Active Climbing - Indoor Rock Climbing — Local services in Evans

I’ve been climbing here for a few years now and it seems like management skills need to greatly improve. This gym used to be a place where myself and my friends would look forward to going multiple times a week, and would convince non-climbing folks to come and try out, since there was a wide variety of routes and difficulty levels for every experience level. I was a great testament to this, since I am relatively short and wasn’t super athletic prior to joining this gym. There used to be so many different setters with their own personal style, and I had so many different options to choose from to build my skills. I am by no means the most advanced climber, but I have certainly been able to challenge myself and hit new goals. In the past year or so, there’s been a massive drop off in the number of bouldering setters, and a physical energy shift in management style. Myself and others have tried to be patient with the changes (inconsistent route grading, unprofessional employees, careless cleaning habits from the staff, etc), and I’ve seen some improvements from the newer staff. They are eager to learn route setting and it’s been a pleasure seeing how creative they are! The only caveat to this is that due to the noticeable toxic work environment, these newer setters are not given the opportunity to set any routes. There will be 3-4 walls set in a row from the same person, and only maybe one from other setters. This can be very frustrating for a paying member, since it seems that these 3-4 walls are being set only with themself and their buddies in mind. I can understand being passionate about your work, but when you are in a customer-facing job, your work should not be your personal playground. Setting walls and the only “v0-v2” being a tiny ladder climb feels like weaponized incompetence! To touch on the unprofessional behavior mentioned prior, it is baffling to me when employees are on the clock and are actively creating a safety hazard to -again- paying members of the gym. I have my own busy work schedule, so having my time at the gym interfered with because of managements/employee’s poor time management skills is extremely frustrating. I can understand trying to get routes set for an event/group and time getting away from you- but do so safely and be considerate of those coming in to climb. Swinging on the walls and almost kicking someone in the face/not letting someone else climb due to poor spatial awareness is unacceptable. These are basic etiquette rules that are taught at any gym on your first day there. The employees should be setting the standard, which evidently has gone underground. I love(d) this gym and love the community that I’ve formed here! But unfortunately if a new climbing gym opened up in Augusta, I’d be switching. I suspect a lot of members are only members due to lack of options in this city, and if I were the owner I’d be nervous if another gym opened in the CSRA area. I hope and pray this place gets it together so that climbers of all skill levels can enjoy their...

The setting is good. The staff is friendly.

The place seems to be geared towards children. If you live there you may as well climb there.

General: The walls are painted slick and don't promote unique beta as you could create outdoors and at any other competition. The rope wall is only 30 feet to the ceiling. The air conditioning either doesn't exist or probably isn't powerful enough to have much impact on the building space. At least for the competition day the climate was sweaty. Their day pass and membership rates are high and about equal with that of a high-end gym.

Management of the USA southeast collegiate regionals competition is repeatedly poor. Two years in a row they misread the rule book, if they read it at all, and at least one instance even on the exact same issue: number of attempts allowed per speed climb (supposed to be one). Also the speed climb scores of the harder speed route appear to have had no bearing as the easier route time is the only published one (unless only the harder one was attempted). The hardest setting was below the capabilities of numerous of the competitors. The allowed climbing time was misread at the beginning and changed in the middle of the competition. Not just a few but dozens of climbers' scores were entered incorrectly and medals were awarded to the incorrect competitors (later adjusted afterwards online). The announcments were shouted without electronic aid while the music still played and were difficult to hear. It appears that the problems/routes already existed before the recent competition and were just re-labeled. They told competitors one of the two required signatures for each route scored could be their own signature, which seems pointless. The chief judge said in the pre-comp meeting he would make various time-remaining announcements but made none except the last 10 second count down.

It does seems the USA Climbing rule book was not read as the organization did not follow significant rules such as 6.8.12 and 6.9.1 which coincidentally are relevant with my two previous complaints about speed climbing and newly set routes, the second of which suggests that a failure to follow may result in the loss of sanctioning for the event.

One of the top competitors has said they would not want to compete in regionals again if it was held at this gym.

Unfortunately this is not an exhaustive list of issues.

While I understand some mistakes can be made and last year there was the benefit of the doubt, there were numerous impactful mistakes made this year and this has not been the first time Active has held the southeast collegiate regionals competition. So far the only trend has been to increase issues. I'm not convinced they learn from their mistakes but I still hope they improve in that aspect. Please read the USA Climbing rule book.

Edit: Indeed mis-tallied scores could not be USA...

This is my third time at Active Climb, and unfortunately the worst. .

I had such fond memories that even though I have since moved to Columbia, I decided to bring my daughter and s/o to enjoy.. What a mistake that was (and what a difference a year makes).. the staff were completely unsure on almost every step of the check in -- but that's okay, maybe they're new.. so after reminding the associate we need harnesses and repeating that it isn't our first time at least three times.. they told us we were ready to go.

HOWEVER, when I attempted to belay my daughter.. we were approached rudely and completely unprofessionally by a female staff member. She mistakingly claimed we were told we were not allowed not belay without a "check out".. this was news to me and when we tried to correct her blatantly incorrect assumption (that we were told), she interrupted saying we were recorded -- I would really love to watch that tape, as I'm 110% the staff member who needed to be reminded we needed harnesses failed to tell us we couldn't belay without a 2 minute tutorial.

Here's the thing: I'm all for safety and following the rules.. when they are explicitly given. I'm not for blatant disrespect and unprofessionalism. If I'm paying world class prices, I expect world class service. Two stars cause we enjoyed ourselves DESPITE the service, not because of it.

Edit/response:

If safety is indeed a priority, I wouldn't charge an additional fee for first timers to my establishment to learn about how to safely use the products and services I'm offering. That seems like profiting not prioritizing

If being viligantly watched, the manager (w/ background/training) should have been able to see my daughter one ft off the ground when she decided to act ("free fall" referenced). We had belayed before that without incident. Now, I do appreciate the concern, but again did not appreciate the unprofessional and rude manner.. which is now even further emphasized because of her training.

I am glad, however, that there will be less ambiguity regarding the check in process. I look forward to continuing this discussion offline. Just wanted to clarify for...