Ridiculous Climbing Gym Policies...Let's Hear Them

Lena chita wroteOne gym in NYC required that you took a lead belay test on an ATC. But you could belay with anything you want afterwards, and they never checked to see if you could actually use the device you actually chose properly.

Doesn't hold a candle to the worst "belay test" I ever took.

Hanger 18 - Upland, CA

Me: "so do you want me to test with an ATC or ..."

Employee: "do you have an autolocking device?"

Me: "yeah I have a grigri."

Employee: "You two are good then, have fun"

  

To make it worse I was with someone who clearly was not a climber/ didn't have climbing experience (if you work at a gym for a few months you can easily see that).
Also the holds suck (almost 1/3 were spray painted), ropes were way beyond needing to be replaced, and super dirty (even for a climbing gym)

Rob D. wrote: Doesn't the rock warriors way or the Anderson's book specify you shouldn't have "training shoes" because it reinforces sloppy footwork that results from bad shoes? 

Don’t you need to be more conscious of your footwork in shitty shoes?

Adrienne DiRosario wrote:

Don’t you need to be more conscious of your footwork in shitty shoes?

No. It's like saying you have to be more conscious of your driving in an old beater than you do in a Ferrari.

Not a fan of many gyms' new policy on lead belaying with an auto-locking device only. One of my regional gyms recently switched to this policy and I hate it.

Señor Arroz wrote:

No. It's like saying you have to be more conscious of your driving in an old beater than you do in a Ferrari.

Fair enough 

Wilson On The Drums wrote: "nats off"   -worst ever.  

vertical endeavors in the twin cities has wonderful natural walls and abundance of cracks but they go out of their way to intentionally set with "nats off"

The only people who complain about "nats off" are people who can't do that 5.12 without using that 5.8 arete around the corner.  It's usually just best practice to trust the vision of the route setter.

Pnelson wrote:

The only people who complain about "nats off" are people who can't do that 5.12 without using that 5.8 arete around the corner.  It's usually just best practice to trust the vision of the route setter.

My compliant about "nats off" are when the gym has a few great crack features, and then sets routes over them that are "nats off".  It makes no sense - there's a big crack there, why on earth would I not be allowed to use it?  Set tough routes anywhere else in the gym!

Lena chita wrote: No bowline tie-in seems to be a common policy in a lot of gyms, and it does bug me a lot. But you can often get away with it anyway, because the staff isn't everywhere/can't see everything. if you don't give them the reason to scrutinize you too closely... And some versions of double-bowline do look almost like a figure 8 from a distance, especially if you finish with the double-fisherman above the bowline.

Yep, I've done this a lot. A neatly dressed single bowline with the yosemite finish like almost identical to a figure 8 from even a short distance, and I've mistaken it for a fig 8 from like 10 ft away on multiple occasions. And if you get caught you can just say you didn't know and play ignorant. Just don't get caught again by the same employee, though. 

Wilson On The Drums wrote: "nats off"   -worst ever.  

vertical endeavors in the twin cities has wonderful natural walls and abundance of cracks but they go out of their way to intentionally set with "nats off"

My gym does that too, mainly because none of the setters know how to crack climb.  Occasionally they’ll set a climb with the crack on, but then all of the moves are just really stupid contrived laybacks.  It’s really annoying.

Matthew Bertolatus wrote:

My compliant about "nats off" are when the gym has a few great crack features, and then sets routes over them that are "nats off".  It makes no sense - there's a big crack there, why on earth would I not be allowed to use it?  Set tough routes anywhere else in the gym!

You could use the same logic in arguing why you should be able to stem off a big air duct that is right behind a route.  

Pnelson wrote:

You could use the same logic in arguing why you should be able to stem off a big air duct that is right behind a route.  

HVAC is aid

Pnelson wrote:

You could use the same logic in arguing why you should be able to stem off a big air duct that is right behind a route.  

I mean I suppose you could that if you want to equate "feature specifically designed for climbing" with "feature specifically designed not for climbing", so yeah go off.  

I am aware of one route in a similar gym where a giant steel I-beam is close enough to the route that you can grab it, and the gym will often mark those routes "nats off", and I think they're referring to the i-beam as there's nothing else there that could be considered a nat. 

Matthew Bertolatus wrote:

My compliant about "nats off" are when the gym has a few great crack features, and then sets routes over them that are "nats off".  It makes no sense - there's a big crack there, why on earth would I not be allowed to use it?  Set tough routes anywhere else in the gym!

Sets over the crack? You can still climb the crack though right? Nats are off so they can add in another climb in that spot. You are in a fake environment where space is limited, "nats off" is so a 2nd climb can go around where the crack is. Duh.

Stupid people require stupid rules ...
I love that my gym is basically, "done be an idiot" rule and nothing too crazy is enforced... however they did just have to put up signs that said please dont lower off your lead rope if there is already a rope set up. Some moron sawed through a few ropes lowering off the anchor that had another rope in it ... so ... stupid rules cover stupid people's actions.

My gym doesn't allow the use of any assisted braking device. No gri gri, no click up, nothing. You are only allowed to use an atc.

My gym doesn't allow you to use the autobelays if you haven't passed the toprope belay test.

There's another gym near me where half the TR anchors are friction bars, half are eyelets. They single wrap the friction bars because "it would be too jarring for a belayer to switch between the different levels of friction."

Tradiban wrote:

Sets over the crack? You can still climb the crack though right? Nats are off so they can add in another climb in that spot. You are in a fake environment where space is limited, "nats off" is so a 2nd climb can go around where the crack is. Duh.

Not really.  I'm sure someone could, but these cracks are probably in the 5.12 range on their own.  They're not set on "faux rock" walls, they're set on smooth vertical concrete. One in particular is not really a crack but more like the underside of a large flake that spans the entire wall, and probably crosses 3 "routes'.  It's a nice feature to climb through/over and setting it as off just seems like a failure. 

Matthew Bertolatus wrote:

Not really.  I'm sure someone could, but these cracks are probably in the 5.12 range on their own.  They're not set on "faux rock" walls, they're set on smooth vertical concrete. One in particular is not really a crack but more like the underside of a large flake that spans the entire wall, and probably crosses 3 "routes'.  It's a nice feature to climb through/over and setting it as off just seems like a failure. 

I don't think you are grasping the concept of setting.

Wilson On The Drums wrote: "nats off"   -worst ever.  

vertical endeavors in the twin cities has wonderful natural walls and abundance of cracks but they go out of their way to intentionally set with "nats off"

You do know that climbing on set routes in a gym is not mandatory?

Vertical Endeavors in the Minneapolis area has a whole set of silly rules.

• No headphones
• No bare feet anywhere unless you are changing in the locker room
• No climbing instruction whatsoever except by staff
• No taking off your shirt
• Everything MUST be stored in a locker or cubby
• No auto-belaying cracks
• "the Boulderer’s feet shall not pass above a height on the wall that is equivalent to the height of the shoulders of the Boulderer when standing on the floor"
• You've gotta be certified and over 18 to top out boulders

There are probably some more that I skimmed over or don't remember from the time that I climbed at their facilities.