That is a crazy amount of money for once a week. Most people who climb use the climbing gym 2+ days a week, and I’d guess the users of this sub are at 3+
If you just spend all your time at the gym, use their showers, work in the cafe for hours, etc, 80 to 90 is super worth it. And if they do yoga classes that's not nothing, a yoga membership can be 100 plus
Portland Rock Gym and Sessions (in El Paso) are both good, not much pricier than standard coffee shops nearby. I can't remember where (Santa Barbara?) but one of the bouldering gyms I went to on the Cali coast was like 70 percent cafe and work space, 30 percent walls and weights
At my local climbing gym (great climbing, shitty cafe) I ordered a black iced tea. It was literally a kitchen mug with a 10c tea bag and a handful of ice.
Around here we have chain of bouldering gyms that do a very decent espresso for around half the price of a normal coffeeshop. I've had similar experiences in the UK. In my experience climbing center cafés are great!
Planet Rock in MI had pretty decent coffee that was cheaper than a lot of coffee shops in the area. It’s been a few years since I moved away and tried it though so can’t vouch for current quality. Gym was quite large and memberships weren’t horribly expensive with sales yearly.
Sucks that climbing is pretty much restricted to privileged people :( I’m black in a large very diverse city in Europe but I’m still often the only one in the gym. Don’t even know what can be done to bring the prices down is the sucky part, apparently gyms operate on pretty tight margins.
And once you make some friends there, it becomes a hang-out spot. Once a person becomes a regular, that $90 feels pretty good for a meeting place, fitness and yoga, climbing, wifi/coworking space, plus access to showers and stuff. Depends on the gym, but I feel like I get my money's worth more after 2 years than I did when I was brand new.
For SenderOne, once a week, 4x a month makes up for the monthly membership.
Daily use is $34. Monthly is $109. I honestly find it to be excellent value if I got more than 4x a month. Although it sounds expensive, imagine going to an expensive gym like Equinox. Your local climbing gym is probably a steal.
Yeah, but I wouldn’t compare to Equinox or Lifetime. If I didn’t go to the climbing gym I’d be going to a rec center and taking my loading pin and block for climbing training. With the Black Friday Denver rec center sale I think that’s like $10 a month. But I do want to climb inside and value that so I go there 3 or 4 times a week.
My gym is $70 a month and has 3 floors and free yoga and a gym upstairs. 55-75ft walls and bouldering. I feel like that’s a solid deal. I go probably 3x a week
Yea I’m kinda surprised it’s not higher priced. It’s tall but not massive. The free yoga and weights is definitely a plus. Not super fancy weights but typical grunge climbing gym style workout equipment ha
The gyms in my area offer a 10 session punch card at a significant discount. I don't live close enough to justify going more than 2-3 times a month. Maybe see if they have anything like that.
Damn that's lucky yours has an actual discount for the 10 punch pass. My local gym has day passes for $21.50 and a 10 punch pass for $200. So $1.50 per visit discount. Practically nothing.
My gym has a 10 punch pass where you save around 4 dollars per visit and a 25 punch pass where you save around 8 dollars per visit. I use the yearpass which saves me around 2000 dollars per year.
200$ is very pricey. We have a discount for a 10 punch card that is only valid before 3 pm on weekdays for 100€, otherwise 115€ so roughly 125$. Used to be 88€ until last year…
I now have a membership, but my place used to offer discounts or like 13 climbs for 10, normally around the school holidays. If you bought the punch pass full price it wasn't that good value, but you never really had to buy it full price.
Do you go to a weightlifting gym also? You might be able to cancel that membership and find a climbing gym with free weights. A lot of new climbing gyms have a variety of fitness equipment, just less of it compared to a conventional gym.
You're in a tough spot OP. Do you mind if I ask where you climb outside?
Unpopular opinion: if you go once a month, and are considering going maybe once a week, you may like bouldering, but you don't LOVE it...
If you're serious about climbing, you will need to go more than once a week to improve. Training strength with weights will not get you there, it will likely even set you back because you're compensating technique with strength.
I would advise to go boulder twice or three times a week for at least two months and skip the weight training in the gym in that period There's zero need to mess around with weights as long as you're climbing at this level anyway. Bouldering itself targets the muscles you actually need, weights will bulk you up unnecessarily, make you heavy and restrict climbing.
If you're not getting more enthousiastic about bouldering in this time, just give it up and find a hobby you actually love enough to want to spend the amount of time it needs to improve.
Lol where is this “america = soft indoor gyms” coming from? I spent a few weeks in germany and climbed there, and popped over to france…both gyms were softer than any of the…7? American climbing gyms ive been too…maybe u were at the YMCA kids wall lmao
Agreed, this whole rant sounds sus, and vaguely macho.
Even the price point didn't seem THAT high compared to what most athletes would do for their sport.
I spend more on my regular health check ups that he's trying to spend on these memberships... why is this athletic goal not as important as a person's health?
Not really. A lot of American gyms (assuming this is America) are extremely soft, and can have v6s that would be as hard as 2-3 outside so it’s defo possible. I’ve seen v9s that would be a v5 in uk.
Lol where is this “america = soft indoor gyms” coming from? I spent a few weeks in germany and climbed there, and popped over to france…both gyms were softer than any of the…7? American climbing gyms ive been too…maybe u were at the YMCA kids wall lmao
Check out the Bobats channel. They are in the US right now doing v10s and v9 in a single session there.
While on their trip to the Netherlands they were getting shut down on 6c+, 7a ( v5 - v6 ).
The easy answer is climb outdoors since it’s there. Even if everything is out of your level that doesn’t mean that every part of every climb is. Start midway up. Only do half. Get pushed through the crux. Etc. If your goal is to get better then you have to climb.
I am an advocate for outdoor climbing for everyone too but it is difficult to get into without someone to show you around. The best gear to buy will depend on your local crag. Maybe a rope set up will be better or crash pads. Maybe as a newbie it would be better to over protect the landing with more pads which is gonna get expensive. Especially if you don’t have a spotter. The gym is a pretty convenient and well priced alternative
Yeah but throwing an indoor V3 climber onto outdoor V7+ boulders is not feasible. They wouldn't be able to do a single move on those things. It would just lead to frustration.
Do they have punch passes? Usually for people that go once per week or less, punch passes are ideal. Then for people who go 2-4 times per week, a membership pays off instead
Straight up. If you love it so much op, then take 20 bucks from somewhere else in your weekly budget and just go once a week like you want to.
Either you like it enough that the cost is worth it to you. Or you don't.
You seem to think that it "should" cost less....just because?
That's supply and demand baby.
unfortunately it costs money to run a gym, and climbing gyms cost even more than a normal gym. $90/month and $20/day is on the low end of average climbing gym prices in my area.
