing the chair traverse (you may have seen this already, and you should definitely try it one day). This is the kind of stuff we got up to at Rök Haus and Southern Stone!

https://youtu.be/2i2_XDRfkio?si=AsJyU4eRfqvnK8Ar

That was cool!

Okay, I’ve a new goal in life now!

Interesting takes on the music, I’m pretty laid back about the music. It’s not something I pay much attention too because ultimately I’m either conversing or focused and the music doesn’t really come in except for in warm ups or cool downs stuff or strictly in the excersize rooms. More of the monotonous environments.

Those of you who have posted, would you provide some answers for me regarding your current gym?

Explain your current gym, why you chose it if there are other options around.
Why you choose climbing as a fitness routine rather than something else.

Which is first fitness, climbing or other?
What would you change about your current gym( not the music)?

Charlie Kissick wrote:

As it relates to age, I don’t think there’s a better activity than climbing to benefit an older person. I’m 65 now (how the hell did that happen?) I started climbing 50 years ago but took a long break, starting up again in a gym in 2019.

Climbing has added strength, flexibility, endurance, and made me feel younger. I have no aches or pains and feel like I’m 25. Well, a fit 45, anyway.   My climbing partner is 63 and his chronic back pain went away when he started climbing.  I plan on keeping this up for as long as I can walk. 

Pretty close to the same exact story!

After a heavy climbing workout day, I definitely feel old   

But after a few days, I feel great!

Li Hu wrote:

Pretty close to the same exact story!

After a heavy climbing workout day, I definitely feel old   

But after a few days, I feel great

Do you perform any other strength excersizes besides climbing? I’m curious to hear if you have a take on the state of good general strength vs. good climbing strength. In your own way did you find one preferable over the other? 

Jericho H wrote:

Interesting takes on the music, I’m pretty laid back about the music. It’s not something I pay much attention too because ultimately I’m either conversing or focused and the music doesn’t really come in except for in warm ups or cool downs stuff or strictly in the excersize rooms. More of the monotonous environments.

Those of you who have posted, would you provide some answers for me regarding your current gym?

Explain your current gym, why you chose it if there are other options around.
Why you choose climbing as a fitness routine rather than something else.

Which is first fitness, climbing or other?
What would you change about your current gym( not the music)?

The Post, in Pasadena, Cliffs, Culver City, Hangar18, Arcadia/Upland, SenderOne LAX, are all the gyms I go to regularly.

I work in Pasadena so the Post is quite convenient. The walls are great, many routes to lead or TR. bouldering areas are pretty decent. I enjoy the fingerboard areas and the newly installed Campus boards. They have a nice weight/cardio training gym, yoga area, Kilter/Moon boards and sauna. SenderOne has a similar arrangement except it’s really big.

Hangar18 has less amenities, maybe add more fingerboards and campus boards?

I don’t really frequent standard gyms so much.

The gyms cost between $18 to $35 per day. and I typically spend 3 hours per training session.

Jericho H wrote:

Do you perform any other strength excersizes besides climbing? I’m curious to hear if you have a take on the state of good general strength vs. good climbing strength. In your own way did you find one preferable over the other?

I do weighted fingerboard training and working towards campus and one arm hangs.

Even at my current age, I gain muscle mass very readily. Climbing specific training keeps my muscles more compact.

Jericho H wrote:

If you were the GM, what would your policy around music be?

The gym wouldn't play overhead music. If people want to listen to something, they can bring earbuds. They're responsible for their own situational awareness and partner communication.

F r i t z wrote:

The gym wouldn't play overhead music. If people want to listen to something, they can bring earbuds. They're responsible for their own situational awareness and partner communication.

Guessing that you prefer more solitary outdoor climbing?

Gym climbing is very much a social thing, sort of the opposite of traditional climbing.

My preference is to live with bland music playing in the background whilst freely talking to my climbing partners and others at the gym. My guess is that I’m not alone given hundreds of climbers that end up packing themselves into a “tiny” gym?

F r i t z wrote:

The gym wouldn't play overhead music. If people want to listen to something, they can bring earbuds. They're responsible for their own situational awareness and partner communication 

I think subjecting people to musical silence unless using earbuds is a way to turn people off from involving themselves in the atmosphere of the gym. I know personally wearing earbuds usually conveys “I’m not here to talk” and the only people who should be wearing earbuds in the gym where awareness is an important factor would be those using the fitness areas or bouldering. Roped climbers use audible cues which are difficult to hear with earbuds in. So those people should have the privilege of listening to music and better yet a gym playlist could be provided that’s rank locals favorites. Maybe like a linked Spotify..

Heck, why not a projector and a full sound system? To play this sort of thing?

Jericho H wrote:

I think subjecting people to musical silence unless using earbuds is a way to turn people off from involving themselves in the atmosphere of the gym. I know personally wearing earbuds usually conveys “I’m not here to talk” and the only people who should be wearing earbuds in the gym where awareness is an important factor would be those using the fitness areas or bouldering. Roped climbers use audible cues which are difficult to hear with earbuds in. So those people should have the privilege of listening to music and better yet a gym playlist could be provided that’s rank locals favorites. Maybe like a linked Spotify..

I think a crowdsourced Spotify (radio edit mode) would be engaging if the music could be localized to the front desk / welcome area.

Most earbudded gymgoers that I've encountered across several states are only using one earbud at a time, which would address several of your concerns.

My background is that I'm a music teacher (classroom and private) and play gigs regularly. I don't tune out music easily.

As a corollary to this conversation -- because you really wanted to keep talking about gym music, right Jericho? ;-) -- it's worth looking into the "low-sensory" or "sensory-friendly" hours that some of the major gyms are advertising.

In conclusion, when it comes to music selection, I believe St. Cobain would remind us that radio-friendly unit shifters are neither.

Jericho H wrote:

Those of you who have posted, would you provide some answers for me regarding your current gym?

Explain your current gym, why you chose it if there are other options around.
Why you choose climbing as a fitness routine rather than something else.

Which is first fitness, climbing or other?
What would you change about your current gym( not the music)?

1) Only game in town, and two blocks from my house. It also is staffed by great people.

2) The fitness benefits of climbing are tertiary to the mental and spiritual ones.

3) I gym climb in order to stay fit for outdoor climbing, but it also happens to be fun.

4) Add training elements like TB2, Moon and spray wall.

I wish you the best in your quest!