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| - If you live in East York, then TCA is the gym for you! If you don't live in East York, good luck getting to TCA.
LOCATION: 1/5
There's buses from Coxwell and Woodbine stations that drive past, but it'll take you an hour to get there. I've biked once or twice, and from Bloor/Yonge it's about a half hour. By car, it's in a rough spot, on the other side of the Taylor Creek bridge where O'Connor meets St. Clair. Even if you drive, it's no picnic getting there on a weeknight after work from the south (DVP north...eep) or west (Danforth during rush hour...yikes). Since this describes most working Torontonians, well...suffice it to say the location is less than ideal.
CROWDEDNESS: 5/5
There's lots of routes and there's usually not a lot of people (for reasons why, see: LOCATION) so you can generally climb to your heart's content, without waiting, on whatever routes you feel like at the exact time you feel like it. You could bring 'Tiny' your pet Elephant too, there's lots of room.
SELECTION: 5/5
The routes don't change that often and there's lots of variety. This is to TCA's detriment for advanced climbers, since there's usually a glut of 5.6-5.9 level routes. For beginners and novices, this is the perfect place to climb.
TCA's greatest strength is its diversity of wall angles. There's lots of overhangs, steep climbs, straight climbs, and a few walls that change slant halfway up. My favourite is the cave, often requiring you to climb parallel to the floor before eventually getting to a really challenging overhang wall.
ROUTES: 4/5
The enjoyability of a route often depends on the hold colours. Their yellow/purple/blue holds can be really small, grainy and terribly painful. The orange/green/black/pink holds are generally pretty good. If you like to simulate what it's like to climb a really spiky painful outdoor route, then maybe this appeals to you! As far as design goes, I also find TCA's routes to be frequently engaging and challenging.
BOULDERING: 5/5
TCA's has a great bouldering section. There's always lots of routes, they're labelled and graded fairly, and I always feel super confident about falling on the nice padded floor.
PRICE: 5/5
At 16 bucks, it's a fair value. The 10 pass (about $140) expires in 6 months which is something I don't understand - you already have my money, why do you care how frequently I come? If I don't fulfill the 10 pass in time...well, I probably wasn't going to spend much more time at your gym anyways, right? On the other hand, if I'm a frequent climber, I'll easily use the 10 pass in time. But god forbid I don't...well, congratulations, you bilked some cash out of an otherwise good customer? Maybe someone can explain this to me. I'm baffled!
STAFF: 5/5
So far, TCA has the friendliest and most helpful staff I've found.
GENERAL FACILITIES: 3/5
To be fair, I probably haven't made great use of their amenities...from what I've seen there's only a stationary bike (maybe there's more gym equipment upstairs?) the change room is decent size, considering there's never a big crowd. Overall, not impressive, but you get what you need.
MUSIC: 3/5
The thought is nice, but no thank you, I do not need The Barenaked Ladies to score my climb. Why do so many gyms LOVE 90s rock/Canadiana? I don't get it. Please, climbing gyms, put more thought into your playlists! There's nothing more discouraging then being stuck on a rope and suddenly hearing "eeeeeyiiit's been...one week since you looked at me!" Nope nope nope no.
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