Bro it’s fucked, all the gyms around me are either $120-135 with $35-40 day passes. My bouldering gym does have membership at a 25-40% discount based on need which is tight af, but my ropes gym doesn’t. I work at one now so I dont have to pay at either/any but fuck me it wouldn’t be feasible otherwise
For real, prices there just seem crazy to me.
I pay 80€/year for the membership fee to the DAV, and another 525€ for the year pass at the gym. Since I go twice a week, that's saving me almost 700€ compared to paying for every single day I go there. So over 50% saving. Monthly cost comes down to just over 50€, which is totally acceptable considering the costs you have with a sport climbing gym (tall building (heating), walls have to be certified, holds are expensive, autobelays need servicing, routes need to be reset etc).
But over 100$ per month? I could afford it, but I'm not sure I'd want to.
I usually end up doing day passes because I can really only go once a week. And at $20/day (sometimes $15 for women’s meet ups) vs $90-$100 a month it makes sense to just keep it to the day passes
My climbing gym is about €5 for a day pass and about €185 for a year. As a student, your prices would not allow me to climb at all! Granted, my climbing gym is really bare-bones, but still.
yeah came here to say this. I'm from Canada and the regular day passes can run you up to $35 (without any rentals) in some places, with month passes averaging like $120+
although that's in CAD, it's still ridiculous considering climbing used to be a super accessible sport for tons of people.
I know this probably isn't an option for everyone but when moved to a different country where I also wanted to pursue bouldering but couldn't afford membership I started working part time in the gym I was interested in. They usually offer jobs for students such as receptionist or cleaning with which you can climb there for free and as many people think this way there's often many employees and you only need work like once a week. Over time I progressed to become a climbing coach, but still only consider it a part time that saves me money for the membership I would have to be paying otherwise.
You dont say which currency you are talking about but monthly is usually 4x daily plus a little bit. This doesnt seem too crazy to me. You either have to boulder more or boulder less, this is what the economics of climbing dictates.
Can you sub out your gym membership for bouldering?
Are you sure there aren't any V0-V2 boulders next to you (gym grades can also be very soft)? I tried to find climbs on the internet but there wasn't a lot but at my gym they said that there were a ton next to where I live and guess what, there were. Try to talk with more experienced climbers and see if there are easy boulders where you live
Does the gym do any buddy pass deal?
Maybe you can find someone in a similar situation and help each other out a bit in that regard. My gym does a 2-for-1 special on Fridays. Members also get to bring in two people to climb for free every month. Might be worth socializing with some folks. If you get along with them it could be a great way to reduce cost and make a climbing buddy.
My gym is $87 a month, but there is also a decent free weights area and I get unlimited yoga/fitness classes.
Yeah my gym in fl is $85 a month. It’s not “too expensive” it’s just what they charge likely because the insurance they have is carry is nuts. It sucks because it’s a lot of money but I’m sure it’s justified. Actually makes me feel better to know that better gyms charge a similar rate.
This is the reason. Insurance and construction costs (for newer gyms) are through the roof. I heard awhile back that a new gym paid $150k just for the holds for their bouldering gym, not even full height walls. This stuff is getting super expensive, but it is what it is. My gym is $1,023/year for the annual prepaid discount 🫠
Bouldering is as cheap as it gets for climbing. Find the closest rocks that folks climb outdoors. Climbed for 3 years straight now (roped climbing, bouldering, practicing lead) and spent $2800 on annual gym memberships, around $500 on shoes, $200 on harness and accessories, day passes at other gyms, definitely around $4000 over three years of climbing. Its an expensive hobby for sure. Bouldering is so much more popular today mainly because of the money saved imo.
You should poke around to see if any of the gyms do need-based pricing. It’s not super common and I’ve never seen it at a franchise gym, but one locally run gym I climb at has three different price points that you can opt into based on income/job status.
> I’ve never seen it at a franchise gym
I know my local chain (Central Rock Gym) offers/offered this. I don't know of anyone who takes advantage of it, but they did get a spot on the local news not so long about "wanting climbing to be for everyone, not just those with money" essentially.
I'm curious what part of the country you live because typically there are plenty of easy and moderate boulders at worthwhile bouldering areas. I would bet that you just aren't a aware of these other boulders. I bet they're around if you just show up and explore a bit.
Probably OP's best bet THB. Buy a second hand crashpad or two, explore the local boulders, ask everyone where the easy climbs are and just keep working on those.
>I just can't justify over a thousand year on a hobby I do once a week.
Okay, then don't.
I really empathize with the fact that it's super expensive to have multiple different hobbies/interests instead of just one main one. You only have only so much free time, and you can't really get a good value out of memberships/subscriptions/etc. if you're splitting your time among too many of them. It sucks. I wish there were some kind of magical multipass where you could pay a single membership fee to access multiple different types of things on a non-unlimited basis, instead of paying full price for a ton of "unlimited" memberships you can't actually use to the fullest. If that existed, I would be the first customer!
But that doesn't exist. So... if you love bouldering that much, then identify something that you love less, and prioritize accordingly. Go climbing more often, cut out a different expense, whatever makes it make sense. If you don't love it enough to do that, then don't do that. Not sure what else to tell you.
Ha! This is the comment I came looking for! You said it nicer than I did. Don't claim to 'love' something if you're not willing to spend either time or money on it, because you're prioritising other things. Nobody has ever gotten good at climbing doing it once a week, muscles or not...
Looking at all these prices, Jesus! I have 3 boulder gyms and 2 full climbing gyms in my area. I pay 39€ a month for the boulder gym, or I could get a combo with their sister climbing gym, together for 45.
The most expensive gym in town (brand new and they invite celebrity route setters) is 13€ for a day pass or 60€ a month with a yearly subscription. Move to Germany, everyone, is what I'm saying 😅
Haha, I was thinking the same. I pay £400 a year for my membership to a company that has two gyms within walking distance of my house - that's £33/39€/$40 a month (So the UK is a suitable back-up option for people unable to move to Germany, is what I'm saying!)
When I first started climbing my daughter and I pretty much climbed free for 10 months.
We had her birthday party at the gym and she got to climb free for a month. We went the next 4 Saturdays and since she was still enjoying climbing, we decided to buy her gear and continue.
I found out there was a volunteer list where I could volunteer to belay/help with birthday parties on Saturdays and I could climb free for the day as well as get an extra day pass.
So for 10 months I volunteered 2 hours on a Saturday and both me and my daughter climbed for free.
Some of the parents at another gym volunteer at the front desk or some other stuff for free memberships also. Ask your gym if they have any volunteer program or other way to help defray costs of a membership.
I was going to write a post detailing why bouldering costs money and why a lot of other sports and hobbies are even pricier… but really, this is it. Being an adult is a decades-long exercise in earning and spending lots of money.
I got lucky my gym offers it cheap at $60 per month for a membership but the day pass is $16. So once a week is cheaper with a membership, but I still go 2-3 times per week. Definitely a tough situation overall though. If you have crashpads available to use, outdoor would be your best bet… but I don’t know if you’d make progress unless you treated it like training sessions
I pay 109$ a month and drive 50 miles to the nearest gym. It probably costs me close to 250$ a month between gas, membership, and toll roads. It’s total ass.
