Aesthetic Climbing Gym — Attraction in Lake Forest

Climbing is on the rise. Literally. My years at Solid Rock Gym saw little growth or expansion, but when the Lake Forest location closed Orange County was left with a void. Since then gyms have popped up all over Southern California and dare I say it climbing is going mainstream. It's modern, it's adaptive and the training ground for the TOP climbers. Well these guys sure had a dream to fill that void with really what climbing has needed in OC and beyond.

I heard rumors of a San Clemente gym and now there is TruHold in Mission Viejo, Sharma's new gym coming, obviously Hangar 18, Mesa in SD, Vital bouldering walls in Carlsbad, but let's be honest if you don't go to Rockreation or Rock City the 2 most established gym's besides SRG when they left you were stuck driving way out of your way. Aesthetic and Truhold serve a much bigger population which is great for us as a community.

The Arndt brothers (Dillon & Trevor) and Jeremy Meza have done a great job addressing a lot of the downfalls of previous gyms in the area and abroad. Not to sound like an elitist, but too often kids are exposed to climbing in more of a babysitting way, relying on excellent gym employees to wrangle them, keep their interest and whatnot. Having a staging area for comps, having event specific area's for kids to have their parties and a separate vertical top rope area keeps everybody safe and happy. The Yosemite and Joshua Tree room are decorated so well it's almost a shame kids will likely thrash it eventually. Members and nonmember alike fully enjoy the top out boulder, training room, and top ropes. Lead area requires the passing of testing certification. The training room lets people get on intervals where you can crank out and hours' worth of toproping or bouldering in half the time. Like I said earlier gyms are the training ground and with these new state of the art padding systems you don't have to worry about dirty rocks ever again. Makes us setters happy because it's less we have to clean. I really dig that there are bouldering specific gym's now and that new gym's like this still offer it all. Competitions are a lot of work, but a lot of reward. Something 25-50% of gym's choose not to do for a variety of reasons. ACG had a comp almost immediately, showcasing this brand new facility. These guys are on a facebook media blasting tear doing more for marketing than I've ever seen done for any climbing gum. Oh technology and the internet. Good setting and maintenance is key to keeping people happy and safe. Testing limits and ego's. You'll find challenge and reward regardless of your skill level here. You couldn't find more friendly, honest and humble owners and with gorilla strong climbers to newbies training here every day welcoming all with open arms, you'll find your place here. As soon as have my surgery's to fix a few old climbing injuries I'll be back here...

What a great gym. I hate that I had to cancel my membership here because I really felt like I belonged to a great community, until...

The owner, Trevor, pitched me on joining his multi-level marketing business (Amway). Then I asked around and realized I was hardly the first person in the gym he has pitched to. Three of my friends in the gym had been talked into attending his pitch meetings.

Why is this so upsetting? Well for starters, 99% of people that sign up to distribute for multi-level marketing companies like Amway ultimately lose money, so to have someone you trust pitch it to you as a legitimate way to make money feels incredibly deceptive. To then find out he has tried to do the same thing to your friends makes the situation feel even worse.

Add to that the fact that college classes come to aesthetic to teach rock climbing, bringing many new adults and college students to the gym on a regular basis. Revolving door of potential new recruits into his scheme? Check.

Trevor, your actions completely betrayed the trust I placed in you and the community you have worked so hard to build. I did not want to have someone selling to me while I was enjoying my free time climbing in the gym, which is why I came to you to report it when it happened. For you to somehow think it was okay to flip that situation on me and then pitch your own scheme to me shows a complete lack of awareness of the situation or what you’re involved in.

Is it worth it to profit off of the losses of 99/100 of the people...

I hadn't gone rock climbing in a couple years, so I was definitely looking for a nonjudgmental place to go. The staff was incredible, and they were very helpful in teaching my friends and I the basics. We started with top-rope and the staff was very patient and helpful showing us the methods. After about 5-10 minutes of training, they actually let us belay one another and left us on our own (The ropes were secured in the ground, they took the highest safety measures possible to ensure the well being of their customers). The staff was always nearby if you needed them, but they gave you a lot of space and privacy if you didn't seek them out, which was very nice. Also, they had very mellow background music playing which gave it a calm and tranquil atmosphere that really let you get in the zone. Oh, and of course the big one: price. $15 for a full day pas that includes the harness, shoes, and a chalk pack?? Simply incredible. I honestly felt like I had cheated them out by the amount of enjoyment I got out of my visit for such a small price. Simply put, if you're in the southern California region and looking for a place to rock climb, go to Aesthetic Climbing Gym, you...