Alaska Rock Gym — Attraction in Alaska

I bought a year membership in January. In April, my father died unexpectedly. Climbing was my therapy. In May I dislocated and fractured my shoulder and also fractured my wrist coming off of my 100th climb in the Chugach. I wasn't able to climb at all, let alone at ARG. I was told by other folks that ARG is pretty understanding of things like this, so I reached out. They told me I waited too long to tell them (I obviously had other things on my mind) but that they could give me 2 months if I showed them pictures from the ER and then sent me a .pdf of their membership policy. So cold. I don't even know if I'll be able to climb during those two months as I'm still in a wrist brace as I type this one-handed. Protip: if you ever get injured in the mountains, make sure you limp into ARG ASAP so they can lay hands on your wounds and freeze your account and charge you $8/mo. Why can they not just pull scan data and see that I have never scanned my barcode since the injury that I have verified with time-stamped documentation from the ER and retroactively collect the freeze fees? Who knows.

Update: ARG’s response indicates sending ER photos was not necessary. I have attached a screenshot of their email to me, specifically requesting ER photos.

Update 2:

Hi Nicole,

Thank you for taking the time to chime in.

I definitely have a long-standing history of visiting ARG, starting with the original location 11 years ago.

I’m not sure I have been disgruntled for most of that time though, I have been pretty happy to have a local climbing gym, even if that original location was pretty dinky compared to the cavernous location of today.

In early 2015, I was one of 6 people that reviewed the original location, I gave it 4 stars: https://www.yelp.com/biz/alaska-rock-gym-anchorage?hrid=yl8xLmNy_7E-UEDpCM3eBA&utm_campaign=www_review_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)

In 2016, I was one of the first people to review the new location, I gave it 5 stars, although I did have some nit-picks.

In 2017, after paying for a year membership at opening, I re-addressed some of my issues that were not fixed or addressed, and gave 4-stars.

In 2022, I posted a very angry 1-star review after receiving an email when most people weren’t even fully vaccinated yet that ARG was going to start charging again for frozen memberships after giving less than 24 hrs notice. I posted a screenshot of the email in question. I also used the feedback form on the website to address my distaste with this abrupt policy change.

All in all, I’m averaging 3.5 stars for ARG.

(4+5+4+1)/4 ‎ = 3.5

Not sure what you mean about giving readers half the information, I try to always post screenshots of official ARG emails (concealing the identities of the staff) or website information when I’m criticizing something, to provide context.

My distress and sadness is over the policies, not the staff. Your staff have been great at carrying out your policies. Lovely and tactful. I’m sorry I haven’t been.

I’m not sure the exact number, but I’ve spent thousands of dollars at ARG over the years. I’ve convinced many other people to become members.

I was indeed very disgruntled by one thing in particular though, that I promptly informed ARG about: resuming charges on all frozen accounts when many people didn’t feel safe going back into public spaces yet in March/April 2021. This was done with very short notice, less than a day. I guess maybe that’s what was “revealed” to you by whatever documentation is maintained on me that you do just consulted while researching me for the readers. That review was very disrespectful and angry, and it should’ve been constructive. I’m geniunely sorry for my...

Son is in a full length cast leg splint, under Dr.s orders, no weight on foot. Went into the gym asking for them to just let the lessons he would miss do to injury roll into the next class he takes. Have been taking classes for 2 years... NOPE they won't agree. Under the new management contract, clearly says no refunds, no credit. I asked for neither just the lessons missed for future lessons when he is cleared medically and has his full leg splint off. Still, no, sorry. But I can bring him in, and he can climb with his cast on... So tomorrow he goes in for his rock climbing lesson. Im thinking no services rendered. You just created a huge issue. I paid for the service. Its abosolutely a risk to have anyone clumb with a cast. But hey, people missing limbs climb so, off we go. Very very very not impressed by their lack of customer relations. And of course I signed paper work saying I assume all risks.... so dont even deny us the lessons. Absolutely no money is out of their pocket.... I'll post pictures of his lessons after class.

Update: The general manager reached out to me, which I appreciate. Its mutual he isnt rock climbing until released from Dr.s care. He loves the Rock gym. He has had knowledgeable coaches. My rating of 1 is for the business end of management of the Rock gym. It remains a 1. I see the hard fastness of it. They do not see beyond paper and ink... thats ok. I did sign a contract, fair is fair. To box someone into a situation where they cant legally climb, and finish out the contract, then deny them serives paid for well into advance, is my grievance. But kudos to the manager, that keeps the line in the sand straight. I can respect that, even while not liking it. Thanks for...

I climb here simply because there isn’t another option in the area. There are several things wrong with this gym.

I find it pretty ridiculous that they charge $55 extra per month so you can have access to the fitness and yoga classes. I would understand this if they had dozens of classes per week to choose from but options are extremely limited.

My first experience in the gym I asked to get added onto my husband’s account so we could be together on a family pass. It took almost an hour and 4 different personnel to figure out how to do it. They had me fill out their paperwork multiple times even when I explained to them that I had already filled it out.

After all was said and done, they had to give me a tour in which I had to wait for… even though there were 4 people behind the desk shopping online and socializing with one another. When I got to climb I had been there for over an hour.

I think they they would also benefit from having stickers for your phone that have your barcode on it. I don’t always drive the same car, or my husband and I commute together and juggling different sets of keys for our checkin tags is really annoying.

Another example of dysfunction is trying to get belay and lead certified. When we approached the desk on another occasion, despite there being multiple personnel behind the counter, we were told that no one was trained to do a belay test with us for top rope or lead. We found this extremely frustrating and couldn’t understand why their whole staff isn’t held to a...