I'min the UK, but I was prompted to look on here following a discussion on UK Climbing. In the UK most indoor walls (we don't call them gyms) allow climbers to self-certify - you just sign a form to say you can put on a harness and can belay. Some only allow you tie in with a fig-8, but I've never heard of one restricting which belay device you use (although Munter hitches and body belays aren't permitted).

What surprised me was that some US gyms seem to set a fairly high entry standard for learning to lead. I found one website which demanded that in order to take their leading course you should be able to climb 5.9. Now I've been climbing for 40 years and I've safely led hundreds of climbs, but my best grade is equivalent to about 5.7. I might just manage 5.9 on a tight rope but its not pretty. According to this gym I wouldn't be competent even to take their course, let alone lead.

Is this common in US gyms? Just curious. It seems to run contrary to the idea of a gym as a training and learning facility.

Yes, its extremely common.

yeah common - but take it with a grain of salt. talking about gym grades which equal the epitome of grade inflation where 5.10 = grit VS (5.6/5.7). Also know that "leading" in a US gym is usually a very tightly controlled sanitized experience - bolts closely spaced, perms-draws and over-hanging terrain so you won't hit anything.

I think if you could eliminate the big things that make gym climbing easier (day glow plastic holds that you can learn over time), a lot of gym routes would turn out to be a lot harder than equivalently grades routes at various crags around the world.

That said, a gym that sets a lot of slabby lead terrain is begging for a lot of injured customers. Its just very hard to set a 5.7 on a continuously overhanging wall.

They were 25 feet tall and just past vertical the whole way. In the 7 years I worked there, I can't think of a single injury that I could attribute solely to the angle of the wall.

(Oddly enough, our single biggest cause of injuries was crash pads.)

I have never been to a gym that does not require you to onsight at least 5.8 to lead there. Most of the routes on a lead wall are generally 5.8 or harder, with the majority being 5.10 or above in most gyms. The idea behind the rule is that if you are a 5.7 climber that just learned how to lead, and all the routes on the lead wall are above your limit, you are liable to fall while clipping or something similar and get hurt.

However if the stories are to be believed the US is a much more litigious culture with much greater liability placed on the gym owner so I suppose they have to be cautious.

After the class, they have to lead at least 25 routes supervised, belay the same before they get their lead card.
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That's a nice idea but I imagine fairly expensive staff wise.

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Our gym has a minimum of three staff members working at all times. Because of that, we can offer basic safety classes to first time climbers with no appointment or reservations.

Our members have various schedules, so we have morning set of regulars, afternoon regular (usually kids/teen) and evening regulars. We do have slow time, but a climber who shows up can is guaranteed to get a belay even if no other members are around.

Staff belays free when no other qualified belayers are around. I always hated gyms that had staff working and wouldn't belay because they were to busy cruising the net, updating facebook, or reading instead of working.

Cheers
Eman
We'll be looking for a couple of foreign hire location managers soon.