// Hey, climber.
SafeSport certified member of USA Climbing
Served as an inaugural member on USA Climbing’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (DEITC) from 2019 - 2023
Make climbing accessible and achievable by anyone wanting to enter and thrive in the sport.
The need to seek out the best athletes for Team USA became even more important to the country when climbing became an official Olympic sport at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
Whether a climber is entering a competition for the first time or walks into a new gym to train, we are working to build the right culture and support system to make anyone feel like they belong and are welcomed into the climbing community.
Frequently on the road and grateful at the chance to try sending at the growing network of gyms around the world, crossing literal paths with the routesetters, local athletes and climbing communities that I encounter during my travels.
While I’ve ascended (as well as not ascended) too many boulders to keep track of, I continue to be mesmerized each time I stare up at a new wall of problems, flocks of v-shaped route tape in reds, greens, yellows, soaring up the side of a rock that doesn't know it's not a rock.
I started jotting down logistical notes about each gym I visited to I’d remember how to prepare for future return visits. Sharing some of those notes here.
// Aiguille Rock Climbing Center (Orlando, FL)
Central Florida’s oldest climbing gym, opened in 1997, is a compact space inside an industrial park. Nice routesetting and a common host grounds for USA Climbing sanctioned competitions.
One main lead wall section, 2 main bouldering slab walls and a challenging comp-ready overhang area called The Wave
During my visit, walls were still set up from a recent comp, so it was cool to try your hand(s) at some competition level routesetting
Wall in training area was set up with 3-4 problems designed for dyno practice.
Visitor Beta
830 S Ronald Reagan Blvd #252,
Longwood, FL 32750
URL: https://www.aiguille.com/
Climbing: Lead/Belay, Bouldering
First Time Visitors:
Electronic waiver; verbal orientation and guided walk-through of facilities
No chalk bag rentals; chalk bricks and liquid chalk for purchase
Lockers: No
Open cubbies throughout the space
Locker Rooms/ Showers: No
Restrooms only; recommend coming dress out and ready to climbg
Weight Room/ Fitness Area: Yes
Hangboards: Not sure
Training Boards:
Campus board
Tension board
// Phoenix Rock Gym (Tempe, AZ)
For historical purposes, getting to climb at the first climbing gym in Arizona (opened in 1992, a decade which was the dawn of large scale indoor climbing gyms in the US) was a reward in itself.
Like many gyms opened in the early 1990s, bouldering was likely considered more as a warm up area for lead climbing, top roping and belaying than as the standalone discipline it is today. This is reflected in the two cozy but efficient bouldering spaces here, one on the main floor, the other in its own mezzanine area.
Boulder problems are taped, so follow the tape patterns instead of the colors of the holds. My personal take on route grading is that their V4s, for example, are more akin to V4+ - V5 difficulty at other gyms.
And the Karabin Climbing Museum located at Phoenix Rock Gym is alone worth the trip to this corner of Tempe. It’s a mini Hard Rock Cafe style memorabilia meets the history of climbing gear through the ages and is worth spending some solid time exploring. You get to survey the evolution of climbing gear alongside donated shoes, helmets and chalk bags of climbing superstars like Chris Sharma.
Visitor Beta
Phoenix Rock Gym
1353 E University Dr.
Tempe, AZ 85281
URL: https://phoenixrockgym.com
Climbing: Lead/Belay (Primary); Bouldering (Secondary)
First Time Visitors: Hard copy (!) waiver; Orientation video
Lockers: Yes; small cubby style lockers in main lobby area. BYO lock.
Locker Rooms/ Showers: No separate locker room, no showers. You can change in the restrooms, but recommend showing up ready to climb.
Weight Room/ Fitness Area: No
Hangboards: Sort of. There are a few mounted in the upstairs bouldering mezzaine, but not as a standalone hangboarding area.
Training Boards: No (technically, there is a campus board style setup in the downstairs bouldering nook, but not as a standalone training area).
// Black Rock Bouldering Gym (Phoenix, AZ)
Founded by a military veteran, this all-bouldering gym is also a regular host of local and regional comps and has some great routesetting for challenging (and poor technique punishing) problems.
Visitor Beta
Black Rock Bouldering Gym
10436 N 32nd St
Phoenix, AZ 85028
URL: https://www.blackrockboulderinggym.com
Climbing: Bouldering only
First Time Visitors: Digital waiver; Staff-guided orientation; Staff will ask you to demonstrate how to fall safely
Lockers.: Cubbies and unlocked cabinets in main rooms, no locks
Locker Rooms/ Showers: Showers and changing area, but no lockers in the shower area. Think of it as a restroom that happens to have showers.
