Alex's sister's wedding shower was this past weekend and we made a trip up to Madison, Wisconsin to visit and take part. The in-laws and many of their friends were there and it was nice to see trees and grass, if only for a few days. While we were up there, we went out with friends, saw some local attractions and did family bonding type things.
As is the norm on any vacation, I made an attempt to go climbing. For this locale, it was the local gym, Boulders Rock Gym. After climbing there, I came to some interesting conclusions about gyms.
First off, gym prices are outrageous. First off, I had to pay $14.00 just to boulder. I was maybe there 2 hours at most, and no climbing is worth that. I paid $70.00 for my parks pass and about $7.00 in gas to get out to Hueco maybe costing me a total of $10.00 or so per trip, and I STILL think that is high. At a lot of gyms, if you want to boulder only, you can pay a discounted fee. Of course this is hard to regulate, considering you can't always ensure the climbers will stay off rope, but $14.00!
Anyway...rant over, the next thing I noticed has to do with setting and rating. I understand that in a gym that is in Madison, Wisconsin, you can probably set things pretty slopey. But...when it gets to be 80 degrees outside and you don't turn on the A/C and your gym is nearly 90 degrees, you have to consider that none of those "sick" sloper problems are going to be any fun. I understand that you can't always predict the weather outside, but you go to a gym to train first, then if you want to set a nemesis and climb all day on one problem, go for it. The gym had a good number of good boulder problems, but everything had a slopey pinch on the left hand for the crux. Not just a pinch, an inverted wedge on a roof slopey. I was getting spit off of V5s based solely on one hold. Which leads me to my next point. Rating.
I have been to and worked at a lot of gyms. Every place has a different setting, rating and climbing style. Whether they may have big juggy throws, or crimpier is synonymous with harder, or slow static movements, the ratings vary greatly depending on the style. However, this is the first gym I have ever been to that gimmicky was how they based their ratings. Granted, I almost fell off a V3 because it was so dang hot and humid, but there was this V7 that had these slopers that were just not to be grabbed. Each problem had a move in it that was just too tricky to get every time.
Some may read this and say "Oh, Eric, you are just bitter you got spit off a V7" or "It just sounds like you need to get on more sloper pinches" and that is fine. My issue is not that I didn't get a problem, or not even about a grade, but rather that this is someone's home gym. I can only imagine that there are guys that do climb these boulder problems and are super frustrated with their ability.
At our gym on Fort Bliss, they have for a while now, not rated the problems. That is fine, except people are going to want to know regardless. Their justification for it is that they don't want kids (by that I mean Soldiers) climbing a "V4" in the gym and then going out to Hueco and getting hurt. My philosophy, however, is quite the opposite. If I climb a V4 in the gym, I would be more accurate in judging my abilities before I tried the throw on T-Bone Shuffle with only one pad; maybe saving my ankle.
I can't say there is any danger to sandbagging at a gym, but the main reason to rate accurately is to measure progress. If the V7s in the gym are the hardest thing...and they're actually V7s-V10s what is the use of rating them at all? You are better off rating back in the B Scale. I have got to be sure that there are climbers there, fully capable of bouldering double digits but to them they aren't pulling harder than V7. As well, when people visit your gym, you want them to be able to walk up to a problem and know if they are even going to want to spend time trying it. Especially if you only have a few in their ability anyway.
Overall, it was a good gym and the setting was also good and this is in no way a knock on Boulders or its setters. The gym was wicked sandbagged, but to each his own. That is why there are consensus ratings outside.
If you have any comments, feel free to share. I would like to know if people prefer ratings in gyms or not.
Size of Facility: Good
Route Asthetics: Good
Route Climbability: Fair
Route Maitenence: Good
Training Equipment: Fair
Staff Friendliness: Fair
Staff Knowledge: Fair
Grade Trueness V1-V4: True V5-V7: + 1-2 V8+: N/A
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