projectROCK

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 a good sign.