Weight Room/ Fitness Area: Yes
Hangboards: Yes
Training Boards: Moon Board; campus wall
// Gecko Climbing (Phoenix, AZ)
Gecko Climbing Gym prides themselves as being community and cleanliness focused. The place is pristine, from the sleek wooden climbing walls to the strategically placed Chalk Eater air filters located throughout the gym. Spacious and inviting and problems/ routes are graded on a scale.
Visitor Beta
Gecko Climbing Gym
24400 N 19th Ave Suite 115
Phoenix, AZ 85085
URL: https://www.geckoclimbinggym.com
Climbing: Auto belay and bouldering
First Time Visitors: Digital waiver; Staff-guided orientation; Staff will ask you to demonstrate how to fall safely
Lockers.: Open cubbies in main room, no locked storage
Locker Rooms/ Showers: No. Restroom can be used as a changing area, but recommend showing up ready to climb.
Weight Room/ Fitness Area: Yes
Hangboards: Yes (including their own Gecko board!)
Training Boards: Kilter Board, campus wall
// Training Day(s)
Started a formal training program as part of my 2022 goals and have seen immediate results from the coaching. Definitely had hit a performance plateau but after 12 weeks, I am pulling off movements and gained finger strength to an extent where I had previously always doubted myself.
// Climbing fueled by Cajun Food
// Dogpatch Boulders (San Francisco, CA)
A quick scan of the space makes it obvious why Dogpatch is a regular host site for local, regional and national climbing competitions.
Definitely in the top largest bouldering-only sites I have ever visited. According to the Touchstone site, Dogpatch has 20,500 feet of climbing terrain which translates into 300+ boulder problems.
Add in a well maintained spray wall, Kilter board and campus area and it can be a one stop training stop.
Visitor Beta
Dogpatch Boulders (Touchstone Climbing)
573 3rd St
San Francisco, CA 94107
URL: https://touchstoneclimbing.com/dogpatch-boulders
Climbing: Bouldering only
First Time Visitors: Digital waiver
Lockers: Yes; BYO Lock
Locker Rooms/ Showers: Yes
Weight Room/ Fitness Area: Yes
Hangboards: Yes
Training Boards: Kilter Board, Spray Walls (with problems on Stokt app), campus wall
// Mission Cliffs (San Francisco, CA): The OG San Francisco Climbing Gym
// Stone Summit - Midtown Bouldering (Atlanta, Georgia)
I am typically used to climbing gyms being built inside converted warehouse or industrial spaces. So Stone Summit’s midtown location was a first for me where a gym is built inside a corporate building, sharing space with small business offices and a WeWork-esque coworking space.
This bouldering only location is roughly the size, if not a tiny bit smaller, than the bouldering room at the main Atlanta location. Given its location to so many apartments and Georgia Tech housing, dawn patrol is the best time to come. On the days the gym opens at 6:00am, getting here in the first hour seems like the way to go; by 7:30am, the walls get pretty busy here.
// Stone Summit - Original Atlanta Location (Atlanta, Georgia)
With Atlanta’s oldest climbing gym, Atlanta Rocks!, closing in 2018, Stone Summit is one of the remaining long-time gyms and up to a point, wore the crown for largest indoor gym in the US for a while. Was definitely excited to finally visit their main location, which I have buzzed by on I-85 for years whenever I’m in town.
// High Point Climbing (Chattanooga, Tennessee)
Got to return to the very gym where I first started climbing several years ago.
Problems aren’t any easier, but I’m slightly less clueless on the wall these days.
// Synergy Climbing & Ninja (Chattanooga, Tennessee)
Founded by a former World #1 climber and a past American Ninja Warrior $1M champion, partners Lisa Rands and Isaac Caldiero created a training spot where one could train in both disciplines. Joining forces with Ben and Stephanie Sutton of Tennessee Bouldering Authority (TBA), one of Chattanooga’s oldest climbing gyms, their collaboration resulted in this cool spot just on the outskirts of downtown.
// The Boulder Field (Sacramento, California)
Have been wanting to visit this well known gym in Sacramento for the past few years and finally got my chance to climb here. What I love the most about The Boulder Field is their innovative approach to routesetting where problems are set as circuits with a variety of difficulty throughout the circuit. Really great way to train on different strategies, hold types and try new beta.
