I used to be a member here. Just came in today as a guest. Within seconds of being helped by the front desk person she accused me of using an expired student ID. It's not expired and I showed her that it is current. When I left she wouldn't even say bye or look at me. I've had this experience in the past with staff being rude and condescending. Sometimes they'll be at the front desk and ignore you when you need help. Anyways, the facility is very nice, training area is great, routes are great. Some staff are nice, but I've never had a great customer service experience here. I have other friends who have related that the staff has been rude and pretentious.
Great gym with amazing staff. Whether new or experienced with climbing you will find this place to be an amazing place to challenge yourself and meet some great people.
The place has dense walls for all skill levels, a gym and a today class. They have skilled instructors and they are very helpful.
This location is a little older than the southern mesa rim, and it shows a little, but that can also be a good thing. The layout is much denser but that also makes it interesting. As a member and regular user of the southern gym, I'll definitely go again.
Amazing quality of walls. Good prices. Great service. Good teachers for classes
Insanely good training gym. If you don't get fit for climbing here, remember, great men know when to accept defeat.
The good, the gyms setups are nice, they set fairly close to outside grades and reset routes frequently. Most setters forgo feet for bouldering routes so expect a fair amount of foot cutting and warm-up your tendons.
So for the bad, the gyms is incredibly crowded. The staff lacks outside experience which translates in your staff interactions. I visited the gym with a friend and took the lead test to rope up.
Full disclosure, we both failed! Why? We did not have both hands actively enough on the brake line while lead belaying. We asked the staff member to demonstrate as we were curious how he planned to feed rope belaying as such and the staff member loaded his belay device backwards, got flustered when this was pointed out, and then effectively ran away saying we could test again next time not yet understanding the difference between lead and top rope belaying. His parting words "I'm sure yo'll both pass next time. You seem very competent." (Thanks! Isn't that what the test we failed was for?)
Here's the deal: this gym is OK but it has a lot of room to improve.
On the plus side: they charge average rates from day passes to memberships, and they have two locations, but this is the older location and it suffers for age and outdated design/walls.
The negatives are primarily caused by overcrowding: there's NEVER enough parking, it can be difficult to get a route you want, the locker rooms are cramped and dirty, and several times a week a calesthenics class takes over the weight room, pushing out other paying members.
This might be the best gym chain in San Diego but that says more about the lack of competition than the quality of Mesa Rim. If Sender One or Touchstone came down here, I'd switch faster than you could blink.
I got a day pass with my son. Great walls, great equipment and great staff!
Excellent facility. I love how well maintained and how well set it is.
So love this place! The coaches are amazing, the gym is huge! Great route settings and plenty of quip!
Best experience being signed up for a membership. Numbers were explained to me, and I understood them. Sometimes numbers are hard. This time they weren't. Lindsey is an A+ employee, you guys should probably give her a raise.
Really though, this climbing gym is amazing. The bouldering is very interesting, the sport routes are rad, and there are quite a few crack climbs (even an offwidth) on the walls. There is such a huge amount of climbing to be had. Highly recommended.