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| - I'm mostly reiterating what other have said but with a few additions.
General
- Bad ventilation. With Pittsburgh humidity, it gets hot.
- Wooden walls, so there's not a lot of grip for smearing
= Price for a day pass is reasonable, but fees for little things like a belay device and chalk add up instead of holding an id for collateral.
Bouldering area
+ Decent number of routes and variety
- Stiff trampoline floor. Movable pads are big and effective but they aren't everywhere
Top rope area
-The top rope area is a different section of the building and even has different hours from the bouldering area, which is weird.
- Ratings are labeled as Easy, Moderate, and Hard with +/-. Why not put real YDS ratings?
- For whatever reason, the ropes are just draped over a pole without any loops, so you don't get much friction while lowering. Therefore, they require the belayer to anchor into the floor for each top rope. Not a big deal, I just haven't seen that requirement in a gym before.
- Nonsensical rules. I got in trouble for helping my partner go over the safety checks. I passed the belay test, but I was explicitly told not to teach my partner how to perform the safety checks as a climber so I could belay him. I was told this was for insurance purposes as they don't want anyone but the employees teaching. I waited for the employee to look away so I could safely set up a top rope. Discouraging learning seems like a bad idea to me.
Maybe I'm just spoiled by the great climbing gyms in San Francisco where I live but there are enough easily remedied flaws that led me to such a low rating.
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