// Homecoming at Planet Granite (Santa Clara, California)
First day back in my home gym in Santa Clara in almost two years pre-COVID.
It’s been a while since I first walked into Planet Granite Santa Clara’s opening weekend, but everything from the slabs to the path to the locker room felt so familiar. Loved some of the new things the routesetting team is doing here with targeted practice areas for certain techniques. Running across a wall (and falling lots of times, including narrowly missing headbutting a volume) made for a great homecoming.
// Hollywood Boulders (Los Angeles, California)
L.A. marked the first time in 14 months that I have stepped inside a commercial climbing gym. My main takeaway is what most climbers have known forever. You can do HIIT workouts, you can weight train, you can do body weight exercises, but nothing prepares you for climbing like climbing. After my visit, I was sore in all the right places for all the wrong reasons.
Some new things in my post-COVID climbing world was getting to try liquid chalk for the first time. I used the one from Friction Labs and loved it, “chalking up” twice in the same time frame where I would have required multiple dips into the chalk bag. And as far as packing for travel is concerned, the compactness of a small tube of liquid chalk can’t be beat.
It was also nice to be back amidst the climbing community again. With social distancing and masking policies in place, the limited number of climbers allowed in for two hour blocks at a time still felt like a reunion: climbing, traversing, falling, all together.
Worth every callus and knuckle scrape.
// Split Rock and Day Hikes Around Ring Mountain Preserve
On one of the first sunny days in a while, I got to check out Ring Mountain Preserve in Corte Madera for the first time. It’s a breathtaking hike that brings in the bay and a distant SF cityscape. And extra cool is the top-roping at Split Rock or some pleasant V1 - V3+ routes on Turtle Rock a bit further in.
Feels kind of strange at first because you feel like you’re driving into an exclusive neighborhood and parking on someone’s curb, but then you see the signs for the Preserve and all is ok. For next time, looking forward to bringing sunscreen, a picnic and a crash pad to take in the incredible sweeping view.
// COVID-19 Hangboard Project
// Cabin Fever Climbing
// Love in the Time of Coronavirus
Got to get in one last solitary climb in early March before taking a self-imposed pandemic-induced hiatus from climbing gyms. Until the world re-opens, climbing will mean hangboards and pull-up bars.
// Coastal Climbing (Charleston, South Carolina)
In the final hours of Coastal Climbing’s 2019 calendar year, I was grateful at the chance to come climb here with friends and family before the gym closed for their holiday maintenance. Constructed in the place of what I can only assume used to be a former auto-body shop, this bouldering-only gym was a real treat to find tucked away just moments away from Charleston’s historic riverfront charm, its foodie-centric restaurants, its urban living revitalization.
Coastal Climbing has made terrific use of their space by focusing its routes heavily on traverses. If you’ve ever wanted to build basic climbing endurance while sharpening your footwork across a technically diverse set of problems, these routes are for you. As an early winter rainstorm barraged the Holy City outside, we took shelter within and atop Coast Climbing’s walls, traversing merrily along.
// Permanent Press
// Rock Away From Home (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA)
Adventure Rock in Milwaukee has become my de facto gym away from home given my increased frequency of trips to Milwaukee in 2020. The modest bouldering mezzanine, campus boards, and system board are just enough for me to stay in climbing shape when on the road. I spent most of my recent visit going straight for the V8-V9 problems, applying some of the new techniques I learned from the Bouldering National Cup in Memphis. Feeling pretty solid and looking forward to doing more of it.
// Climbing + Contemporary Art
// USA Climbing - Bouldering Open National Cup (Memphis, Tennessee, USA)
The High Point Climbing in Chattanooga was where I got my start four years ago, so it was fitting that my first national level comp also take place at High Point, but at their Memphis site. As part of the USA Climbing’s Diversity, Equity (DEI) Inclusion task force, one of our focus areas was how DEI took shape at national competitions. I’ve competed nationally as a fencer, but never as a climber, so I embarked on a trip to Memphis that was both investigative as well as competitive.
I “competed” in the most generous sense of the term, but got some great experience, learned some new tricks, and got to climb alongside the top athletes in the USA including newly invited USA Olympian, Nathaniel Coleman. Nathaniel proceeded to crush the rest of the qualifying round and headed to finals where he ultimately finished in second place behind his national teammate, Zach Galla.
And because I love giving back, not only was it a chance for me to climb with the best boulderers in the US, but I provided the chance for top climbers in the country to climb with the quantitatively verifiable worst climber in the country: me.