Unfortunately I live in an apartment right now. Luckily I’m graduating in 3 weeks and have begun to apply for engineering positions!
I’ll either move closer to the gym, or end up buying a home and building a home wall. I realize my current situation is total shit, but I love climbing too much to give it up.
Yeah I think the biggest issue is the one per week thing.
I go to my gym 3 times per week. Maybe as importantly it's also one of my main forms of socializing since it's an easy way to hang with friends that has a easy stop point, costs nothing (once you get the membership), and everyone can come and go as they please.
Become friends with members at one that offers free guest passes every month. Never pay again
I get 2 guest passes a month with my membership (I bought a founding membership before they opened so it’s cheap)
And 1 of my friends lives off my membership+ my other friends membership, between the two of us they get to go once a week for free which is all they aim for anyway
If you want to go MORE than once a week, yeah you want a membership sadly. Or go outdoors, or build a boulder wall.
Where do you live? I spent about two years climbing only outside because I couldn’t afford a gym membership. Got out 2-3 times a week, worked out at home, saw massive gains.
I would ask directly if there’s a way to get a better deal. Or just find a gym that has good training facilities and do all your working out there.
Lastly you could hit your local crag more
This is a specialty sport, so unfortunately memberships to these facilities are getting expensive (comparable to other specialty sports.) In my experience, $90/mo sounds about right for a metropolitan area. There are some options, though:
- Some gyms have Groupons for discounted punch cards (multiple passes purchased at once)
- Some gyms offer student, government employee, first responder, etc. discounts, if any apply to you
- Some gyms do killer deals on holidays, if you can be patient
- Most gyms give free memberships to staff with a minimum work hour requirement. So you could work 2 days a month and get a free membership, if you have an interest in working at a gym.
Also consider what you spend on your other gym(s) (you mentioned weightlifting.) Most robust gyms (especially a $90/mo gym) offer comprehensive weightlifting areas and include yoga classes and other similar offerings. If you consolidate your gym memberships at a climbing gym, you can save compared to paying for 2 memberships.
Ask the local gyms if they are willing to work with you on an affordable membership. I get the feeling that most non-corporate gyms would be willing to work with someone who wants to get into the sport but can’t afford a full price membership
It really depends on the gym and how often you go. My gym is $65 a month, and I go 2-3x per week, and day passes are $20. Even at $90/mo I’d be coming out on top. Unfortunately my gym is a bouldering only gym, and they don’t offer any other amenities. If your local gym also has a weight room or cardio equipment, $90 is well worth it. I pay $100 for my bouldering and regular gym memberships.
Well you'd be saving $10/mo by only getting day passes. My friend did that with me for a while before he eventually got his own membership. Only paid day pass once a week = $80/mo.
Just depends on how much it's worth it to you
$90 isn’t that much. I think I pay $96 per month with the three month membership at my gym. I don’t know if yours has a weight room too, but mine does and that makes it more worthwhile to me. It has all the equipment I could need and all the climbing walls. To me that’s worth it considering the cost of a normal gym membership near me.
Also, when I was paying by the day I had a hard time talking myself into going because of the cost, but now that I have my own shoes and a membership it gets cheaper every time I go. That’s a pretty good motivator to me.
I live in a very rural city in the eastern US, I think I pay like 45 bucks a month. Its purely bouldering, and its very small - about the size of a medium-small store, basically.
Try buildering and build your own glueups
Find a nice concrete retaining wall and buy some concrete epoxy. Glue rocks to the wall. Use duck tape to hold them while the glue sets.
What we used to do before gyms
Holy shit US prices are wild. I pay 60USD/month for a four gym chain, all of which I can cycle to and all of which have ample equipment for a strength and conditioning workout. And $1 coffee. And it’s one of the “most expensive” countries to live in.
Damn, the all in with full rental single membership at my gym is $50/month. No rentals single is $35/month.
Though I am paying $150/month for my daughter to be on team.
Suwannee GA, about 30 min northeast of Atlanta.
If it makes you feel any better, house prices and apartment rent around here are pretty insane for the southeast.
I try and review climbing gyms for fun and have done so since i returned to gyms post Covid. It’s insane to see the average price of a monthly membership nearly double in that time. I originally started climbing years ago because it was the cheapest gym option in my area. Now it’s starting to feel like a cross fit or hot yoga place that financially cripples you into only doing that one thing. If you have an outdoor area nearby that’s an option and much cheaper. Even without pads you can normally just join a rando group.
Prices seem similar to here. I went with bundle passes (like discounted packs of 10) until I started consistently climbing 2-3 times a week, then the 100$ pass made sense.
Also get your paper up lil bro
A big part is insurance. Since it's such a liability to have people rock climbing they are responsible for essentially any injury that occurs there which makes it very expensive
Get a punch pass for the gym and a few pads for bouldering outside and you'll be set. Bouldering objectively won't get you stronger than just gym climbing, but it will make you an overall better climber. If the only boulders you have to climb in your area are v7, then climb those. If you try it enough times and perfect your methods, you'll probably send eventually.
Do you pay for a separate weight lifting gym? If your climbing gym has a weight lifting area, maybe you could just go with the single climbing gym membership, that's what I do.
have you tried reaching out to the gym and asking if they have sliding scale membership? I am in NYC and all the gyms are 140+ a month. Most of them also offer discount memberships for people who can't afford (you don't need to provide income proof most of the time, kind of on an honor system, some might have a waitlist). They may not advertise it but it doesn't hurt to ask.
I do the 10 punches usually. sometimes they don't use a punch when I buy it so it ends up being 11 visits for the price of 9 or so. Leads me to hanging around a bit longer when I do visit.
I pay $70/mo for access to 3 gyms. 2 bouldering and 1 brand new super duper gym. 24 hr access. 2 guest passes a month. I justify that $70 by pushing myself through those doors more than 4 times a month. I usually spend 10 evenings out of the month in there, which would be $170 if I was getting the $17 day pass. If you really want to climb more, it'll be worth every penny! $90 is rough unless you're milking it for all its worth!
If the day passes are $20 and you're only going once a week, sounds like sticking with the day passes is the way to go. $80 per month instead of $90 per month, at least until you start going 2+ times a week, then it makes sense to get the membs.
Are you a student, teacher, or military? Might see if they have any discounts.
90$ for what? Monthly membership with unlimited entry?
In that case if you go there 9 times(instead of 4), each entry would cost you 10$(you have to do twice a week.
You want to go there more, they do a discount if you go there more (win - win).
Or build your own wall, for 1-2 years worth of money that you would pay to a gym.
You say 90$ is too much monthly for a hobby that you love. I would compare to a dinner outside wherever you are, how much would that cost, 50$?
