Sunday, March 15, 2020

COVID-19 Update: Sender One is temporarily closing all locations.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have tried to balance as best we can the benefits of remaining open to our staff, families, members, and guests with the responsibility we have to the greater communities of which Sender One is part of. At this point, we believe the duty to everyone’s long-term health and future outweighs the benefits of remaining open. To provide a place for climbing and our community to flourish into the future, we are choosing to temporarily close. All we can promise is that we are doing the best we can.

Effective Monday, March 16th, Sender One locations will temporarily close in response to the global pandemic of COVID-19. We will remain closed through Friday, May 15th per the Los Angeles County extended stay-home order.

However, this could change.  We will continue to assess the situation and will keep you updated on any changes.

Here’s what to expect:

• Members, you will be prorated for the remainder of March (from March 16th) with credit placed on your account, which we will apply to your future dues. If we remain closed going into April, all members will be put on a no-cost freeze*. This will be done automatically and will not require a billing request. Prepaid memberships and prepaid Sender City Annual Passes will have end dates extended accordingly.
  *This will not apply to members who were able to fill out the Covid-19 Member Change Form and opt-in to continuing their membership dues. Thank you - 100% of April membership dues that we receive will be paid to our furloughed staff.

• Guests and Members, many of you have expressed that you want to support Sender One and our staff even if our doors are closed. We can't thank you enough for your kindness. If you would like to support in any way, you can donate HERE. We are also working on an online shop to bring you the option to order Sender One swag right to your doorstep!

• Guests and Members, if you have an open booking for a class, climbing camp, party, or youth program class in March, you will be notified about credit, possibility of refund, and/or rescheduling options.

• 5-Punch Pass Holders (including Sender City), we will offer an extension to unfinished punch passes if you bought one during February or March.

• We will send updates regarding our temporary closure via social media, email, and our website.

• We are doing everything we can to support our employees as best we can.

• We will conduct a thorough cleaning of all Sender One facilities before we reopen.

Lastly, we want to emphasize the importance of social distancing at this time. By temporarily closing, we ask that to the extent you are able, please limit your contact with others.  With the situation evolving quickly, we must all do our part in slowing the spread of COVID-19.

We will get through this together because the strength and support in our community is undeniable. We cannot wait to climb together again soon.

Due to the increased amount of requests at this time, we would like to let you know that we have a team of awesome people working on fulfilling these requests. Please be patient as it may take a little longer than normal. Thank you.

Stay up to date through our social media channels (Instagram and Facebook) and website.
To view an earlier announcement about the health & safety within our community, click here.

A new announcement has been released about the temporary closure of all Sender One facilities. Read more HERE.

Please note that this is an older version of updates and some things may have changed. Use this as a resource, but please read our most recent update HERE.
The latest section of this announcement was added on 3/14/20.

3/10/20
With the recent outbreak of COVID-19, we want to remind you that the health and safety of our community is of utmost importance. We do not believe there is a need to disrupt your climbing routine, planned yoga class, or reserved Sender City session at this time. However, we'd like to offer precautions and recommendations to our community regarding health practices during this flu season. Preventative actions are also in place at all Sender One locations to ensure our customers will continue to receive the optimal climbing experience.

As climbers, managing risk is a normal part of our sport. The new coronavirus is forcing us to manage a different type of risk. Here are some precautionary tips and reminders that will help prevent the spread of germs and illnesses.

Remember, it's important to properly wash your hands
BEFORE: Climbing, Sender City, Working Out, Taking a Yoga Class, Eating, Preparing Food, Treating a Wound
AFTER: Climbing, Sender City, Working Out, Taking a Yoga Class, Eating, Preparing Food, Treating a Wound, Using the Restroom, Sneezing, Coughing, Blowing Your Nose, Petting a Cute Animal, Taking Out Garbage

Your health means a lot to us! So much that Sender One will continue to provide sanitary wipes, hand sanitizer, and hand soap for our guests. We've also ensured that our staff will continue to regularly wipe down non-climbing surfaces and areas with cleaning spray. Additionally, we've notified all staff to stay at home if they are not feeling well and/or have flu-like symptoms.

Stay classy and stay healthy, Sender One Community.

UPDATE 3/12/20:

In light of recent announcements by the California Department of Public Health and California Governor, Gavin Newsom, Sender One has the following updates to our programming and offerings.

• The USAC Youth Sport Local that was scheduled for Saturday, April 4th at SNA is canceled.
• Sender One’s Bouldering League at LAX, scheduled to start April 8th, is postponed until further notice.
• All community events involving large gatherings at both SNA and LAX are cancelled until further notice.
• All community events involving food will be cancelled until further notice. This includes Pi Day and our Member Appreciation Night at Sender One LAX, which will be rescheduled.
• We are reducing staffing and staff positions in response to a reduction in large group offerings.

Additionally, effective immediately, we are making the following community recommendations:

• During busy weekday evenings and weekends, please limit your gym visits to a maximum of three (3) hours.
• For Sender City sessions, although we sanitize our helmets regularly, if you feel more comfortable using your own helmet, you are encouraged to.   
• For climbing camps, you are encouraged to provide campers with their own snacks as we are reducing group meal times.  

To reiterate, Sender One is continuing to take all reasonable precautions recommended by health and government authorities to curtail the spread of the coronavirus while safeguarding. Read our full letter here.

UPDATE 3/14/20:

Sender One locations will continue to hold a number of yoga classes until further notice. Sanitization and cleaning of the yoga studios will continue to be a top priority. Additional changes to our programming is to follow.

• Acro Yoga Classes and Acro Jam Sessions will be canceled at SNA and LAX until further notice.
• Class sizes will be capped at half-capacity at SNA only.
• Yoga blankets will be temporarily removed from all yoga studios.

Beyond these changes, here's what you can do to help keep our yoga community healthy.

• Please try to bring your own yoga mats to class. We will continue to offer sanitary wipes for all yoga mats.
• If you use a yoga mat provided by the gym, please thoroughly wipe it down with a sanitary wipe after use.
• We will continue to provide yoga blocks to use, but please use a towel to cover the blocks while in use if possible.

For more updated information and resources about our global health situation visit these websites: City of Los Angeles, Department of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and the World Health Organization.

Sender One's next newest facility and first-ever bouldering only location is ready to serve the Playa Vista and Sender One community this summer!

We are very excited to share with you new visualizations of what the climbing walls by Walltopia will look like. These walls are inspired by the nearby ocean, California sunshine, and coastline sailing - elements that complement Playa Vista and neighboring cities.

Follow our Sender One Playa Vista progress on the new location's Instagram @senderone_playavista and sign up for our newsletter for updates.

Enjoy! We can't wait to climb with you this summer.

NOTE: These are only renderings of the climbing walls. The actual facility appearance is not finalized yet!