[Updated Review from 5 stars to 3 stars to 4 stars]…read more
Been a customer since its opening, i guess that makes me a 2+ year customer of this place. After spending this much time, I guess my review should be a legit and honest review
There has been good and bads, most of the bads have been fixed, i.e. wifi password issues, scheduling, etc. What remains are the good. Tho, there are still some tiny room for improvement like: adding a weight scale in the workout area, add clothing racks into restroom doors to facilitate changing, add couple more rope anchors as they become scarce when its crowded at the corner, etc. These are minor, simple, and inexpensive suggestions to enhance customer experience...
I come here for a workout and mostly stick to rope climbing. The length for the climbing are the tallest in the area, 60ft. And some overhang. Which is amazing for endurance workout. Most of the times this place hosts rope competition and perhaps building the next generation competitive youth/young athletes. Kudos contributing back to the community and helping parents help their kids grow and to have a shot at the big stage. A side effect of hosting competitions is that the settings left are compy style and spread out. They do their best to fill the routes afterwards, good work takes time, so lots of patience is needed. Compy routes might not be suitable for the recreational climber, as they are challenging and tailored to people who have been training consistently. Bad luck to you if you make a long trip and find closure and/or compy routes only, I guess should check social media for these kind of updates. For the normal routes, most of the times they put a lot of thought in the route and flow. I like that. Because the gym's size might be limited, they only have about thirty-ish leadable routes, sometimes I wish they could put three climbs in one route to maximize the number of climbs, like how they do it in other places in Europe and in Asia. Just a wishful thinking. In terms of the route style it can somehow be predictable. The recipe is usually reachy holds that requires deadpoint, and compy holds (perhaps next to the greatest holds), which might not work for people using the gym to train for outdoors climb and short people. Well, not everything is perfect and cant be picky in everything. I think it is good as is at the moment
In terms of bouldering, I do not boulder often in here because of the limited bouldering space, hence limited offering and grade variability the gym provides. I've come to realization that the style is not suitable for me and can be very predictable. From v0 to v3, its quite straightforward, either too easy or just a staircase. From v4 onwards i feel they want you to cut feet. Most of the routes are either jumps, dyno, coordination, or reachy that you have to deadpoint or can barely reach it statically, with holds spread out without any holds in between. Feels like most are compy style that they aim to build the next generation for and for the big stage. Nothing wrong with the MO of the gym and what they are aiming for. Its actually good that they are aiming for specific customers, and they would know it best because I see other people getting rowdy, cheerful, and excited about all the jumps and dynos... But, this is definitely not for me. I've got too much at stake to get injured and become decomissioned for long time... So, I end up going to other gyms for hardcore bouldering: gp81, vital les, and sometimes even method climbing gym. It is just me tho.
This place has a tension board 2 for training. I used to train with it until i realized it conditions me to those holds and makes me useless at rope climbing and bouldering. So i stopped using it. But it can be a great tool for core training and to get stronger.
Overall, its a great gym for rope and not so much for bouldering. My two cents. If you never been here, i'd say its definitely worth coming to check it out. : )