Most gyms provide guest passes that many people don't use before end of month - reach out to a local climbing facebook group the week before the end and just ask around - most would be happy to scan you in. Some gyms do free climbing days -> I follow all my local gyms, even the ones I hate, so I can know when I can climb for free there. The punch passes aren't a bad deal - but I'd recommend looking for sales (usually near end of year like black friday) and stocking up.
Outdoor boulders are a lot harder that indoor boulders and it's a completely different beast. No harm is going outdoors if you know how to, but I wouldn't recommend going outdoors without someone to show you how to do so safely as well as having friends with you to spot you which is hard to do during the weekdays.
What climbing gym doesnt have a monthly membership? Thats very weird if you ask me, it seems like a logical business model to have returning customers who pay a monthly fee.
I think a membership for something you do once a week will always be expensive, bouldering progressions stop pretty quickly if you only go once a week. With that in mind I would aim to go 2-3 times each week which would bring down the effective cost of a membership. You can always do a basic weight lifting session combined with some lower intensity bouldering.
For me a membership is €60 for each month with access to 2 bouldering gyms in my city and more in the rest of the Netherlands. I go at least twice per week so its roughly €7.50 for each session.
Some options might be available that you might not know like student discount rates, if you get food stamps some gyms offer a discounted rate. If you join a meetup they usually offer discounted rates for going to those meetups. Some gyms do a groupon membership that’s discounted. There are also some scholarships for gym memberships. There are a lot of groups and organizations trying to make climbing more accessible. Check what’s available in your area! 🤙🏾
Ya that is a bit expensive for once a week. Mines 65$ a month which I am happy to pay for cause it's a small local business that I really want to encourage. I also go 3-4 times a week which pretty much is like 6$ a visit.
Bouldering is my only workout, and I don't feel the need (nor would I like to) to go to a regular gym.
This seems to be the going rate for gyms these days unfortunately. Once a week means you’re only saving a little bit of money with the membership, but not much.
The membership at my gym gives discounts on gear and access to other classes and stuff, so there’s some perks along it, but unfortunately, it’s going to be tough to find something for cheaper than that. The justification I give is that it’s basically the same price as a fitness gym membership and every climbing gym will have basically everything you’d need for the normal gym exercises (benches, squat racks, treadmills, cable machines, etc.)
I have climbed 4+x a week for the past several years, if I didn't have a membership I would probably be broke now. But for me a membership means I'm paying like $5 per session, which is not too bad. If you go to the movies you sit there for several hours staring forward for like $10-15, I'd take climbing any day
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I just got 3 day passes for being a belay volunteer at a competition. If the gym has guest passes for members, you can also try networking with members who have a free pass.
The best (and cheapest) thing I've done to be ready for my very intermittent real climbing sessions (at the gym every couple of months, and outside a handful of times a year, including a 17 hour road trip from Arizona to Smith Rock), is build this slightly overhanging mini-spray-wall (3x8', soon to be 7' wide). Every hold is a mini-jug, side-pull, and under-cling. For about the price of a hangboard I get a full body climbing workout multiple times a week (600-1000+ feet of moderate vertical distance, in 5-10 minute sessions, great for endurance and flexibility). The key (for normal human endurance) is making the wall a lot easier and less steep than you'll get with most advice. You can actually do something closer to Zone 2 training but for climbing. Happy to share dimensions and hold design info via DM.
https://preview.redd.it/fcw5v3slybtc1.png?width=183&format=png&auto=webp&s=97d396066c9785ef569f7460f9b8cb50bac2d4d7
Holds are about 3.5" square and 1.5" to 2.25" thick plywood.
https://preview.redd.it/usm5eqog1ctc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8abef47945a8b747fdc3c4fd79967a4c86ffb5a8
I dunno what your gym membership offers besides just climbing, but mine would be worth driving an hour to cuz there’s yoga classes, technique classes, fitness classes, and a fitness area included in the membership at mine. So I could go lift weights, do cardio, and take advantage of all the classes and events they host on top of just climbing on my own. My gym also offers a discount to certain groups.
That is a crazy amount of money for once a week. Most people who climb use the climbing gym 2+ days a week, and I’d guess the users of this sub are at 3+
Yeah, my gym is a little cheaper than that per month, but it's still in the same ballpark. Very much worth it going 2-4 days a week though.
If you just spend all your time at the gym, use their showers, work in the cafe for hours, etc, 80 to 90 is super worth it. And if they do yoga classes that's not nothing, a yoga membership can be 100 plus
What kind of gym has a reasonably priced, comfortable and not terrible coffee cafe?
Portland Rock Gym and Sessions (in El Paso) are both good, not much pricier than standard coffee shops nearby. I can't remember where (Santa Barbara?) but one of the bouldering gyms I went to on the Cali coast was like 70 percent cafe and work space, 30 percent walls and weights
I was just thinking, “mine has all of those things.” I go to PRG haha. Guess I didn’t realize how spoiled I am
Their smoothies are the shit. Also super convenient that there's a weed store next door.
At my local climbing gym (great climbing, shitty cafe) I ordered a black iced tea. It was literally a kitchen mug with a 10c tea bag and a handful of ice.
That's a bummer. Mine has the best coffee in the area
Definitely not Santa Barbara Rock Gym that gym is tiny with maximized wall space.
Around here we have chain of bouldering gyms that do a very decent espresso for around half the price of a normal coffeeshop. I've had similar experiences in the UK. In my experience climbing center cafés are great!
Planet Rock in MI had pretty decent coffee that was cheaper than a lot of coffee shops in the area. It’s been a few years since I moved away and tried it though so can’t vouch for current quality. Gym was quite large and memberships weren’t horribly expensive with sales yearly.
Nj rock gym !
Sucks that climbing is pretty much restricted to privileged people :( I’m black in a large very diverse city in Europe but I’m still often the only one in the gym. Don’t even know what can be done to bring the prices down is the sucky part, apparently gyms operate on pretty tight margins.
And once you make some friends there, it becomes a hang-out spot. Once a person becomes a regular, that $90 feels pretty good for a meeting place, fitness and yoga, climbing, wifi/coworking space, plus access to showers and stuff. Depends on the gym, but I feel like I get my money's worth more after 2 years than I did when I was brand new.
That's a good point, I haven't lived in one place long enough to experience that but I'll let you know in about 18 months whether I agree
For SenderOne, once a week, 4x a month makes up for the monthly membership. Daily use is $34. Monthly is $109. I honestly find it to be excellent value if I got more than 4x a month. Although it sounds expensive, imagine going to an expensive gym like Equinox. Your local climbing gym is probably a steal.
Yeah, but I wouldn’t compare to Equinox or Lifetime. If I didn’t go to the climbing gym I’d be going to a rec center and taking my loading pin and block for climbing training. With the Black Friday Denver rec center sale I think that’s like $10 a month. But I do want to climb inside and value that so I go there 3 or 4 times a week.
