The Dangers of Solid Rock

Just a quick word to the wise for those of you considering a visit to the indoor climbing gym Solid Rock located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Safety-wise the place can be troublesome. Unlike most gyms which require passing a standard examination with an instructor, Solid Rock instructors give you a five minute chat and send you on your way. Even worse is that most of the instructors (with the exception of one or two actual climbers) have little to no experience in the sport and have zero practical knowledge to provide to the clients (other than how to pull a rope through a gri-gri).

Now as for equipment Solid Rock has always adhered to a very simple motto “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. The ropes are changed much less than protocols say they should be. The anchors supporting the climbers have not been changed in years which should be worrisome to anybody imagining the effect of even a couple of months of gym falls without anything resembling an inspection and the belay devices (in this case gri-gris) have been almost eaten through due to the amounts of falls they’ve taken (the crash of the metal of the carabiner and the metal of the device is having a serious corrosive effect.)

For those of you savvy to the ways of lead climbing you might want to check out another locale. The few routes that actually provide for sport climbing have lowering anchors composed of webbing and ‘biners as old as the building. Which on the one hand is great if you’re into antiques but not so great when your 40 ft off the deck hoping that nothing breaks.

Quality wise the gym is a nice place to visit with a good number of routes. Unfortunately those routes are set for life and never change. The gym has apparently changed its focus in recent years and is now directed to a younger crowd, specializing more in birthday parties than the sport itself. Due to this most of the routes will be considered fairly easy to anything but the most novice of climbers. Yet, despite all this it’s still possible to get some good exercise just try to stick to the ground level bouldering cave, you’ll be a lot safer.

*If you do decide to hit the routes try to ask around for Eduardo or Hector who are basically the only two instructors who can also be considered accomplished climbers. Have a good climb and try to be safe!

~ by Alberto Ramos Cordero on December 23, 2007.