Aran,

I'm the climbing wall supervisor in Overland Park.

At the Overland Park LTF, you are not required to take a Belay Safety Class to climb. Simply come in during our open climbing hours (M-Th 5-9pm; S/S 12-5pm), fill out a waiver and go through orientation to use the auto-belays on the fly. It should take less than 15 min from stepping foot onto our rubber to climbing.

I noticed on your profile that you recently climbed at IBEX. They require everyone to learn how to top rope belay since they don't have auto-belays. They do have grigris that "auto-brake" and assist the belayer in catching a fall and lowering someone back to the ground. The Overland Park LTF rock wall has 5 real auto-belays. After you clip in, a machine takes the slack out of the line as you climb and lowers you back to the ground when you let go. No need for a 2nd person.

We do have top ropes that require a belayer. However, what they teach at IBEX is only partially compatible with what you need to know to climb at LTF. The knot & commands are the same. The harness double checks are similar. The technique of taking slack out is different but acceptable. The belay device, unfortunately, is extremely different than the ones we use at LTF. The big question mark comes from how well they taught you to lock-off or brake to catch a fall or lower someone back to the ground while NOT relying on the belay device to do the work. If they did a good job, then you would be able to come in and learn how to use our device in less than 30 minutes. If they did a poor job, then you could potentially allow someone to fall all the way back to the ground. The good news: we can do a skill test right when you come in to see what you know and fill in the gaps. If the gaps are too great, then we will recommend you take our version of the Belay Safety Class. That class will also teach a different (yet statistically safer) belay technique that you would be able to use with the different types of belay devices at LTF and IBEX. 

But perhaps I am way off base up to this point, if you are looking more for classes that are geared around climbing technique or strength/endurance we can do that too. For climbing technique we can do private/semi-private lessons or try to round up enough adults to schedule an adult climbing class. For climbing strength/endurance, the rock wall has been working with a personal trainer to mix climbing and traditional exercises to improve the muscle groups on which we rely during climbing.

If you would like to discuss any of the above further, I work the following days this week:

Monday, Oct 26th (5-9),

Thursday, Oct 29th (5-9)

Saturday, Oct 31st (12-5).

I look forward in helping you achieve your climbing goals.

I hope to talk with you soon.

-Brian Barth

Rock Wall Supervisor

Life Time Fitness

Overland Park, KS