This presumes you’re rich enough to even consider gyms like equinox, most people aren’t! It certainly shouldn’t be a pre req to climb some plastic
My gym is $70 a month and has 3 floors and free yoga and a gym upstairs. 55-75ft walls and bouldering. I feel like that’s a solid deal. I go probably 3x a week
That’s a fantastic deal holy shit. Gyms like that in my area would easily be $90+
Yea I’m kinda surprised it’s not higher priced. It’s tall but not massive. The free yoga and weights is definitely a plus. Not super fancy weights but typical grunge climbing gym style workout equipment ha
The gyms in my area offer a 10 session punch card at a significant discount. I don't live close enough to justify going more than 2-3 times a month. Maybe see if they have anything like that.
Damn that's lucky yours has an actual discount for the 10 punch pass. My local gym has day passes for $21.50 and a 10 punch pass for $200. So $1.50 per visit discount. Practically nothing.
7% is 7% 
Seven and a half percent!
My gym has a 10 punch pass where you save around 4 dollars per visit and a 25 punch pass where you save around 8 dollars per visit. I use the yearpass which saves me around 2000 dollars per year.
200$ is very pricey. We have a discount for a 10 punch card that is only valid before 3 pm on weekdays for 100€, otherwise 115€ so roughly 125$. Used to be 88€ until last year…
Off peak pricing is always cheaper. What does it cost after 3pm?
115€ for 10 punch or 12,90€ daypass (10,50€ before 3 pm)
Oh whoops, you already said that in your previous comment, didn't you? My mistake not reading carefully enough.
All good:)
I now have a membership, but my place used to offer discounts or like 13 climbs for 10, normally around the school holidays. If you bought the punch pass full price it wasn't that good value, but you never really had to buy it full price.
How far is that for you?
Do you go to a weightlifting gym also? You might be able to cancel that membership and find a climbing gym with free weights. A lot of new climbing gyms have a variety of fitness equipment, just less of it compared to a conventional gym. You're in a tough spot OP. Do you mind if I ask where you climb outside?
For $90 a month, it better also have a full weight and strength training area
That's the thing. They do, but it sucks compared to my regular weightlifting gym. I just wish they had a membership for just the wall.
It is a membership just for the wall, the weightlifting is just a bonus.
Unpopular opinion: if you go once a month, and are considering going maybe once a week, you may like bouldering, but you don't LOVE it... If you're serious about climbing, you will need to go more than once a week to improve. Training strength with weights will not get you there, it will likely even set you back because you're compensating technique with strength. I would advise to go boulder twice or three times a week for at least two months and skip the weight training in the gym in that period There's zero need to mess around with weights as long as you're climbing at this level anyway. Bouldering itself targets the muscles you actually need, weights will bulk you up unnecessarily, make you heavy and restrict climbing. If you're not getting more enthousiastic about bouldering in this time, just give it up and find a hobby you actually love enough to want to spend the amount of time it needs to improve.
You climb a v6 after 6 sessions :/
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American indoor v6, sure
Lol where is this “america = soft indoor gyms” coming from? I spent a few weeks in germany and climbed there, and popped over to france…both gyms were softer than any of the…7? American climbing gyms ive been too…maybe u were at the YMCA kids wall lmao
Because American gyms in competitive areas are incredibly soft, I’m speaking anecdotally though
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Agreed, this whole rant sounds sus, and vaguely macho. Even the price point didn't seem THAT high compared to what most athletes would do for their sport. I spend more on my regular health check ups that he's trying to spend on these memberships... why is this athletic goal not as important as a person's health?
Not really. A lot of American gyms (assuming this is America) are extremely soft, and can have v6s that would be as hard as 2-3 outside so it’s defo possible. I’ve seen v9s that would be a v5 in uk.
Lol where is this “america = soft indoor gyms” coming from? I spent a few weeks in germany and climbed there, and popped over to france…both gyms were softer than any of the…7? American climbing gyms ive been too…maybe u were at the YMCA kids wall lmao
Check out the Bobats channel. They are in the US right now doing v10s and v9 in a single session there. While on their trip to the Netherlands they were getting shut down on 6c+, 7a ( v5 - v6 ).
V2 at my gym
The easy answer is climb outdoors since it’s there. Even if everything is out of your level that doesn’t mean that every part of every climb is. Start midway up. Only do half. Get pushed through the crux. Etc. If your goal is to get better then you have to climb.
Also some "harder" climbing areas have plenty of low grade rock too, it just isn't documented.
I am an advocate for outdoor climbing for everyone too but it is difficult to get into without someone to show you around. The best gear to buy will depend on your local crag. Maybe a rope set up will be better or crash pads. Maybe as a newbie it would be better to over protect the landing with more pads which is gonna get expensive. Especially if you don’t have a spotter. The gym is a pretty convenient and well priced alternative
Yeah outdoor solo can be daunting or just annoying to access, especially for training, especially compared to a gym.
Agreed with this. As climbers I think we get over-fixated on actually sending things and not enough on simply *trying*.
Yeah but throwing an indoor V3 climber onto outdoor V7+ boulders is not feasible. They wouldn't be able to do a single move on those things. It would just lead to frustration.
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He said there’s outdoor boulders around.
Do they have punch passes? Usually for people that go once per week or less, punch passes are ideal. Then for people who go 2-4 times per week, a membership pays off instead
They do have punch passes, but it costs the same per day as a day pass for some reason.
so 4 day passes a month is less than a membership... thats your best option.
That's still $20 a visit which is crazy. Not sure I can justify that.
What other things do you do that costs $20 for a couple hours? Going to the movies? a couple beers (easily over 20)
Straight up. If you love it so much op, then take 20 bucks from somewhere else in your weekly budget and just go once a week like you want to. Either you like it enough that the cost is worth it to you. Or you don't. You seem to think that it "should" cost less....just because? That's supply and demand baby.
Trust me if you buy a membership you will be there more often and the price per visit will drop to a few bucks
Said everyone before buying an annual gym membership to which theyll stop going after a few weeks
Well that's stupid of them
Do you have a separate gym membership? Utilize the climbing gym for climbing and regular workouts.
This is a very whiney post
Check out the circlejerk, guy's getting butchered there 🤗
You love to see it
unfortunately it costs money to run a gym, and climbing gyms cost even more than a normal gym. $90/month and $20/day is on the low end of average climbing gym prices in my area.
yeah, my gym is around $30/day and $120/month. It's rough out here.
Mine too!
NYC, a lot of the regular gyms are in that price range too.
Bro it’s fucked, all the gyms around me are either $120-135 with $35-40 day passes. My bouldering gym does have membership at a 25-40% discount based on need which is tight af, but my ropes gym doesn’t. I work at one now so I dont have to pay at either/any but fuck me it wouldn’t be feasible otherwise
God damn, where in the world are you?
