Introduction ( Why should you read climbing gym reviews?)
1. Climbers-for-climbers gym reviews supplement info provided on the official climbing gym web sites.
I got a feeling that climbing gyms web sites are often quite unorganized and do not provide many information that are of interest for climbers. It is hard to judge from them how big the gym is; how many routes are set in the gym; is the gym too crowded on Tue and Thur evenings; or do they have nice T-shirts that you can buy as a souvenir? Climbers-for-climbers reviews supplement official gym web-sites to provide you an info about all these sweet problems. In addition, you can read about food in the gym, or whether the gym is kids friendly… And what about my pet?
2. These reviews can help you to prioritize which gym to visit during your next trip to some super-awesome city (e.g. Berlin)
In Berlin, you can visit are more than 10 climbing gyms. Where should you go? Berta Block, OstBloc, der Kegel or Kletterhalle Magic Mountain? Which one is the biggest? Which one has the best routes? If you have time to visit just one climbing gym in the city of interest, which one to choose? When I was planning to move to Berlin, I was searching for the climbing gym located in the north of it. It was so, since I knew that, due to my workplace location, I would likely spent most of my free & working time in the northern part of Berlin.
Google said Berta Block Bulderhalle.
Berta Block seemed to be a perfect candidate for my new training gym, due to its perfect location in Pankow. However, their web site was just terrible at that time (it still requires improvements, but… :-). I could not judge from it whether Berta Block was a tiny gym or not. I could not judge whether Berta Block would suit my needs to do proper bouldering sessions. I just hoped it would. I actually had to move to Berlin, to visit Berta to learn that Berta Block Bulderhalle is one of the best, biggest, and most awesome bouldering gyms I have ever visited. Berta was three times bigger than the biggest climbing gym in Croatia. Berta was approximately fifty times bigger than the indoor bouldering gym in Podsused in Zagreb where I did my first indoor climbing moves. Thus, yes, yes, and yes. You can do amazing bouldering session in Berta, although you would not expect that based on their website info. And PS I just adore their route-setting ;)
3. Climbers-for-climbers reviews (or more likely the list of the gyms) can help you to find a nearby climbing gym when the weather gets bad
What do you do when, in the middle of your one week (or longer) climbing trip, the weather gets bad, but you still want to do some climbing? You can it do, in the closest climbing gym, if it is close enough, and if you would know how to find it. I, myself, would counsult with Google. I would search for the closest climbing gym. However, only occasionally, Google might fail. Google might not know about the closest climbing gym, and when and how to get there. For example, what if you are camping in Starigrad Paklenica with a wish to climb. What if you cannot climb there, since bura is blowing, or storms are raging all around you. Where would you go to climb? Have you ever heard about the bouldering gym in Seline or Zadar? I guess you have not, since you need to be a local climber to know about those bouldering “gyms”. These are a tiny underground-style bouldering gyms with climbing holds from the prehistory. But these gyms do exist, and Google does not know about them. Shame on you Google! Having said that, you become aware of the existence of these bouldering gyms in Seline and Zadar, but do you know how to get there?
Methodology:
To make reviews as comprehensive as possible, I created specific descriptive categories to review uniformly each climbing gym:
1) Details about the gym visit:
An approximate date of my last visit
Number of visits
2) Facts about the gym:
Web site
Other media (Instagram/Facebook)
City
Country
Gym type: boulder/lead/both
Gym profitability: underground/commercial
Opening times
Prices
Specific tips on how to get to the gym
3) Measuring the gym:
Size category: Check all that apply. XS S M L XL XXL XXXL
Area of the wall
Height of the wall
Number of boulders/routes
An outdoor climbing/bouldering area: Y/N
4) Route setting styles:
Boulder route setting:
"skate-style", aka jump around, aka generation >2015
Old school crimps to put the kids to bed
Pumpy overhang for strong so 2000s climbers
All holds on the wall -> define your own route
Other:
Route, route, route-setting styles:
Boulder within the route
Technical
Pumpy overhang
Reach, flow, and consistency
Know-how - use your brain ;)
Other:
How diverse is the route setting? 1-5
How often do you do route-setting?
Supplement
Meeting climbers == breaking prejudices
Only when I met climbers (e.g. my extended family), I can make comparisons between different cultures; I can break my own prejudices against other people & societies. Through my climbing gym hopping approach, I met many extraordinary people; I broke my own prejudices against the shyness of the Finns, Scottish people confused me, I felt like home in Ireland, and I got a huge amount of positive energy and support from Germans when I got injured. In addition, British climbers supported me when a Slovenian climber betrayed our historical same-country-we-are-all-friends bonds; French climbers surprised me by spontaneously giving me a free entry to their gym in Paris; Italian climbers in Bari confirmed that an underground climbing scene is still in existence, and I am originally #climblikeagirl from #iloveCroatia.
Thus, I enjoyed travelling, climbing, and meeting other climbers so much that I always tried to maximize my time spent among climbers. In every city I visited so far, regardless of how little time I had had, I would always visit at least one climbing gym. After more than 30 climbing gyms visited across the Europe, I got an idea to start writing climbing gym reviews.