RRC Archives

I hate to break it to you fellow tall man, but plywood walls are the absolute best to climb and set on. That fake crap is garbage.

Really? That is depressing.....

i've heard and believe it likely to be true that climbing gyms make a large portion of their money off birthday parties. if one were to start a climbing gym as a "business" would there need to be sort of a designated wall set aside for climbing parties? do other gyms do such a thing?

Plywood walls definitely have their advantages.

Gyms have to host parties to make money, I imagine. For the most part, gyms have designated lead areas and toprope areas. The parties won't be in the lead areas and the serious climbers aren't so much in the TR areas.

I like going to Rockquest when they have big groups, because people think it will be crowded, and stay away. Then I have the lead area to myself.

Spragwa wrote:

512OW wrote:The best way to get stronger in Lex is to move to Cincy.

That'd be great if Cincinasti weren't in Ohio and didn't suck ass!

Don't be mad, Spraggy. Our gyms rock. SCINs gym rocks... but hes from Cincy, so he, by default, sucks ass too. I'm sure Artsay enjoys his sucking, but thats another story.

Imagine how bad Kentucky would suck if it didn't have the Red....

the lurkist wrote:What needs to happen is one person take the chance and the loan and build a nice gym (world class- not ply wood ala climb time) and run it as a business.
Asking a lot, but I am very confidant that it would be a money maker for the person taking the chance.
Big money up front, and need for a big space (50' tall) that may not exist yet, but none the less, I think you could get your money back out of it and then some.

Nope, if anyone around here could get could bank financing for the $750,000 to $2,000,000 (or had the spare cash lying around) to open a world class gym, they would have done it already.

Its lex, you don't need a world class gym, you need a climb time.

Agreed.

Andrew wrote:Its lex, you don't need a world class gym, you need a climb time.

I disagree. Not so much b/c the climbers in Lex require a world class gym. For us, a good plywood bouldering gym would do just fine.
But the two gyms that have been tried in Lex failed for several reasons- the main one being mis management. But also because they shot too low.
Like someone said- gyms make their money on church groups, youth groups, kids birthday parties etc... A Lexington gym's catchment area will be much bigger than Lexington. It will include all the surrounding counties and a chunk of Eastern and South Central Kentucky. If you build a minimal plywood gym none of these groups will use it. If you build a proper impressive pre formed paneled gym with tall walls, features and contour the general public will come in droves.
I think $750- 1 mil might get it done, depending on space available.,

Don't get me wrong, I would gladly support a coop type gym too. But I don't think it would be a long term viable business.

But can lexington support a gym of that kind of cost. Energy bills are more, rent or mortgage is more, staff is more, holds are more, everything is more.

Lurkist, please check out Planet Rock in Ann Arbor michigan. One of the best gyms in the country, ALL PLYWOOD. I will say it again, ALL PLYWOOD.

Plywood climbs better, there is no doubt. To much texture, curves and corners, turn the climbing into crap, because it limits the setting.