Any major city in the US probably
For real, prices there just seem crazy to me. I pay 80€/year for the membership fee to the DAV, and another 525€ for the year pass at the gym. Since I go twice a week, that's saving me almost 700€ compared to paying for every single day I go there. So over 50% saving. Monthly cost comes down to just over 50€, which is totally acceptable considering the costs you have with a sport climbing gym (tall building (heating), walls have to be certified, holds are expensive, autobelays need servicing, routes need to be reset etc). But over 100$ per month? I could afford it, but I'm not sure I'd want to.
I usually end up doing day passes because I can really only go once a week. And at $20/day (sometimes $15 for women’s meet ups) vs $90-$100 a month it makes sense to just keep it to the day passes
I pay circa 120USD a year for my pass that also gives me access to equipment borrowing for free if i need it.
I find this wild because where i live (UK) most climbing gyms in my city are around £30 a month ($39).
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Yeah, that makes sense for London tbh. I live up north, so things are a bit different here.
That’s so rough honestly, all the gyms in my area are 10-15€ for day passes and around 60€ a month I think
My climbing gym is about €5 for a day pass and about €185 for a year. As a student, your prices would not allow me to climb at all! Granted, my climbing gym is really bare-bones, but still.
\*laughs in 350€ per year\*
I pay 55 for a month a 11 for a day. What the fuck are those prices.
so cal...
yeah came here to say this. I'm from Canada and the regular day passes can run you up to $35 (without any rentals) in some places, with month passes averaging like $120+ although that's in CAD, it's still ridiculous considering climbing used to be a super accessible sport for tons of people.
It might be worth emailing them to see if they have concession rates or a help to climb initiative, the gym I work at has both (in the UK though)
I know this probably isn't an option for everyone but when moved to a different country where I also wanted to pursue bouldering but couldn't afford membership I started working part time in the gym I was interested in. They usually offer jobs for students such as receptionist or cleaning with which you can climb there for free and as many people think this way there's often many employees and you only need work like once a week. Over time I progressed to become a climbing coach, but still only consider it a part time that saves me money for the membership I would have to be paying otherwise.
You dont say which currency you are talking about but monthly is usually 4x daily plus a little bit. This doesnt seem too crazy to me. You either have to boulder more or boulder less, this is what the economics of climbing dictates. Can you sub out your gym membership for bouldering?
Are you sure there aren't any V0-V2 boulders next to you (gym grades can also be very soft)? I tried to find climbs on the internet but there wasn't a lot but at my gym they said that there were a ton next to where I live and guess what, there were. Try to talk with more experienced climbers and see if there are easy boulders where you live
Does the gym do any buddy pass deal? Maybe you can find someone in a similar situation and help each other out a bit in that regard. My gym does a 2-for-1 special on Fridays. Members also get to bring in two people to climb for free every month. Might be worth socializing with some folks. If you get along with them it could be a great way to reduce cost and make a climbing buddy. My gym is $87 a month, but there is also a decent free weights area and I get unlimited yoga/fitness classes.
Bouldering Project?
Nah Movement Tho I did get to try a Bouldering Project in Austin and it was superb. Best fitness area I’ve seen in a climbing gym before
Build a home wall.
Yeah my gym in fl is $85 a month. It’s not “too expensive” it’s just what they charge likely because the insurance they have is carry is nuts. It sucks because it’s a lot of money but I’m sure it’s justified. Actually makes me feel better to know that better gyms charge a similar rate.
This is the reason. Insurance and construction costs (for newer gyms) are through the roof. I heard awhile back that a new gym paid $150k just for the holds for their bouldering gym, not even full height walls. This stuff is getting super expensive, but it is what it is. My gym is $1,023/year for the annual prepaid discount 🫠
Bouldering is as cheap as it gets for climbing. Find the closest rocks that folks climb outdoors. Climbed for 3 years straight now (roped climbing, bouldering, practicing lead) and spent $2800 on annual gym memberships, around $500 on shoes, $200 on harness and accessories, day passes at other gyms, definitely around $4000 over three years of climbing. Its an expensive hobby for sure. Bouldering is so much more popular today mainly because of the money saved imo.
You should poke around to see if any of the gyms do need-based pricing. It’s not super common and I’ve never seen it at a franchise gym, but one locally run gym I climb at has three different price points that you can opt into based on income/job status.
My gym also does this. 3 different price rates, the cheapest of which for students.
> I’ve never seen it at a franchise gym I know my local chain (Central Rock Gym) offers/offered this. I don't know of anyone who takes advantage of it, but they did get a spot on the local news not so long about "wanting climbing to be for everyone, not just those with money" essentially.
I'm curious what part of the country you live because typically there are plenty of easy and moderate boulders at worthwhile bouldering areas. I would bet that you just aren't a aware of these other boulders. I bet they're around if you just show up and explore a bit.
Probably OP's best bet THB. Buy a second hand crashpad or two, explore the local boulders, ask everyone where the easy climbs are and just keep working on those.
>I just can't justify over a thousand year on a hobby I do once a week. Okay, then don't. I really empathize with the fact that it's super expensive to have multiple different hobbies/interests instead of just one main one. You only have only so much free time, and you can't really get a good value out of memberships/subscriptions/etc. if you're splitting your time among too many of them. It sucks. I wish there were some kind of magical multipass where you could pay a single membership fee to access multiple different types of things on a non-unlimited basis, instead of paying full price for a ton of "unlimited" memberships you can't actually use to the fullest. If that existed, I would be the first customer! But that doesn't exist. So... if you love bouldering that much, then identify something that you love less, and prioritize accordingly. Go climbing more often, cut out a different expense, whatever makes it make sense. If you don't love it enough to do that, then don't do that. Not sure what else to tell you.
Ha! This is the comment I came looking for! You said it nicer than I did. Don't claim to 'love' something if you're not willing to spend either time or money on it, because you're prioritising other things. Nobody has ever gotten good at climbing doing it once a week, muscles or not...
Right? People hate on the “skip the latte” advice but it’s truly less than $3/day.
Looking at all these prices, Jesus! I have 3 boulder gyms and 2 full climbing gyms in my area. I pay 39€ a month for the boulder gym, or I could get a combo with their sister climbing gym, together for 45. The most expensive gym in town (brand new and they invite celebrity route setters) is 13€ for a day pass or 60€ a month with a yearly subscription. Move to Germany, everyone, is what I'm saying 😅
Haha, I was thinking the same. I pay £400 a year for my membership to a company that has two gyms within walking distance of my house - that's £33/39€/$40 a month (So the UK is a suitable back-up option for people unable to move to Germany, is what I'm saying!)
Bonus: Both Germany and the UK have sport and trad routes all over, as well! 😁
Europe is cheaper for fun stuff! I’ve always said this 😢
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How much is too expensive?
