Randy,
That is consistent with all the climbing gyms I have been to in Germany and Austria. The difference is that the sport has much deeper cultural roots/participation levels over there, and so the average competency level is somewhat higher. I've also been told the way the liability laws work is different, though I won't pretend to understand how. A very obvious difference is that the climbing gyms I went to over there were happy for me to climb, and lead, without any training/testing/checking; something unthinkable over here. |