// Vertical Ventures (Tampa, Florida, USA)
Vertical Ventures was founded in 1996 in an industrial park on the outskirts of Tampa. There’s a treadwall for some infinite climbing, a couple sides of the room just for auto-belay and top roping, and the remaining wall and central boulder for bouldering. What it lacks in square footage, it makes up for with the camaraderie and community feel of the space and the climbers there (or at least the ones I ran into late on a weeknight).
// Climb NuLu (Louisville, Kentucky, USA)
Climb NuLu (named after the local neighborhood “New Louisville” or “NuLu”) is a spacious bouldering-only climbing gym, with ample features supporting the full V-rating spectrum of problems. Plenty of room to spread out and has one of my favorite system boards that I’ve come across in my travels.
//ROKC (Kansas City, Missouri, USA)
// Planet Granite (Sunnyvale, California, USA)
// New Orleans Boulder Lounge (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA)
While traveling in New Orleans for a conference, I was lucky to find the New Orleans Boulder Lounge where I signed up for a class to refine my vertical/ slab climbing technique. Built out of what appears to be a former general store, the gym is a neat little spot that has fostered a friendly and supportive climbing community in this part of the city.
// Climbing at The Peak and Attempting My First Moon Board (Fremont, California, USA)
Found my first Moon Board experience at The Peak in Fremont, California, a standardized system board with bluetooth linked LED lights that form crowdsourced boulder problems. Pretty easy to set up — download the Moon Board app, be sure the gym’s board is switched on (that turned out to be the first problem I had to solve :) and you’re off. The holds on the app correspond to the holds that light up on the board.
// Berkeley Iron Works (Berkeley, California, USA)
When I found myself commuting almost daily to Oakland for much of the Fall of 2018, I lucked out in discovering Berkeley Iron Works nearby. Another cool gym created by local climbing juggernaut Touchstone Climbing, it served as a place of self reflection as much as it did competitive practice and I was grateful to have had it to explore.
// Adventure Rock (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA)
// First Ascent - Uptown (Chicago, Illinois, USA)
// Climbing The Castle (London, England, UK)
About a 30 minute tube ride outside Central London is a brick castle that was originally built as a Victorian era water pumping station. Today, it's an immersive indoor climbing center.
Preserving the site's history while transforming its purpose, The Castle Climbing Center exists as one of the coolest bouldering and indoor rope climbing facilities ever. When I visited in August 2018, it was a drizzly, gloomy day outside so spending a couple of hours numbing my forearms made for a great way to spend a Friday night in London.
A pro shop rents equipment, shoes, chalk and has clothing and gear for sale. Coin operated lockers let you stow your duffel bag while you're climbing. Changing/shower areas let you spruce up after your session. There's an onsite cafe, onsite garden, and a few outdoor boulders in the shadow of the castle.
// Nevada Climbing Center (Las Vegas, Nevada, USA)
While in town for the National Society of Professional Engineers conference in July 2018, I got to visit the Nevada Climbing Center. Hidden in an industrial park on the Las Vegas outskirts, it's a welcoming indoor climbing gym with auto-belay and top roping fun galore. The bouldering feature is the gravitational center of the room and crafted for fun and serious problems alike.
// Sacramento Pipeworks (Sacramento, California, USA)
It’s almost a point of pilgrimage to climb at Sacramento Pipeworks being it was free soloist Alex Honnold’s first climbing gym when he got his start in the sport. Fortunately for the climbing world, he progressed quickly to outdoor climbing; away he went and away we went breathlessly alongside him.
// MOST CREATIVE UPCYCLING OF A CRASH PAD (Yosemite National Park, California, USA)
Sighted in the completely refurbished canteen of the Yosemite Lodge (something by the way that just a few years ago had that homey, no nonsense summer camp feel to it and now feels like the place where hipsters go to get kale smoothies---not that I'm complaining about the chic new digs and tasty pancakes).
// PAYING HOMAGE TO CAMP 4
While in Yosemite during early 2015, I got the chance to stop by the legendary Camp 4, where modern day rock climbing got its start. While I see rock climbing more as a way for me to cross-train for my caving adventures (given my abilities, competitively rock climbing just ain't happening for me). I really admired the crowds that were in Camp 4 the afternoon I stopped in. Still high on the announcement of the successful free climb of El Cap just days before, there was not a boulder left un-bouldered wherever I looked and hikers everywhere were hauling rope packs up the trails or spreading out crash pads underneath boulders. Lots of footsteps to follow, lots of footsteps being followed.
// DESPERATELY SEEKING FOREARMS (Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA)