Climb Time Oakley — Local services in Cincinnati

Not ecstatic with the experience so far. I just moved to town, but quite honestly, all of the gyms in town seem to have similar practices. I'll continue to go because it is very close to my home and it doesn't seem like any of the other gyms are much better.

Positives: • The staff is very friendly. I appreciate how welcoming they were • The walls are great and they seem to change the routes semi-frequently • Routes have a competition feel to them, which I love • The bouldering has some good variation to all of it • The shop is modestly priced • Their covid protocols are pretty good for the most part except for one complaint below

Negatives: • They are not enforcing proper lead technique very well. I'm pretty sure I saw an employee oversee some lead climbing where the belayer had his hand off the GriGri completely while belaying rope and then would put his hands on it only to feed slack which caused a delay in providing slack and could prove dangerous to the climber. Made me nervous to watch • No water on the gym floor - sealed bottle or otherwise • No mock lead - not even with a five foot rope. Sucks for anyone new to town (myself) that wants to get some lead practice in without knowing anyone to climb with • Can't be barefoot during the pandemic, but climbers can go shirtless and rub up against the community gym ropes? I have a bias against shirtless gym rats so maybe this is a me thing. What's even more weird is that they allow you to walk around with your normal shoes on the mats, as if that's sanitary? • The gym hours are very non-worker friendly. Anybody that works heavy daytime hours have very small windows to go in. Would be great if there was a gym in town to offer 6 am opening hours (especially for those of us that want to socially distance responsibly during non-peak hours). • It's crazy expensive compared to other rock climbing gyms that offer yoga, gym equipment, and other benefits. $70-80 a month and you get climbing. Nothing else.

Edit: can't figure out how to reply to your comment below so I'll reply here. Even if I'm mistakened about who was an employee in the vicinity of the climb, there were plenty of employees roaming and this went on long enough to be spotted. I almost reported it to the desk staff, but it was so blatant and for so long that I assumed it was common practice for this gym. I appreciate the response and hope you recognize this as an honest review and not a...

Pricey but you definitely get what you pay for! Lots of interesting problems to solve and routes are regularly reset. Clean location with thoughtful touches like bathroom amenities, as well as a small area for weight lifting, a ping pong table, and the occasional weekly yoga class.

Don’t feel intimidated because climbers of all ages and experience are welcome here. Every staff member I’ve interacted with has been friendly and knowledgeable, and willing to answer questions. I’m really happy this location opened up, it’s convenient to have a gym so close to the Oakley/Hyde park area! This facility is focused on top rope versus the blue ash location which is primarily bouldering.

I wish I found climbing earlier in life. I just love everything about it, the mental and physical challenge. Unfortunately, I really hurt myself last month here bouldering (fell with my arm locked, dislocated my elbow and tore some ligaments) I have a ways to go as far as recovery but I hope I can return in a few months and keep at it. I was making so much progress!

At any rate, thanks for keeping this place so well run and sharing the joy of climbing with everyone who walks...

I work at a climbing gym and Climb Time Oakley exceeded my expectations! It’s a great facility with a variety of boulder options and terrains (as a V6/7 indoor boulderer I felt challenged and the routes were pretty hard for the grade). I had a decently long session there and plan to go back for more!

They have tons of auto belay options (on one section, they have 14 routes spread across 2 auto belays - 7 routes per lane 🤯).

The staff was very friendly, and the route setters were incredibly good at what they do.

I was visiting from out of town and trying to decide which facility to go to, Oakley did...