Movement Baker — Local services in Denver

It has gotten to the point that instead of enjoying the rest of my evening relaxing I am writing a review.

David Medina was the staff member that got onto a power trip because he found my asking questions bothersome and he retaliated. So I am laughing writing this because it is just so absurd what happened and unwarranted. Most people would have listened to my questions and apologized if it didn't make sense. Not David, he took my belay privileges for the night. I asked questions, and this was NOT ok with him. I followed every rule he threw my direction, I voiced my frustration in the lack of consistency in policy, I stayed calm, I did as he said, I was frustrated by his ego but put mine aside, and David really didn't like my asking for him to help me understand.

His problem with me was clear. I didn't behave the way he wanted me to react, which was to shut up, do what he says and don't ask questions.

So what happened: When I checked in he asked me to show my belay tag, and I showed him the tag on the harness that was given to me yesterday at Englewood. It was a temp tag because I am leaving for a month to Morocco and had a different harness. I had set my stuff down and went up to talk to him about the tag. I am belay certified, he saw that. He told me to go get my temp tag so he could then laminate me a new one tag for today. I said hold up a second and explain this to me. I asked for an explanation of why the tag that was handed to me yesterday somehow is not ok with him today. Why did he see it necessary to trash the one I had and make another one, its wasteful and I have a tag on me a staff member handed me from the other gym. After sharing how I thought the inconsistency in policy was aggravating. I signed the new tag and walked away while I thought he was going to laminate me a second card. I sent my partner up to grab a new card and gave him the one from yesterday to give to David, while I put on my harness (my partner was already ready to climb) . My partner returned to me and said it isn't just me that David was on a power trip with. He said he handed David the old tag for a new one, David said that he decided he is pulling my lead privileges for the day because he thought I just walked away to climb anyways. What???? I walked away to do what you told me to do and the proof is my partner is handing you the old one and asking for a new one . My partner now was thinking what is going on and asked David to explain this to him, which David puffs up his chest because he saw the questions as unacceptable. Not at all crazy for my partner and I to be shocked by his decision and ask for his reasoning. He was taking a serious action and we were doing as he asked and nothing wrong.

We left the gym pretty thrown and upset and went to climb elsewhere. Recognizing I did not do anything that warranted pulling my tag I returned requesting one more run down as to why did he take my privileges hoping to leave this matter with some self reflection on David's part, and to give him the chance to say, "ok I might have overreacted'. Afterall he is young. Some guy named Andrew who didn't even witness David and I interacting said they didn't like how my partner responded when grabbing the new tag and they have the right to pull tags whenever the want. So now my tag got pulled because he didn't like my partner requesting an explanation? Asking questions isn't rude but he didn't like that.

Needless to say we climbed at another gym. I have been a member since before movement was movement and this was a major failure on their staffs ability to manage client communication. The kid took the questions personal instead of for what it was, and retaliated. It...

I've been looking to change gyms for awhile now and I figured I'd give Baker a shot Sunday 12/12 around noon. As far as the gym itself goes I felt it was pretty standard climbing gym. It has a relatively small sized bouldering area and the ropes area had a decent amount of routes. The holds were very polished and the setting on boulders/top rope was pretty mediocre.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to comment on lead due to the ineptitude and unprofessionalism of the staff (I will not be including staff members names in this review). Around 1:00 PM I went to the front desk (with it's three staff members present) and asked to do a lead check. I was told that none of them were certified to do a check and the one staff member that could was teaching a class. I left my name with the three employees and was told they'd announce my name when the certified staff was available. I was dumbfounded to hear that on a weekend day only one staff member was able to do a lead check, but I was okay with it and went back to boulder. After about 45 minutes of bouldering I checked in with the front desk just to see if there was an update. This is when the unprofessionalism of the staff began to spike. One of the staff members snapped at me that "We have your name down and we'll call you when she's available." Then another staff member remarked that "You know next time you come to the gym you should call ahead and see if someone is available to do a lead check (I was extremely baffled by this suggestion)." This is when I just started to get extremely annoyed, but I was polite and went back to climbing. After a roped route or two I heard an announcement and went to go to the front desk and check. At this check-in I was told they forgot about calling me up for a lead check and the ONE certified person to do lead checks was busy doing top rope checks at the moment. On top of that they told me after she finished the belay check she would be taking a break and it would be awhile until I could do my lead check. I was again told I'd be called up when she was available. At this point I had truly given up on thinking I'd be able to lead that day, but I figured I could do the lead check at least. It was now around 3:00pm and I began bouldering again. I ended up climbing for about 30 minutes more and never received an announcement. On my way out of the gym around 3:30 I asked at the desk again if I could do my lead check. This time I was told, "Oh, I'm sorry she's busy doing a top rope check right now." Flabbergasted I left the gym.

I don't normally write reviews, but this experience left a terrible taste in my mouth. I've never been to a climbing gym where a majority of the staff present is unable to do a lead check and I've never been told to "call ahead" to make sure someone is present to do a lead check. I understand staffing can be challenging, but this was just terrible. Finally, I know that working in a climbing gym can get busy and hectic (I've worked in a climbing gym as both a front desk staff and as a middle manager); however, that is no excuse to give a customer attitude and completely forget about them multiple times.

Needless to say, I won't be returning to Movement Baker...

Do not go to this gym.

As an avid rock climber and gym goer I have to recommend not going to this gym. I had a pretty terrible experience with upper management after they raised the monthly rate and didn't inform me whatsoever. Make sure you read the contracts before signing anything because the uneducated employees there will assure you that guest passes are available and freezing your account is free for as long as you want. I talked in detail over the phone with two different employees there before going in and signing up however these were not true. Just FYI you get guess passes but only for people that have never been there before, and you get charged like $20 to freeze your account every month that it is frozen.

If you're like me and live and work in Denver and think that Movement is really the only rock climbing gym available, you're wrong. It is well worth the easy 20 min drive down 6th to Earthtreks. I am as much of an advocate for people to move to EarthTreks as I am a deterrent away from Movement. Earthtreks is literally better in every way. Better holds, more experienced trainers, better classes, parking (extremely hard to find at Movement), Shop, Yoga instructors, Bouldering area, costumer service, pricing, full gym size/area/equipment, and special events. The ONLY thing that Movement has that Earthtreks doesn't have is a daycare (THAT'S IT) and who really cares about that.

I left Earthtreks after living in the area and moving away as well as breaking my wrist and not only was it actually FREE to freeze my account but when I did cancel they comped me for the time remaining in the month. You actually do get guest passes there as well as incentives to getting friends signed up (also missing from movement) On the other side Movement raised my monthly fee didnt apologize for not notifying me, and wouldn't comp me the measly $7 increase for their lack of communication.

Long story short:

At movement you will barely be able to park, pay way overpriced fees for crowded routes, bloody holds, and terrible costumer service. If you need to go to a gym and climb, drive the extra 15 min or so and go...