What Makes a Great Climbing Gym?

John Clarkwrote:

Mr Rogers, I agree, not a great data source, but it does get at the point for people here. Do people perceive that they care about improvement or no. Seems even bored MP trawlers don’t care sometimes.

Dude that is cool. Thanks for sharing that. Makes scense. the vast majority of space in climbing gyms is full of fun easier routes and boulder problems. Finger boards and campus boards are just a small addition to most gyms. If the numbers where the opposite, where 74% were training to climb harder, I imagine we would see more equipment dedicated to training. 

Climbing is just plain old fun. That is honestly what it is all about, for most. Good movement, in beautiful places and hanging with good friends is my favorite part. But I do kind of care how hard I climb. I like to see improvement and gain the ability to climb harder so I can experience more routes.

I suppose it depends on what your definition of training is. Is it just training power/strength/endurance/lead head, or can it be other things? How about learning new skills, rope techniques, and tools? Learning to be a better partner and belayer? Getting better at rest and nutrition and avoiding injuries? Improving your attitude and getting more enjoyment from climbing? Learning ways to contribute to the community?

Every one of us will one day climb our hardest grade ever. You have to be able to make different goals that don't have a Yosemite decimal. Gyms can facilitate many different types of climber growth. 

L Kapwrote:

I suppose it depends on what your definition of training is. Is it just training power/strength/endurance/lead head, or can it be other things? How about learning new skills, rope techniques, and tools? Learning to be a better partner and belayer? Getting better at rest and nutrition and avoiding injuries? Improving your attitude and getting more enjoyment from climbing? Learning ways to contribute to the community?

Every one of us will one day climb our hardest grade ever. You have to be able to make different goals that don't have a Yosemite decimal. Gyms can facilitate many different types of climber growth. 

Training = effort toward improvement. For the purpose of this exercise.

As for what shaun said, i would bet the general pop. of climbers skews even more towards no training, just fun hobby. If you are on MP you are already prone to some effort

John Clarkwrote:

Training = effort toward improvement. For the purpose of this exercise

Not to be an ass, but improvement of what, for your purposes? 

L Kapwrote:

Not to be an ass, but improvement of what, for your purposes? 

Improvement of your climbing/climbing experience.

David Eisenstadtwrote:

Roots will rock man. You can train for 5.15 sport climbs on a spray wall. No need to have 60 foot walls if you know how to train. The gym will have tons of system walls and 24 hour access. Ideal for actual climbers trying to get strong.

Sarcasm...mah dude....sarcasm 

If you have a certain sum of money, you can make a much better bouldering-only gym than you can a bouldering + ropes gym. Introducing ropes to your gym makes a lot of things more expensive/complicated, like insurance, equipment (it takes a LOT of holds to make routes, even just a few), and employee training. At the rope gyms I've been a member of (only two, LEF in Lexington and Metrorock in Burlington), the rope routes tended to stay up way past their expiration date because they took so much effort to reset (typical setting schedule for routes was something like 2.5 months or so). If you build a gym with routes, budget for some kind of man-lift. it will pay for itself in reduced setting time for routes. I really prioritize fresh routes and moves to try, thus I am biased pretty heavily towards a bouldering gym with much more frequent setting. Plus, in a town like Pocatello, I imagine the pool of potential setters is pretty darn small, which further points to a bouldering gym for setting/staffing reasons alone. 

Other things that I think have very good bang-for-buck: a good fitness area. Full set of dumbbells (5-100 lbs preferred), a cable machine with a heavy stack, and a power cage for benching/squatting is really great. Not only will it make climbers stronger, but there are lots of people who barely climb that still come to my current gym just to lift. I've got to imagine that expanding potential clientele is a good thing.

And mentioned previously, adjustable boards are awesome bang-for-buck. You only have to buy the holds once, and they take 0 time from the setting schedule. These days, pretty much any serious gym has at least one, and most probably 2 or 3 (order of priority is probably TB2, moonboard, kilter, then whatever decoy, woods, etc etc). Another great way to squeeze value out of hold purchases is a spray wall, which probably won't see as much use as the system boards, but at least your holds are on the wall being used instead of in a closet somewhere.

The two things that have made me quit gyms are:

1. Regular events/classes that are disruptive to members (not just a crowd of people climbing, but sitting in a circle on the matts talking/instructing and blocking off half the bouldering area).

2. Not prorating membership fees when the AC went out for two weeks in the summer. 

Everything else is just a matter of value for money.

If you do end up building as bouldering only gym, do your best to always maintain as many ( though frequently changing the actual problems) problems as possible in the easier grades, so that climbers not interested in pushing their grades can still get a good workout doing easier 'circuits'. Not everyone is interested in, or capable of, pulling down hard and such 'circuits' are common at Fontainebleau and offer a wonderful option there.