projectROCK — Attraction in Florida

TL;DR Project Rock is the best climbing gym in South Florida, in terms of their facility and the amount of walls they have. Their commitment to their members and overall customer service has a lot to be desired.

THE GOOD: I started climbing at PRC in May of 2022. It's hands down the largest and most well built out climbing gym in South Florida. A fantastic bouldering wall, as well as a large plethora of lead and top rope climbing routes.

There is a great community of members who climb there regularly, they are very supportive and friendly to new climbers and members.

The gym is very up to date on communications to its members and potential new climbers via social media. Any updates or events are regularly advertised on their social media, which makes knowing what's going on at the gym very easy.

The events that they host are very enjoyable. There's always a great turnout and lots of fun to be had. Also the recent demo days they've done with brands such as MadRock and Black Diamond have been awsome, to be able to test new equipment and make informed decisions of future equipment purchases.

THE BAD: Personally as a member, I felt as though my concerns were not addressed when I brought them up. There are many other members who feel the same way. This relates to multiple requests by members to have earlier opening times during the week (Monday-Thursday). Another instance where there was significant damage to the mats near the bouldering wall. It took months of complaints via social media and in person, for gym management to give an update as to when the mats would be fixed.

In my personal opinion, it feels as though gym management is more concerned about the folks who buy rentals ,day passes, and book parties, than the members who pay monthly memberships. I understand that the gym needs to make a profit and that their profit margin is (most likely) mainly from rentals, day passes, and parties, but you shouldn't neglect the people who (most likely) cover the majority of the business's operating costs.

Obviously climbing is a sport that attracts all ages, genders, and cultural backgrounds. Unfortunately the ages part of that tends to be a problem. Mainly on weekends, the gym is usually crowded with new climbers and a lot of them are children. I'm here for more people coming to the gym and kids getting into climbing, but there are times where it feels less like a gym and more like a playground. Often children are running around on the mats, under climbers on the wall, unsupervised by their parents. Staff at the gym do their best to mitigate it but most times, they're so inundated with people, there's nothing they can do.

I've also had some personal saftey concerns with new climbers. There have been countless times where I've had to check people's harnesses and belay devices because they're new and probably weren't paying attention during their orientation/training. I've also had to correct people on their belay technique because they weren't doing it properly. I've brought up any concerns to staff and they're very prompt to address the situation to make sure everyone is safe.

The staff there are a mixed bag. There are people there who are knowledgeable about climbing and saftey, but there are also a lot of high school aged kids who don't really know what's going on. There also is a fair amount of turnover, in the last few months it's settled, but every month I'd walk in and be greated by a new person. They have taken strides to hire and maintain staff in the last few months and that's...

This is a newer gym in South Florida, and also incidentally the furthest one north until you hit Orlando or Melbourne. The Facility is beautiful and the walls are the tallest in Florida, but ultimately they fall short of most other gyms I have been to. Membership price is about average for the state, however they lack the other features most climbing gyms have; such as a training/weight room, showers, or Yoga included with price of membership. Most other gyms also give a free guest pass per month- while they offer it only once birth month ( seriously guys?).

The setting here was also god awful in the 6 months I was a regular member. Most climbs feel about the same and there is little to no technical challenge or hard problem solving to get through; cruxes are also non-existent, and difficulty is typically only increased by making holds worse/feet smaller. Setting is also very rare. The boulder wall does get reset often enough- however the toprope/lead section routes can stay up for 6-9 months at a time. These problems seem to come from the fact that they have a very limited number of setters- Other gyms I have been to have been much more open to letting regular members become involved in setting, and this creates an incredible assortment of routes that are very unique.

The walls here suffer another huge issue; nearly the entire gym is face climbing. Aside from the bouldering area, the crack climbs, a section of lead- only invert, the stalactite, and a tiny roof-arch, all the climbs are face climbs. There is no slab, and if you want to practice invert you have to have to lead climb, or boulder. The invert area used to have top-rope access, but worry of " swinging off the wall" caused them to take it down. This isnt a new issue with invert, other gyms simply add a redirect rather than making an entire area lead only. The lead only area is quite large however, and while this provides a good amount of fun lead only routes, it also takes up quite a bit of space for an area only 1-2 pairs can utilize at a time.

Now for the good;

The "natural" sections of rock are quite beautiful, and provide an awesome exercise in outdoor climbing when you're not staring down huge plastic holds The crack climbs are excellent, and there are enough of them that you won't get tired- unless you can send a 14. 60ft walls make for awesome endurance training. Super cool Stalactite/Stalagmite feature.

**Verdict: At the end of the day; this gym looks awesome from the front door selfie, but just feels like a business started/owned by people uninvolved in the sport. The faux wood really gets to me. This would be a great place to try the sport out, build some endurance, grip strength, or even spend a Saturday if you're from out of town- But for those who live in the area actively looking to push the grade and train hard; I would say look elsewhere.

Tldr;

Pros: -60ft walls -Real(faux) rock+ Crack Climbs -Tons of routes -Shiny facility with good a/c

Cons: -Routes are very similar -no slab/ invert -Poor setting/route development -Very slow resetting of roped climbs -no weight...

I used to be a very regular member here years ago, and occasionally would come back once every six months or so to top rope. I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking, at the risk of sounding like a total Karen, this place is the absolute Chuckie Cheese of climbing gyms. Bday party and rental shoe galore, getting most of its exposure on social media from first timers since it’s trendy to climb now. Actual climbers just stick around because it’s one of the very few places in south Florida to lead climb or top rope tall walls. Just yesterday I witnessed the REGULAR combo of a dad climbing the boulder wall in sneakers to show off to their kid, a guy on his phone belaying his first timer friend who was clung to the wall so that his belayer could answer a call AND text with both hands to which I yelled at him and finally a staff member walked by and said “safety first!” with a nervous smile, and the general lack of safety etiquette amongst guests is outrageous. I understand climbing should be accessible to all and it is hard for beginners! So fine, if they accidentally step on the wrong color hold, who cares. But if you see someone just climbing every color hold like it’s a playground, you can bet no one is explaining or ENFORCING bouldering etiquette to them, how to fall properly, how to not cross paths with another climber, what the brushes are for, chalking up, PRC is the reason liability waivers exist =) not only is it a greasy wonderland but historically half the boulder walls aren’t graded until way after they’re set so a lot of people are trying stuff they have no clue is way out of their range therefore causing traffic on the mat and just wasting a lot of people’s time. Every VB-V2 should be graded on the spot and newcomers should be directed to work on those and signal how hard bouldering grades get. It’s also really really bizarre how there’s only one person checking in massive groups/lines at the front desk presumably because everyone else is supervising the floors or attending to bday parties. But then at times theres 5 workers at the front desk and no one on the floor. If people think climbers are stuck up, just wait till a grown adult falls on your unsupervised child...