IBEX Climbing Gym — Local services in Blue Springs

Alright, I am not usually one to go give a place a bad review I really try not to because I know how devastating it can be for a business but honestly idk what else will make me feel better about this situation I went through today at this location and just my overall experience… I brought in my two kids 7 & 8 we previously had bought a pass for like 15 times to come in which isn’t cheap but I don’t think we’ll be back which is unfortunate that I’ll have to be out that money but I know I’ll never go back and I doubt we’ll be able to talk my son into going back. When we walked in the man working (Todd) was acting so so discombobulated about my kids being “hyper” I mean come on, they’re kids about to get to climb big walls of course they’re excited! But, after a tough time figuring out their shoe sizes he came around to show me how to get the harness on my daughter. As he is putting the harness on and telling me how to do it my daughter starts talking, he LITERALLY put both his thumbs on her mouth and his fingers on her face to try and shut her lips and told her to be quiet and that he knows she’s excited but she’s hyper. I am extremely uncomfortable, obv my daughter is too but i unfortunately as a woman feel super awkward in this moment and laugh it off but I wish more than anything I would’ve been like ok, enough, that’s unacceptable and we’re going to go ahead and leave but I didn’t and so then he proceeds to be super rude to my son about him picking out shoes. Unbeknownst to him, my son has a disorder and sensory problems are included in this and so I knew this was prob going to trigger him with this guy trying to make comments and be rude about my son picking shoes that were “too big” on him because they will just slide off. I understand the fact that shoes are supposed to be a little tight but also, come on, he’s a kid and is being strapped in and it really isn’t that serious for a kid to have correctly fitted shoes if he literally states out loud they’re too uncomfortable and he’d rather not. The guy was just pretty relentless and rude about it. So from there he shows me how to get them going on the actual wall but is just annoyed by my children the whole time and you could clearly tell and he just came off as super pretentious and the whole situation just was off putting to even make me want to stay. I mean we came when literally no one else was there, he had the time to take his time and be patient and more friendly but he wasn’t and that’s annoying when you’re in a “customer service position” and are getting paid to do this. It’s like we were inconveniencing him or something. Also, I had to clip them in and take them off each time, they weren’t allowed to do it themselves according to him so when my son or daughter wanted to go to another spot on the other side of the mats I had to run over and help them and run back to get the other and back and forth so that was kind of impossible to do without them having to wait between me strapping one or the other in somewhere and I just thought that was stupid since other times we’ve came they’ve been able to get themselves in and going but idk about that. Then my son wanted to go upstairs to the rock wall where you don’t strap in at all and went and asked Todd and Todd said he couldn’t go alone so I had to talk my daughter into stopping downstairs so we all could go up. Of course my son had a meltdown about the shoes and we were there prob less than thirty mins after we actually got on the mats… ugh, I don’t know why but this whole experience was just so disheartening and like I said I won’t be back. I’ve been three or four times and every time I feel like the people working have some weird power trip where they think they can just act stuck up and rude. Also, him touching my daughter like that I can’t get out of my head and that’s what I’m most mad about. Don’t put your thumbs on my daughters lips to try and physically close her mouth to stop her from talking, that’s gross and so inappropriate in so many ways. I honestly hope that it’s on tape and the...

This review is sincere constructive criticism. This is not a very good gym for bouldering. The bouldering area is extremely small and the grading is significantly sandbagged. Not only have I experienced it myself but I've heard this same sentiment from other climbers I've met at my regular climbing gym as well as others on outdoor climbing trips. Where you may climb a V3-4 somewhere else, you will struggle with V1-2's here. There's a very minimal amount of walls with only 1 route per grade on a wall. So there's only about 5 routes for you for whichever grade you can successfully climb at here. And especially when they route one wall to be designated as their "expert wall" that leaves even less routes for you to potentially climb.

Especially for a beginner. I began my climbing here awhile back and quickly developed a back injury since the grades are too difficult. Theres a significant lack of being able to develop proper technique and form and you're almost always forced to instead do most things with just brute strength. Thankfully, there's better bouldering gyms in the area that give you the tools and resources to successfully progress and be able to climb at a proficient level.

If you try to voice these concerns they'll tell you that the gym is geared more for outdoor bouldering. That feels very elitist and gatekeeping to your regular hobbyists.

I came today for a day pass after climbing at a different gym for awhile just for the heck of it and I was quickly reminded as to why I left. For $25 a person, it feels like a big scam if you're only...

Had really poor customer service from James the second we walked into the facility. Seemed like he didn’t want to be there. After we signed waivers and he charged us he told us to put stuff in the cubbies and then get are stuff on and wait for him. So we did. After about 10 min of waiting while he was on the computer (we thought he might have been busy) my friend finally said hey I think we are ready. He looks up and says “ready for what?” We said you told us to wait. He then treats us like we are two years old. I see him walk with his shoes on the mat so I leave mine on and he scolds me to take mine off. Which I nicely complied. But thought that was a bit weird. He then rambles in one place about how to clip a carabiner for the auto belay in a pretty poor demonstration (as a professional in the industry I let a lot of the technical and teaching stuff pass) then gives a very inadequate top rope belay test. Again letting this pass. I finally had to say something as his entire attitude was like he didn’t want to be there. This really set our climbing session off to a bad start. We were planning to come back every day this week as we are here on work. We will definitely check out some other gyms now. After traveling the world and climbing at hundreds of gyms, I’d say this was one of the worst experiences I have had. But I guess I am used to most being good.

All the other folks we met there were really nice. So an extra...