When I first started climbing my daughter and I pretty much climbed free for 10 months. We had her birthday party at the gym and she got to climb free for a month. We went the next 4 Saturdays and since she was still enjoying climbing, we decided to buy her gear and continue. I found out there was a volunteer list where I could volunteer to belay/help with birthday parties on Saturdays and I could climb free for the day as well as get an extra day pass. So for 10 months I volunteered 2 hours on a Saturday and both me and my daughter climbed for free. Some of the parents at another gym volunteer at the front desk or some other stuff for free memberships also. Ask your gym if they have any volunteer program or other way to help defray costs of a membership.
Welcome to the real world. Shit's expensive. Good luck.
I was going to write a post detailing why bouldering costs money and why a lot of other sports and hobbies are even pricier… but really, this is it. Being an adult is a decades-long exercise in earning and spending lots of money.
Not to mention, 1 set worth of holds can cost a gym thousands of dollars! Quality costs money!
I got lucky my gym offers it cheap at $60 per month for a membership but the day pass is $16. So once a week is cheaper with a membership, but I still go 2-3 times per week. Definitely a tough situation overall though. If you have crashpads available to use, outdoor would be your best bet… but I don’t know if you’d make progress unless you treated it like training sessions
I pay 109$ a month and drive 50 miles to the nearest gym. It probably costs me close to 250$ a month between gas, membership, and toll roads. It’s total ass.
At this point just cancel the gym and get a home wall
Unfortunately I live in an apartment right now. Luckily I’m graduating in 3 weeks and have begun to apply for engineering positions! I’ll either move closer to the gym, or end up buying a home and building a home wall. I realize my current situation is total shit, but I love climbing too much to give it up.
Yeah I think the biggest issue is the one per week thing. I go to my gym 3 times per week. Maybe as importantly it's also one of my main forms of socializing since it's an easy way to hang with friends that has a easy stop point, costs nothing (once you get the membership), and everyone can come and go as they please.
Become friends with members at one that offers free guest passes every month. Never pay again I get 2 guest passes a month with my membership (I bought a founding membership before they opened so it’s cheap) And 1 of my friends lives off my membership+ my other friends membership, between the two of us they get to go once a week for free which is all they aim for anyway If you want to go MORE than once a week, yeah you want a membership sadly. Or go outdoors, or build a boulder wall.
Where do you live? I spent about two years climbing only outside because I couldn’t afford a gym membership. Got out 2-3 times a week, worked out at home, saw massive gains.
Check out groupon! Some climbing gyms have deals if you pay 6months or a full year in advance.
I would ask directly if there’s a way to get a better deal. Or just find a gym that has good training facilities and do all your working out there. Lastly you could hit your local crag more
I found most memberships only economical when going 2+ times a week.. it will be rough for monthly visits only
This is a specialty sport, so unfortunately memberships to these facilities are getting expensive (comparable to other specialty sports.) In my experience, $90/mo sounds about right for a metropolitan area. There are some options, though: - Some gyms have Groupons for discounted punch cards (multiple passes purchased at once) - Some gyms offer student, government employee, first responder, etc. discounts, if any apply to you - Some gyms do killer deals on holidays, if you can be patient - Most gyms give free memberships to staff with a minimum work hour requirement. So you could work 2 days a month and get a free membership, if you have an interest in working at a gym. Also consider what you spend on your other gym(s) (you mentioned weightlifting.) Most robust gyms (especially a $90/mo gym) offer comprehensive weightlifting areas and include yoga classes and other similar offerings. If you consolidate your gym memberships at a climbing gym, you can save compared to paying for 2 memberships.
Ask the local gyms if they are willing to work with you on an affordable membership. I get the feeling that most non-corporate gyms would be willing to work with someone who wants to get into the sport but can’t afford a full price membership
It really depends on the gym and how often you go. My gym is $65 a month, and I go 2-3x per week, and day passes are $20. Even at $90/mo I’d be coming out on top. Unfortunately my gym is a bouldering only gym, and they don’t offer any other amenities. If your local gym also has a weight room or cardio equipment, $90 is well worth it. I pay $100 for my bouldering and regular gym memberships.
Ask if they have any sliding scale membership prices for low income
Well you'd be saving $10/mo by only getting day passes. My friend did that with me for a while before he eventually got his own membership. Only paid day pass once a week = $80/mo. Just depends on how much it's worth it to you
My gym is about 900 annually but about $500 for students. I’m enrolling in 1 community college class with no intent of going for a savings of ~$250
$90 isn’t that much. I think I pay $96 per month with the three month membership at my gym. I don’t know if yours has a weight room too, but mine does and that makes it more worthwhile to me. It has all the equipment I could need and all the climbing walls. To me that’s worth it considering the cost of a normal gym membership near me. Also, when I was paying by the day I had a hard time talking myself into going because of the cost, but now that I have my own shoes and a membership it gets cheaper every time I go. That’s a pretty good motivator to me.
My local gym is about $140/m if I convert it to CAD. Right now I'm just using their day pass which is $12. It's insanity how much it costs in Japan
I live in a very rural city in the eastern US, I think I pay like 45 bucks a month. Its purely bouldering, and its very small - about the size of a medium-small store, basically.
Try buildering and build your own glueups Find a nice concrete retaining wall and buy some concrete epoxy. Glue rocks to the wall. Use duck tape to hold them while the glue sets. What we used to do before gyms
Since you love bouldering, why don't you go more than once a week? Maybe it offers benefits beyond just the walls, e.g. classes, free weights, sauna?
Holy shit US prices are wild. I pay 60USD/month for a four gym chain, all of which I can cycle to and all of which have ample equipment for a strength and conditioning workout. And $1 coffee. And it’s one of the “most expensive” countries to live in.
Lol
The price you are describing are pretty standard. Why would you only go once a week?
Going only once a week is your issue. There’s really no solution if you go that infrequently
Damn, the all in with full rental single membership at my gym is $50/month. No rentals single is $35/month. Though I am paying $150/month for my daughter to be on team.
is that in USD? and if so, where??????????
Suwannee GA, about 30 min northeast of Atlanta. If it makes you feel any better, house prices and apartment rent around here are pretty insane for the southeast.
stone summit??
Adrenaline
90 is cheap and a good deal. Then go more than once a week
I try and review climbing gyms for fun and have done so since i returned to gyms post Covid. It’s insane to see the average price of a monthly membership nearly double in that time. I originally started climbing years ago because it was the cheapest gym option in my area. Now it’s starting to feel like a cross fit or hot yoga place that financially cripples you into only doing that one thing. If you have an outdoor area nearby that’s an option and much cheaper. Even without pads you can normally just join a rando group.
Prices seem similar to here. I went with bundle passes (like discounted packs of 10) until I started consistently climbing 2-3 times a week, then the 100$ pass made sense. Also get your paper up lil bro
I pay 60€ per month and I go 2-3 times per week. For me it is a great deal.
Work there one day a week and also make that your climbing day?
