The Rock Gym Indoor Climbing Center

I’ve been rock climbing for several years now, and quite regularly in the past couple years in the DC/​Northern Virginia/​Maryland area.
I was disappointed by this gym. I was expecting this gym to be far superior to all the rock gyms on the New England/​mid-​Atlantic area. Not so. All the gyms I’ve been to on the east coast (New Jersey, Brooklyn Boulders, Sport Rock in Alexandria VA, and Earth Treks in Rockville, MD) are much larger and much better than this one.
First of all, it’s small. Their top rope section was largely under construction when I went. I did take a look at their routes and most ranged from 5.6 to 5.8. Perhaps this was the beginners section??? The routes are also short…
I spent the day bouldering because I couldn’t find a belay partner (the few people top roping there on a week day afternoon were all beginners). The bouldering area, in stark contrast to their top rope route, are very difficult. I’m a 5 foot tall female, and make up in strength what I lack in height. However, that was little consolation since most of their routes had absurdly long, reachy moves… As many people also noted, their bouldering routes had wicked overhangs. I got the sense that their route setters were tall dudes. Maybe this place isn’t frequented by more petite female climbers, so they don’t need to set routes for a broad range of climbers/​body types?

This place ROCKS! Parking is easy peasy, prices were decent ($ 30/​person, all day for free boulder climbing and rope climbing+gear+belay class). This place is located in a big warehouse and has decent amount of rock walls with various level of difficulty.
It didnt get too busy which was a plus=NO LINES! They need to crank the AC up in there though, it was freaking hot!
I would def go again!

1 hour of fun feeling triumphant in the end.

Great place to take a date and gain each other’s trust. You can take a girl, so that she can see how strong you really are.
* Plenty of parking on the weekends
* It’s next door to a battling cages gym
* Their little corner gym area needs an upgrade
* You can reserve a birthday and bring your own grub

I’m no climbing pro, but the belay lesson given to my first-​timer friends made me shudder.
It took only a few minutes to go through the process for three people. Um. They hopped into their harnesses, clipped in to the top rope (another «ick» for me — belay devices are already attached to the ropes and you don’t even have to tie yourself in — both important facets of any climbing experience, in my opinion) and immediately started up the wall as the staff member instructed the belayer.
So. Un. Safe.
Yes, GriGri’s are pretty safe and easy to use, but there was no talk of locking-​off or what to do if the climber falls. Meanwhile, the climber is already half way up the route while the belayer is fumbling with the rope. Dude.
Anyway. On the positive side? They have a slackline. And a little gym area.
But no dressing room, and 90% of the walls are overhanging. And no place to post flyers for climbing buddies or gear for sale. Interesting climbing community…
I probably won’t go back there. Hangar 18 isn’t too far from that area, and if I ever go with new climbers again I’d feel much more comfortable having them belay me after the Hangar 18 belay lesson. Geez.

I am a beginner climber, (really a good hiker with a knack for boulders and an interest in learning more). This place offers a «beginners class» where they supply all the gear you need and an instructor for a two hour class!
…so they tell you.
We drove there 31 miles from Culver City for this two hour basic instructional session APPOINTMENT On My Birthday (a surprise gift from my gf) and I was very excited to learn how to use the gear, to speak the lingo, etc… What we got was Brandon who was clearly annoyed with something and treated us like we were wasting his time.
A few minutes after we began, another employee interrupted and aggressively complained that there weren’t supposed to BE any beginners scheduled at that time.
Brandon agreed with her and didn’t really even try to mask the fact that he was eager to give up on the class so that he could go have a meeting with all the other co-​workers (who were sitting around watching tv). As they bickered and expressed their unhappiness about our presence, my girlfriend and I were thinking «Umm…we’re standing right here… we can hear you»
He quickly switched out our instruction package for a «day pass» and we never saw him again.
After the meeting was done (20 minutes maybe?), the staff just sat at the picnic table (not 25 feet away from us) laughing and having a great time. All he would have had to say to make us happy was «Sorry, but there was a scheduling error, i have a staff meeting to go to, i will be back in about half an hour, keep doing what i showed you till i get back *smile*» …done, problem solved.
My GF and I had fun climbing after the 12 or so minutes of instruction, got tired quickly, packed up and left, on the way out we heard, «Leaving so soon? *chuckle chuckle*» Now… this may have been good natured but after the treatment from Brandon, I wasn’t going to take anything with a grain of salt.
So! In conclusion, I suppose this could be a useful facility for experienced climbers who are either part of the clique or not offended by that kind of aloof behavior. But reading the other low rated reviews suggests that the experienced climbers are the ones who don’t like this place.
I will be checking out other places like this, because i did have fun climbing, and i’d like to see how much better i could do with some real guidance, if you are looking for something like that, you might wanna look someplace else.
–C

This place is pretty chill! No belay or knot tests needed before you enter. The guy at the counter was super chill. There are auto belays so you didn’t need even need to tie in. I also liked how there was no rope or belay test. The routes were challenging, but super fun and the bouldering is pretty good. They also had an Indo board and a slackline that I loved balancing on when my arms were fried from climbing.
I had the best time!

