Dyno-Rock Indoor Climbing Center — Attraction in Arlington

This rock climbing gym is the most convenient for me to go to, however I feel like it leaves a lot to be desired. The overall vibe of this gym is very much college dudes garage which has a lot of potential to feel kind of trendy and charming, but it doesn’t play to that charm right and feels kind of dingy.

The location of it has become more appealing with relatively recent improvements to the area overall, and the exterior of the building on the backside is pretty cool, they have a neat mural that might would make me want to check it out if I were nearby, but when you approach the parking lot the building looks more like a rundown warehouse and I feel like renovations of the outside would make it seem a bit more inviting.

The inside is alright, I like the open space they have with all of the tables. But I do feel like they should reevaluate the furniture in the open area. I understand a portion of their business is hosting birthday party’s but between the public school lunch tables and the picnic tables I think one should be done away with, as well as the mat couches, should be replaced with furniture a bit more conducive to be either benches climbers can leave their stuff at or a better spot to chill out at between climbing. The lighting I also feel could be improved upon, it feels just a little to dim inside.

Most of the manually belayed climbs I definitely feel like need renovations. Most of them are ropes thrown over pipes on the ceiling which feels like a bare minimum way of accomplishing the intended job, and doesn’t quite feel reassuring. But their auto belayed climbs are up to standard. This gym also has some lead climbing I do like that there is options to boulder, top rope, and lead climb here.

Their routes however I do feel like leave a lot to be desired. I’m a relatively experienced climber and I’ve done a pretty good variety of indoor and out door climbing. I didn’t find that their top rope routes get to be difficult until 5.11 and I found their boulders to be inconsistent in rating but I could do most of their V6s. I did find that most of their routes boulder and top rope lack any real cool factor, neat solutions, or challenges apart from strength or reach. There was however one top rope that I could see myself projecting, which is the route the route that stars in a cave by the route of the week. The route of the week however has been the same for the last 6 weeks that I am aware of. Most of the boulders in my opinion are asinine, the routes I approached that had dynos felt like the dyno was really the only notable part of the climb and none of the dynos felt like anything to write home about. There is one boulder route that I am a fan of and that is the pink route inside the cave upstairs, I could see myself taking an evening to work on that route. Their boulders do need to be updated more frequently for a membership to be worthwhile for me as all of the routes have been the same throughout the whole gym every time I have been throughout the last 6 weeks.

This gym has an upstairs lounge and small bouldering area that I am a a fan of, I think that section is pretty well done. There is a downstairs area with gym equipment that looks like it doesn’t get used very often, the area is messy and doesn’t really have enough equipment that I would cancel my regular gym membership if I was a member here. However there is a foosball table in that section that is a nice form of entertainment between climbs.

From my observations the majority of the community at this gym is UTA students, as they have a climbing team. They seem to be friendly but doesn’t seem to be a community that expands or thrives revolving around this gym in particular. Apart from that it seems to mostly be small groups and families taking their kids here, so the community is friendly enough, but not a reason I would be drawn to this gym either. But it is definitely better than the weird vibes that I get at summit.

It’s not great but it’s the most convenient...

I’m by no means a professional climber but I have been climbing for over 25 years and I know my way around multiple belay devices and how to safely and appropriately use them in the way that the manufacturer has designed them to be used.

That being said, I was very concerned today when I went to this facility and saw multiple people using the facility's belay device of choice, the Petzl Grigri 2, incorrectly and unsafely. I saw a dad belaying his daughter and he repeatedly took both hands off the rope to reach up and pull the rope down and then would let go again and then use both hands leap frog style to pull the rope from the belay side of the grigri, I saw a lady have her grigri backwards as though she was left-handed but wasn’t and was constantly struggling with the device because she was trying to belay as though she were right handed, I saw a lady shoving the rope through the grigri trying to lower her partner to the ground and I saw a guy belaying with the rope over his shoulder holding the belay end of the rope straight up in the air. These are just a few of the unsafe things I noticed today.

After watching the dad belay his daughter in a very sketchy fashion I asked one of the employees to watch him belay for a minute because it didn’t look right. The conversation happened as such, E: “He just went through a belay course, but it probably looks weird to you because we don’t teach them how to belay correctly.” Me: “Excuse me?” E: “We teach them how the owner told us because it’s easier and we were having incidents with people trying to do it the right way.” Me: “But that’s not how that device is designed to be used by the manufacturer and it’s not safe.” E: “Well, we haven’t had any accidents yet with how we’re teaching them, we don’t get real climbers in here, we get Groupon people who are never going to go outside and really climb so it’s ok” Me: “No, that’s not ok, you’re knowingly and admittingly teaching people an incorrect and unsafe way to belay.” E: “I don’t have much experience out of the gym I’ve only been in the industry for a couple of years now so this is what I know, I can understand your concern to an extent but we don’t have real climbers here so we don’t really see a problem with what we are doing.”

I then walked away because I couldn’t believe the insanity of the conversation!! I asked for contact information for the owner at the front desk and while one guy went to find it the other guy asked if there was a problem and I told him that I had made some observations that I wanted to share about safety and he asked what they were and I shared them with him and he reiterated the previous employees statements. The other employee came back stating that he couldn’t find the contact information I needed. I find it rather odd that the employees couldn’t provide me with the name or a number for the owner of the gym but suggested I email the general info email on the website.

I’m not normally a person to leave a review or make a fuss, but this situation was ridiculous and potentially life threatening and...

I am an avid outdoor climber with good experience and go to "another gym" 2-3 times a week. My first impression of Dyno Rocks is very hit and miss.

First the bad:

This gym seems to be geared more towards inexperienced climber at best. They use GriGri+ with the panic handle and explain very poorly how to belay in a safe manner. Our guy, not once, told our group to NEVER let go of the brake end of the rope. This is a huge red flag!!! Never ever for any reason let go of the brake end of the rope!!! He Never even mentioned PBUS or PLUS methods!

He kept on explaining the anti-panic feature of the GriGri+ so much that even though he told us to lower slowly, that one of the new guys in our group kept trying to drop us and if it were not for the anti panic system of the belay device one of us should have been going to the hospital that night. I had to quickly explain a safe method of belay myself. Not cool.

If you belay like they taught us and then go to any other gym which uses a standard GriGri... there is a high chance you can kill someone!!!

Many holds were loose and rotating. Many routes were graded incocsetantly and confusing. Some even just ran out of holds before the top. The holds which are rock like and not plastic and worn and very slippery.

Now the good:

Gym staff were friendly and welcoming if not slightly non observant.

The route grades were not soft "gym" grades and more true to outdoor grades.

Some of the worn out slippery holds are more like real life and will make you a better overall climber. Annoying but a positive!!

Some of the inconsistency of the routes mirrors outdoor climbs and makes you think and climb better.

The roof for lead climbing looked fun but I didn't get a chance to try it that night.

There is a really fun chimney in the back right corner.

Overall a cool place to go if you know what you're doing.

But as a cautionary... Of you are new to climbing please please make sure you fully understand belay technique before you climb at any other gym that uses...