This gym is actually in Morrisvile, NC near the Raleigh/Durham airport. After arriving in Raleigh after flying in from Denver I had two objectives before heading out to the Red River Gorge for 10 days: 1) Get me some Bojangles 2) Check out the hype of Raleigh's new gym. Lets just say the best part of that night was climbing with my best mate Trent and eating me some of those Famous Chicken & Biscuits.
The Good
It's much better than Vertical Edge, Raleigh's original climbing gym. It has a pretty cool center boulder with the possibility of topping it out (just drop off the top it's not worth it). There is a nice leadable overhung wall that the Raleigh area was in need of. There is a pretty cool lounge for those parents that want to update their Facebook Status while supervising their kids. There is a training area with free weights, hangboards, and I believe a campus board.
The Bad
The walls are incredibly short. With all of the steep climbing in the Southeast and the potential for very strong climbers out of the RDU area if someone would just step up and build a gym with walls that are greater than 25-ft we'd have more 5.13+ climber instead of the 5.12 climbers we have in the area. It rains too much in the Southeast to have these sub-par 25-ft tall gyms. What happens when you get a 25-ft 5.9? Well it's just a sandbagged V2 boulder problem rated 5.9. The grading at this gym is a joke. The problems for the most part were just as gimmicky as other NC gyms. I did a 5.12 toprope with a freaking sit start. Oh yeah because I've done that before outside! I just wish the people setting the problems would spend more time analyzing what is going on outside and set accordingly. There were a few decent problems and routes, but it was just too hit, or miss for me. Not much can be done with the height of the walls, but I suggested to a local to convince the owners to install a system board.
In all fairness it's worth it to get a workout if your traveling, or a local because right now it's the best climbing gym in the RDU area. However I'll probably just drive a little further to Greensboro to hit up their gym instead if I really need to climb inside. That or I'll just visit my family instead.
Gym Overall: 2.0
Quality of bouldering: 2.5
Quality of routes: 1.5 (1 for the overhung wall, but the rest of the routes were crap)
Attitudes of owners/workers: 2.0 (Not very talkative, but maybe they were busy)
Attitudes of climbers: 4.5 (These are my NC peeps!)
Cost: 1.0 ($15 day pass for this?!?)
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2 comments:
Your review leaves one with the impression that due to the lack of height and quality of route setting at the TRC, local climbers will not benefit as much as they could at a "tall" gym with non gimmicky? routes. First, the gym is 25' tall, not 20. Not a big difference but still your blog should be fair in its reviews. If you get on a lead route in the cave area, a route can be extended to well over 25', all overhanging. To say the area does not produce as many 5.13 climbers as it could due to the gym's shortcomings shows a lack of knowledge about the local climbing scene, and the TRC's user base. The vast majority of patrons there climb 5.10 or less, and stay off the cave lead routes for the most part. Those who climb harder can either lead hard cave routes or boulder. Routes and problems get turned over monthly. The sit start to the 5.12 is not the norm there, however some lead routes start very low in the cave to maximize the route length. I am a bit biased as I set some of the routes there, but I can assure you all the route setters have and do climb outside, some perhaps longer than you are old ( I started climbing in 1980).
Thanks, jp
Thanks JP for the feedback! BTW you and I have climbed a few times in Moore's Wall, Umstead Park (my first time), Raleigh Rock Yard, and even Knightdale.
With that said (I'm not a kiss ass trust me) your routes at Vertical Edge (yrs ago), Raleigh Rock Yard, and the TRC are an exception to my comment. You've always had the ability to take advantage of what you have to work with. Unfortunately the two times I've been back home I've only been on one, or two of your routes at the TRC and yours were not what I was referring to. A good friend of mine actually set the sitdown 5.12 and believe me I gave him a lot of shit about that one when we hung out.
There seems to be a misunderstanding of my observation of 12 yrs of climbing and living in Raleigh, NC (32 yrs in NC total before moving to CO 2-1/2 yrs ago). NC climbers are strong they always have been. You also live near hands down the best bouldering, sport climbing, and trad climbing in the country in the surrounding areas of TN, KY, AL, and NC. However the average strong climbers max out around 5.12 & V10 with the exception of Jeremy and a few others. There are plenty of strong boulderers, but still the number of 5.13+ & V10+ climbers is lacking compared to that of CO, CA, & UT where kids are climbing that grade within the first two years.
Why is this? Maybe it's because these states have some of the best weather all year long? How many trips to the NRG, Boone, or RRG have been cut short by typical Southeast rain? I lost count yrs ago. Maybe it's because within my home of Westminster, CO I can be at 30 different areas within 30 mins. We are talking about granite, sandstone, basalt, gneiss, schist, limestone, shale, and quartz.
My guess is that the state of Colorado caters to outdoor enthusiasts. It's not hard to look around and count the number of free concrete skateparks, mtn bike trails, kayaking centers, trail running, snowboarding, climber friendly areas, and climbing gyms. Most if not all of these gyms are fully equipped and have an understanding of what it takes to produce world class climbers. It's not uncommon to climb with the great Jim Erickson (Naked Edge at Eldo), Lynn Hill, Paul Robinson, Emily Harrington, Daniel Woods, etc... All of these guys continue to train at gyms like Movement and stay away from subpar gyms like Thrill Seekers which lack the necessary training equipment.
In short if someone stepped up and built a proper gym with tall walls, a system board, free standing boulders, campus & hangboards, fitness center w/ classes, etc.... I wouldn't be surprised if this gym didn't start producing world class atheletes within a few seasons. Now who's going to step up and float that kind of cash? I don't know, but hopefully someone because I want to read about more world class climbers coming out of NC.
I was born and raised in New Bern, NC and spent 10 yrs in Raleigh, NC. I also spent 6 yrs attending all three portions of the Triple Crown. I'm pretty sure I know more than you think about piedmont climbers because I climbed with every last one of them. I understand your biased towards your gym, but this is not an article in a climbing magazine it's my personal blog which gives my opinion of climbing gyms compared to those that I've visited all over the United States including Japan.
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