Coming Back to Summit
Well, that was something. After almost two months of being closed, Summit Climbing, Yoga, Fitness was able to open back up Wednesday, May 20th to members. Yay!
Da Rules
We are only open to members right now. Because we’re taking precautions and being conservative with our new CoVID-19 procedures. We have new climbing gym rules and guidelines everyone must always abide by, such as wearing a mask. We also are abiding by CDC regulations with our building capacity currently at 10%. As things improve, we can start to roll restrictions back.
Because of CoVID-19, we scaled up our cleaning processes and made sure things we sanitize thoroughly. You could say we’re keeping our regular cleaning routine but on steroids.
For the time being, we’re now using a reservation for people to sign up and climb at Summit. We didn’t have one previously. Staff is required to use it as well to keep track of capacity. In my opinion, I’m happy Summit implemented the “appointment and members-only” approach when opening this month.
As a staff employee, I know exactly how many are in the gym, who’s going to be in the gym, and can better maintain social distancing in the gym. Plus, I’m not surprised when a group of 10 or more unexpected shows up and wants to climb. True story.
Going Public
We haven’t disclosed a plan to handle day passers yet. We’re wanting to see how things go with our members first before opening back up entirely to the public. There have been people calling to see if we’re open to non-members. No, sorry, not for now. Summit has a goal date in mind, but we’re not disclosing that information yet.
Also, we want members only right now, so that we can figure out and execute a safe way for staff to do orientations for when we do open back to the public. Unfortunately, currently, they require staff to be closer to people than 6 feet. So, we’re trying to come up with a way to protect both parties.
It will be interesting to see what the plan will be for when we do open back to non-members. I wonder if we’ll keep the appointment system or not. I think for a least the first month or so, they should help keep our numbers reasonable and still comply with CDC regulations.
First Day Back
In case you were wondering, my first day back at Summit Norman went well for the most part. We had 17 people signed up for the 1st appointment that morning. People were anxious to climb again. Then we had smaller groups after that. I heard the evening appointments were fuller, but that’s not surprising at all.
Most of the appointments during my shift have been on the smaller side except for 1 or 2—anywhere between 1-8 people. I’m okay with that. It won’t surprise me if those numbers start to grow as more people learn that we’re back open to members.
Thankfully, our members have been patient and chill with the new guidelines and rules Summit put in place so far. I haven’t heard any complaints yet. Many have said how grateful they are that we’re keeping everyone safe and are happy to be back. Also, things have run smoothly since we’ve opened.
There a part of me that’s glad some things are coming back to some state of “normal.” I did miss friends from the gym, and I’m happy to see them again. Have I climbed there since we opened? Not yet, but I will soon.
I hope things continue to run well as the weeks go on. I’ll keep you updated on how work is going and any other developments. Until next time, happy bouldering!