First time here. It was our friend’s daughter’s birthday party. I am not a rock climber, at all… but had a good time. My main issue was looking down when I was almost at the top. YIKES.
But I felt a little bit of an adrenaline rush. I really needed that after a long week at work.
Pointer: Bring workout gloves. When you descend from the top to the rock wall, you must let go of the rocks your hands are gripping and grab on to the rope. Well, my hand got all caught betwixt the ropes, and I got a rope burn. OUCH!
Another pointer: Use your legs to push yourself up. It’s a lot easier than pulling yourself up with your arms!
Enjoy!

As a parent you sometimes run out of fun activities to participate in with your kids. I have a daughter that is extremely active. I have plenty of nephews and nieces that keep me pretty busy. My daughter loves to climb rock walls at local fairs and I figured, why not look for something bigger?
I was very fortunate to have found this place down the street from my sister’s home. I called in advance and asked if this place was kid friendly. The employee confirmed that it was. Just a note, I wouldn’t recommend this place for any children under seven years of age. It’s just a little too technical for them under that age. Just my opinion.
The building is not well lit in the evening. I had a bit of a challenge locating it. They have their own private parking lot that can probably accommodate at least fifty vehicles. I paid $ 13 for unlimited usage of the walls. I also paid $ 3 for safety straps that you will need to climb some of the walls. Call in advance for the rates. I believe we we probably charged less due to our arrival time.
I’m not a rock climbing expert by any means. I just like the good little workout you gain from climbing. I noticed that some walls required a strap. Those were the easier to moderate walls to climb. The tougher ones required no safety straps and they were much shorter in height. I also noticed that the tougher ones have a good sized cushioned area for you to fall onto. This was a lot of fun for my daughter and niece.
Over in a corner they have a small workout area that has free weights for you to use. If you have your own equipment you should take it. I highly recommend this place as a team building idea for small companies or corporations. There’s plenty of eating areas nearby for lunch as well.

I finally rock climbed for the first time today! Whoo hoo! It was so much fun.
The Rock Gym is great for groups. The atmosphere is really relaxed and not intimidating at all. It was perfect for a group of mostly first timers.
I’d recommend bringing a few bottles of water because you will get thirsty. I brought a cooler to keep the water chilled and it worked out perfectly.
I wore some baggy basketball shorts, a t-​shirt, and my running shoes and I was really comfortable.

Oh snaps son, I haven’t had this much fun climbing walls since I was a kid. With that said, I’ve only tried it once through an old high school program I used to be apart of. I’ve always wanted to go again but never had the opportunity to until Matt K., mentioned this place. Originally I was stoked to go to that Rockreation place in LA, but this place would do just fine.
One thing’s for sure Debbie N. and myself carpooled here to meet up with Marlon, Matthew, Carolyn and Kenny to take part in this entertaining the UYE. The paths are designated by colored tape, ranging in the difficulty levels you wish to commit to. As mentioned it would be better to bring friends or a group considering the encouragement and also the belaying of harnesses that allowed you to climb and help a friend. All of this with an all day pass and harness costs $ 19.00 (an additional $ 6.00 for shoes I believe).
Despite getting my ass kicked not once but several times (by Debbie and a particular challenging wall). I’ve had so much fun I might consider doing this more often to upkeep my training in fitness and possibly prepare myself, if and when I’ll get into free running and so forth. Overall a great time, and something you need to try at least once. For my experience, my forearms were completely numb the next day making it difficult to type and our allow anything cognitive with my arms and hands to occur.
So pack your water bottle and prepare yourself for one hell of a workout. Good stuff, hopefully I can go again in the future.

We had a birthday party scheduled for today but when we got here the place was not open and no one we called answered. Posted opening hours is 10:00 and now it is 11:30. Never experienced this level of irresponsibility. My advice is to ignore their possted sign to schedule birthday parties.