Momentum Indoor Climbing Katy — Attraction in Katy

TL;DR / Summary: Group of 50 moms and kids denied service upon arrival, despite having confirmed multiple times in the days prior regarding arrival date, group size, and the fact that we had Groupon vouchers. The general manager eventually told us that his complaints about the group size, process, safety, etc would magically go away if we paid the full day pass price instead of using our Groupon vouchers. Straight up extortion. The General manager of this location is the reason why this place deserves a 0 star review. He doesn’t have the integrity or honesty to be a manager of anything.

Full Review:

I went to Momentum Indoor Katy with a group of 50 moms and kids (mostly ages 9+) for a fun day of climbing. Before arriving at the facility we called twice and asked the staff in person if we needed a reservation - clarifying the date and number of people arriving together. We were told that the facility could hold 100s of people and there was no need for a reservation (given that it was just a get-together, and we were not interested in a group class/birthday party).

When we showed up on Sunday (8/8/2021), the manager (Mr Rees) behaved in a shockingly unprofessional way. He gave a whole lecture on how our group was too big and therefore he couldn’t possibly allow us to climb without a 1 hour climbing class. There was nothing he could do since it was extremely hazardous etc.. This flew in the face of our previous phone and in person conversations with the staff.

Despite telling us over the phone that the facility was available for a group of 50 kids and adults on that very day, when we arrived he told us the automated belay area upstairs was booked for a birthday party.

He also refused to honor the Groupon vouchers. On a prior visit with family, I personally told the manager that we will be using Groupon vouchers for a group of 50+ and wanted to know if we would have to pay any equipment rental fees. He didn’t express any concerns about us using Groupon vouchers and told me the Groupon voucher included everything.

He then told us we can pay the full day pass price and he would “accommodate us" and admit us in (irrespective of the hazard he had previously used as an excuse.)

When we pointed out the contradictions in his multiple statements this person had the gall to repeatedly tell us “I don’t care!”. He literally kept saying he didn’t care whether it was fair or not and that somehow we should have known that only his word mattered and we should have spoken to him directly (which I did and i have a witness for it).

I have reported this...

The facility is amazing, a massive investment. I would love to give 5 stars, but unfortunately our first visit started off on the wrong foot. Saturday evening 8pm, gym is not busy, from the time we walked in the door until the kids were on the bouldering wall was (no kidding) 40 minutes. There was a group in front of us that took 25 minutes to sign in due to some Groupon shenanigans, finally another staff member came to help out. We signed up for the monthly membership, asked to watch a 4 min video, given some shoes, and it was off to the next customer. We had two kids with us and at no point were any of the facilities explained (like the critical fact that there is a KIDS area!). We finally just started walking around and found the kids area, the weight gym, the auto belay area, etc. They have done a great job of posting area rules, that's the only way we figured them out.

We came again last night and took the belay class. While the instructor knew the material and was very friendly, there were some problems. My wife has never belayed before, was given 3 min of instruction on the use of the belay device and I (on the short end of the rope) was expected to just climb the wall, lean back and let her belay me down. How about going 2 ft up and feeling what a fall you are preventing feels like? It will get your attention the first time it happens, especially when your climber has a weight advantage on you. Additionally, after the safety checks, I was always taught to do a load test prior to any climb, with your feet on the ground just try to sit down.

Again, the facility is awesome. They just have some kinks to work out in their process...

Pros: Very friendly staff and the gym is clean and upkept. Plenty of use out of a membership if you need a gym to frequent. Has many sports climbing and bouldering routes. All the equipment is maintained and the best part is I didn't smell the rental shoes from a mile away!

Cons: The grade scaling is very bad for bouldering (I didn't get to test the sports climbing walls). I don't know if it's because they don't have more walls to work with or because the route setters aren't experienced, but many of the routes aren't graded correctly or are very montone. They go all the way up v16 but the distinction between each grade isn't gradual. Like v0-v1 routes are very simple and you could even walk up them, but then you hit v2s and it's completely different.There's a very noticeable level jump like going from a v0 to a v6, v4 to v6 feel grades higher than they should be, etc. My biggest gripe is that all the routes are the same in terms of holds and the muscles they target past v2s. Many other gyms will have 3-4 different types of routes for a grade, like utilizing jugs or technique more ober just finger strength, but Momentum seems intent on making a majority of them use the top half of your fingers with edge and crimp holds?? Then if you want to wind down after exhausting those specific muscles, you're stuck with the baby routes because no other difficulty allows you to do anything without being full strength.

Overall this climbing gym is pretty mid if you're going for bouldering. Pretty good otherwise though. I hear the Silver Street location has better route setters from my...