What to look for in an indoor climbing center

[amaliedageek]

I've been doing Pilates Reformer at least four times a week for the last six months; a change in focus on the part of the studio has left me looking for a new challenge. My son and his friends have been bouldering and top-rope climbing since middle school and have been trying to get me on the wall for years; I have some issues to work through (a friend died while free-climbing in the canyons not far from here), but 20+ years is doubtless long enough to let the fear have its way.

I would welcome the community's suggestions: what would recommend a place to you, or send you screaming for the exits?

Comments

[rydra_wong]

Having been pondering my answer --

Trust your gut instinct about the feel of a place. What sold me on the Arch when I first peered hesitantly through the door was the atmosphere: it felt low-key and mellow and scruffy and safe, both the place and the people. The staff encouraged me to come in and look round as much as I wanted. It felt welcoming and open, not like an exclusive club I couldn't belong to. I was terrified, but the place felt right.

What sends me personally screaming for the exits: places that are too noisy and/or too crowded, even at off-peak times. Places where the routes are all ladders, and they just increase the grades by making the holds smaller, the gaps between them wider, and the wall more overhanging. Anywhere where staff are disdainful or you feel you can't ask questions.

Especially if you've got issues to work through, you need to feel that it's a good place to be.

The major, major thing to send anyone screaming for the exits would be "obvious safety problems", but with bouldering safety issues tend to boil down to "don't walk under anyone who's climbing", so I leave it up to the people who know what's what with ropes to advise you on that one. *g*