Last UPDATE of this post on APRIL 6
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We are preparing to run billing on April 10th for everyone and want people to indicate their choice about how you would like us to proceed.
Starting March 30, sixteen of the Crag X employees will be collecting the CERB and four are being kept on and paid full wages by Crag X. Our ability to do this is thanks to all of you who have chosen to support us.
The reality is that we can not be closed without income for very long. We are hoping that members allow us to bill EFT on April 10. This money will be credited in full to you when we reopen. You will not be paying for time where we are closed, you will only be paying for climbing when we are open, just in advance. It is a kind of micro-loan to Crag X from you to us, through your EFT.
We are asking for members to either continue with full EFT or 50% EFT. You can make the choice here.
We will pay you back as per this chart:
Some members have asked us for a way to support the climbing community even further. For those who ask, we can give your credit to someone else. This is a way for people with secure income to support those that have not had their income recover.
Please head to the cragx.ca/membership page and make your selection before April 10, 2020. You will be able to change your mind at any time.
Let me know if you have any further questions about this, please email cronin@crax.ca
Thanks for your support,
Kenneth and Niko
Looking for some climbing training vids and such? The CX Crew are putting stuff up on Facebook and Instagram. Want to see the Instagram stuff without having an Instagram account? Right here.
We have figured out how to try and get through this since we won’t be open March 30. See our Membership change form for the details.
BELOW HERE LAST UPDATE MARCH 17
We are closing Crag X for two weeks to help break the spread of COVID-19 and help reduce the chance of our health system being overwhelmed.
Information from South Korea indicates that asymptomatic people, particularly those under 40, contribute greatly to the spread of COVID-19. This spread was unknowing. We hope that putting a pause on climbing at Crag X while we reorganize for operations with social- distance-climbing will allow us to make good use of this knowledge.
All Beginner Lessons and Lead Courses will be rescheduled free of charge. Groups will be rescheduled without charge also. Rise and Climb folks will get extra days. Memberships will be extended by the amount of time we are closed.
We will not cut the hours of any staff during the two-week closure and will continue to pay full wages. We are making no changes to our policy on freezes of membership, they can be frozen at your discretion. Our exception is to waive the freeze fee for those who have lost income due to COVID. We are also continuing to pay our cleaning company, GreenWheelCleaners as if they were still coming in cleaning.
While we are closed, we are sending all staff home with pay. The folks that can work from home will do that.
We will also be developing some procedures and methods to allow us to reopen in a manner that is consistent with the goals of Public Health and good citizenship. If things are significantly different between now and then, we will make different plans. We are hoping for the best.
In a strange irony, April 1st is the 25th anniversary of us taking possession of our part of the warehouse at 341 John Street where we built the first Crag X. We started construction April 1 working towards our eventual opening in July 1995. We are still a one location gym with the same owners; we’ve just worked our way downtown. Victoria has been good to us over the last 25 years, we believe this closing is us being good back.
Finally, we ask that you do your piece for social distancing in your life outside of Crag X too. This will work if we all do our part.
Be kind and take care of each other.
Kenneth and NIko
Answers to Questions
I have stuff in my locker, can I come and get it?
For sure. We will have someone at the gym on Wednesday March 18 from 4-6pm to let you get stuff from your lockers.
Where can I see the email you sent out on March 15?
Here is a link to the archived email.
Will you be extending my membership?
Yes, we will be adding time to all memberships, including EFT, Prepaid, and Beginner Lesson 14 day memberships.
Can I freeze my membership?
Yes, our normal rules about freezes apply. If your wages have not been effected by COVID-19, consider continuing your membership. If you are losing wages because of COVID19, email cronin@cragx.ca and we will freeze you without charge.
I had a Lesson and now you are closed. What happens next?
We will be rescheduling all beginner lessons and lead lessons. Watch you email in the next day or so for details on how this will work.
I am in Rise and Climb, what happens now?
We will make up the classes once we are open. Watch your email. Sean and Laura might have a little something for you…
I would like to explain something you might not have considered when you decided to close.
We have committed to this closure and took it as a very serious decision and consulted widely with people we trust. If you have information you think we may not have considered, please email cronin@cragx.ca
Then why open on March 30?
We don’t think that a small-scale start up of climbing with proper precautions in place is in fact risky. We also feel that we will have much better information before March 30 and we will have time to figure out the best way to have you all climbing as soon as we can. Things could also be very different and none of this will happen. We will be following the advice of the Health Canada and HealthBC
If you think you can let people climb safely, why not do it now?
We think that it is important that society acts together to minimize harm to vulnerable people and to ease the effect on our shared resources. Second, we need time to figure out how to have climbing happen safely, and it is hard to change a tire when you are still riding the bike.
You guys going to make it through this?
We think so. Canada has said that it will be rolling out EI changes to support workers and British Columbia is saying they will be taking action to help business. We also hope that our members stick with us and keep their membership active while we are closed.