Ok, maybe not quite sexy, but with a topic whose most exciting feature is distribution graphs and time charts, you have to allow me a little creative liberty.

Now seriously though, think of the opposite of sexy and what do you get? Perhaps you get a forty foot pile of dead skin, greasy mank, sweaty gunk, caked chalk, and the half-moon shape of bitten finger nails sitting in jugs. You may also get dirt, spit, a little dog doo (think: bottom of street shoes), blood, boot rubber and even piss (think: scared birthday kid on slab route).

So really, turnover is sexy.

Definition

First, a quick definition of route turnover: The rate at which an old route is replaced with a new route.

The industry average for commercial gyms is around three months. This means that each route or problem stays up for three months before someone remembers to take it down. Three months of being climbed almost everyday by, at the very least, one person who may or may not be bored out of their mind with these routes.

However, in highly competitive markets turnover can be as quick as six weeks; in some university walls as quick as never. So where is the happy (or should I say sexy) medium?

This of course is all dependant on the traffic coming through your gym or how much traffic is on a particular area of wall. The more climbers using a wall, the greater the urgency to change out the routes. I particularly advise giving more attention to routes on auto belay systems or any route that climbers habitually run laps on.

But you must also give climbers ample time to try the route, so they can keep struggling through a gnarly crux or work out your cryptic crimp sequence. This is called ‘working’ a route and is a time honored tradition of sport climbers.

Also keep in mind that if a route is pure garbage-cans and nobody is getting on it, then this route is a waste of wall space and should be removed pronto. Keeping these routes up are like putting moldy bread up for sale and expecting customers to buy it without complaints.

Happy & Clean

I listed above the many gross incentives for consistent turnover to shock you out of your bleary, plastic apathy. While most climbers can overlook these disagreeable truths of indoor climbing, what they find hardest to turn a blind eye to is stale, old routes.

This is the most important reason for route turnover. Climbers always want ‘fresh out of the oven’, ‘new & improved’ and ‘‘better tasting’ routes; and they want them every time they visit the gym. If they have to climb the same routes ad nauseam they will soon quit your gym and head to a competitor or stop climbing forever.

So do the sexy thing and keep your climbers happy and clean. Start a regular route turnover plan today.

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