Lava Hot Springs Olympic Swimming Complex — Attraction in Lava Hot Springs

Lava Horror story:

My boyfriend went off the high dive and went unconscious. That's not the problem, of course, we understood there's a reason you sign a waiver. The issue is that four lifeguards stood around the side of the pool and did nothing but stare blankly at him while me and others screamed for help. He was left unconscious, face in the water for 19 seconds.

The only reason I didn't go in to get him myself was because there were FOUR lifeguard just watching him and they blew the whistle.. so I assumed they'd get him at any second.. but they didn't- they just watched him float. I couldnt believe what I was seeing.

I feel so guilty/ashamed I didn't act, but I trusted the Lava Hot Springs life guards to do their jobs. I was wrong. I'll never ever hesitate to save someone I love again on account of, "trusting the professionals".

The Lava Hot Springs staff proceeded to clear the entire pool before anyone even tried to get my unconcious boyfriend out of the water.. and then still no one jumped in for another 20+ seconds once everyone was out.

People around me started screaming, "what is going on? Get him out! Why is no one helping him?" I was sobbing and screaming for help. An entire group of EMTs witnessed it and said theyd never seen anything like it. One off duty EMT tried to jump in himself to get him but was stopped by a lifeguard.

People assumed a professional had to retrieve him because the lifeguard had blown the whistle and wrongly called a "#3- Spinal", which of course, was not a relevant or accurate call.

Luckily, my boyfriend became conscious after 19 seconds and after coming to and realizing where he was, eventually swam himself out. A lifeguard didn't get in the water till 30-40 seconds after the whistle was blown and every single person was cleared.

When the manager came to check on him, the lifeguard just stood there next to him, crying(no hate to her- she was young and must have been new and very clearly undertrained/ ill prepared to handle the situation..) and the manager very harshly/rudely asked a few brief questions like, "do you feel okay? Have you eaten?" Before he'd had any professional look at him, she declared him, "totally fine."

She then proceeded to blame the entire experience on my boyfriend. "You didn't eat." "You didn't do all of the other high dives before you jumped off the highest one." "How much water have you had to drink today?" Etc.

When it was explained that the issue wasn't that he passed out, it was the alarming lack of response from all four lifeguards who left my boyfriend face down in the water, passed out to fend for himself for almost 40 seconds, she sternly replied, "my lifeguards never hesitate."

Not only did we recieve no apology from the manager, Karen Bartlett, she also refused to give us her name and I had to walk around to the front desk to grab one of her business cards. She refused any accountability for the incident and was weirdly hostile/rude to us while we waited for EMTs.

After waiting for 45 minutes for on duty EMTs to arrive, several people(including the group of off duty EMTs) gave us their numbers in case we needed witnesses to press charges for physical damage caused by negligence.

To them I say, thank you. And to the rest of you: swim at your own risk and don't let our horrific story ruin...

1st visit, might be my last visit. Undecided. Very upset. Went as a group with some friends. My son is 4 and so is our friends son. We decided we wanted to do the Red and Green slides and prior to going up the steps we made sure our kids were tall enough ( Both kids are exactly right at 42 inches) We proceeded to the slides and we went down them multiple times. The 3rd time is when we started to have problems. The lifeguard was changed out to a young kid clearly under the age of 18. I went ahead of my son to ensure that I was at the bottom for him, but my son never came out the tube. I finally walked to the side so I could look up at the top and my son was (Again 4 years old) was walking back down the steps by himself. I met him about half way and walked all the way back up and asked the lifeguard what was going on. He told me that my son wasn't big enough to go down the slide. I told him that he is big enough. The lifeguard had me put my son next to the other height sign and he was probably about 4 inches too short and that I could go to the front desk and get a wrist band. The front desk took us out front to another sign which shows about an inch short maybe. My biggest complaint is that ALL yours signs aren't the same and they aren't correct on height because my son was measured at the drs office on June 12th and was 105 cm which puts him at 41.3386 inches over a month ago. Both kids did end up with a wrist, but I'm most upset about was the way that I was treated by the young staff, all 3 signs aren't the same and they aren't the correct height, and my kid was sent down all the stairs by himself without an adult. There wasn't any manager on duty from what I was told and relayed all this to one of the young supervisors that pretended to care but wasn't overly engaged in the problems but said he would bring it up at the next...

Love Lava! 🥽The slides were so much fun! ( went on a busy day so had to wait half hour to an hour to go on a few so prepare yourself). The different diving jumps to choose from and a lot of spectators to rate how well you did, lol. 🥽 Outside pool was huge, fun to swim around in (or have swim fights with your kids), cute frog slide for toddlers. Two basketball hoops to play on. 🥽Inside pool was great for getting out of the sun, basket ball hoop to play, 1 lane for swimming laps, a splash pad for toddlers, diving board, and Hot tub (lots of kids age 7-18 and adults. 🥽 Front desk: totally amazing customer service (my experience was) helped me purchase goggles for $4 dollars each and rent a toddler life vest for $20 and then if you choose to return it you get $10 back. The had other cool pool toys, pool noodles, sweaters and water bottles that had a cool saying on it. I asked them if the had a sticker if it and they said no. So Owners of Lava, Make a Sticker of the Bare bottem guy! I would buy it! 🥽changing rooms are decent along with bathrooms. The employees/ life guards do a great job staying on top of cleaning regularly. They also do a great job with taking the garbage out regularly. 🥽 Rent a tube to go down the river! My daughter (14) did it and said it was awesome. Life vest are a must! 🥽 Parking lot is not very big so get there early. Other parking is across the street or on the grass up a hill near the train tracks. There are diesel trains that pass by and toot their horns. Loud but fun for kids. They are very strict about not unloading or parking near the entrance to the building (For Emergency Vehicles Only) they will not hesitate to tow or call the police. 🥽 Lots of grassy areas to choose and get settled in. We brought two EZ canopy's for shade and camping chairs. Great idea to bring a portable...