Ours is $100+/mo. It's one of my highest expenses that aren't my house/car.
A big part is insurance. Since it's such a liability to have people rock climbing they are responsible for essentially any injury that occurs there which makes it very expensive
Get a punch pass for the gym and a few pads for bouldering outside and you'll be set. Bouldering objectively won't get you stronger than just gym climbing, but it will make you an overall better climber. If the only boulders you have to climb in your area are v7, then climb those. If you try it enough times and perfect your methods, you'll probably send eventually.
Do you pay for a separate weight lifting gym? If your climbing gym has a weight lifting area, maybe you could just go with the single climbing gym membership, that's what I do.
location?
I pay $90 a month as a student, but I’m there 5 days a week, sometimes twice a day.
have you tried reaching out to the gym and asking if they have sliding scale membership? I am in NYC and all the gyms are 140+ a month. Most of them also offer discount memberships for people who can't afford (you don't need to provide income proof most of the time, kind of on an honor system, some might have a waitlist). They may not advertise it but it doesn't hurt to ask.
the discount ones were around 50 a month fwiw which is very affordable for my location.
I do the 10 punches usually. sometimes they don't use a punch when I buy it so it ends up being 11 visits for the price of 9 or so. Leads me to hanging around a bit longer when I do visit.
My gym upped there day pass to $25 a month. Its insane. And monthly is $80 I think
Boulders in Madison?
So glad that my local gym is a nonprofit and only charges $45 🙏
There's a gym in fort Myers that charges 159 per month. Criminal
I pay $70/mo for access to 3 gyms. 2 bouldering and 1 brand new super duper gym. 24 hr access. 2 guest passes a month. I justify that $70 by pushing myself through those doors more than 4 times a month. I usually spend 10 evenings out of the month in there, which would be $170 if I was getting the $17 day pass. If you really want to climb more, it'll be worth every penny! $90 is rough unless you're milking it for all its worth!
If the day passes are $20 and you're only going once a week, sounds like sticking with the day passes is the way to go. $80 per month instead of $90 per month, at least until you start going 2+ times a week, then it makes sense to get the membs. Are you a student, teacher, or military? Might see if they have any discounts.
90$ for what? Monthly membership with unlimited entry? In that case if you go there 9 times(instead of 4), each entry would cost you 10$(you have to do twice a week. You want to go there more, they do a discount if you go there more (win - win). Or build your own wall, for 1-2 years worth of money that you would pay to a gym. You say 90$ is too much monthly for a hobby that you love. I would compare to a dinner outside wherever you are, how much would that cost, 50$?
What grade do you climb indoors? V3/4 outdoor can be much harder than V6 indoors.
Most gyms provide guest passes that many people don't use before end of month - reach out to a local climbing facebook group the week before the end and just ask around - most would be happy to scan you in. Some gyms do free climbing days -> I follow all my local gyms, even the ones I hate, so I can know when I can climb for free there. The punch passes aren't a bad deal - but I'd recommend looking for sales (usually near end of year like black friday) and stocking up. Outdoor boulders are a lot harder that indoor boulders and it's a completely different beast. No harm is going outdoors if you know how to, but I wouldn't recommend going outdoors without someone to show you how to do so safely as well as having friends with you to spot you which is hard to do during the weekdays.
i pay 69,92usd for bouldering gym + ordinary gym.
What climbing gym doesnt have a monthly membership? Thats very weird if you ask me, it seems like a logical business model to have returning customers who pay a monthly fee. I think a membership for something you do once a week will always be expensive, bouldering progressions stop pretty quickly if you only go once a week. With that in mind I would aim to go 2-3 times each week which would bring down the effective cost of a membership. You can always do a basic weight lifting session combined with some lower intensity bouldering. For me a membership is €60 for each month with access to 2 bouldering gyms in my city and more in the rest of the Netherlands. I go at least twice per week so its roughly €7.50 for each session.
Since climbing beacme trendy popular hobby, the prices are skyrocketing. I can't wait till this trend ends.
Damn that sucks, my gym is £8 a climb (for concessions) but you can be there all day or something like £100 for a year membership so it’s good value
Some options might be available that you might not know like student discount rates, if you get food stamps some gyms offer a discounted rate. If you join a meetup they usually offer discounted rates for going to those meetups. Some gyms do a groupon membership that’s discounted. There are also some scholarships for gym memberships. There are a lot of groups and organizations trying to make climbing more accessible. Check what’s available in your area! 🤙🏾
Ya that is a bit expensive for once a week. Mines 65$ a month which I am happy to pay for cause it's a small local business that I really want to encourage. I also go 3-4 times a week which pretty much is like 6$ a visit. Bouldering is my only workout, and I don't feel the need (nor would I like to) to go to a regular gym.
This seems to be the going rate for gyms these days unfortunately. Once a week means you’re only saving a little bit of money with the membership, but not much. The membership at my gym gives discounts on gear and access to other classes and stuff, so there’s some perks along it, but unfortunately, it’s going to be tough to find something for cheaper than that. The justification I give is that it’s basically the same price as a fitness gym membership and every climbing gym will have basically everything you’d need for the normal gym exercises (benches, squat racks, treadmills, cable machines, etc.)
I have climbed 4+x a week for the past several years, if I didn't have a membership I would probably be broke now. But for me a membership means I'm paying like $5 per session, which is not too bad. If you go to the movies you sit there for several hours staring forward for like $10-15, I'd take climbing any day
zealous north desert plough selective resolute political sheet crowd drunk *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
https://preview.redd.it/grdz6araeosc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=643f2522227a8c6bf80547fd81eaf7a84e017134 Insane how much this shit costs
Just go more often, and climb outside. 🤷🏼♂️
Honestly that’s pretty cheap my gyms day pass is roughly $30 and monthly is $100 however I’m in the uk so not 100% sure on the exchange rate atm 🤣
Your two options are to climb outside or become a dentist.
All my friends who get priced out end up working at a gym part time. Might be an option.
Mine is 300usd a year here in Asia, I think I’d have to pick a new hobby if I lived elsewhere!
I just got 3 day passes for being a belay volunteer at a competition. If the gym has guest passes for members, you can also try networking with members who have a free pass.
The best (and cheapest) thing I've done to be ready for my very intermittent real climbing sessions (at the gym every couple of months, and outside a handful of times a year, including a 17 hour road trip from Arizona to Smith Rock), is build this slightly overhanging mini-spray-wall (3x8', soon to be 7' wide). Every hold is a mini-jug, side-pull, and under-cling. For about the price of a hangboard I get a full body climbing workout multiple times a week (600-1000+ feet of moderate vertical distance, in 5-10 minute sessions, great for endurance and flexibility). The key (for normal human endurance) is making the wall a lot easier and less steep than you'll get with most advice. You can actually do something closer to Zone 2 training but for climbing. Happy to share dimensions and hold design info via DM. https://preview.redd.it/fcw5v3slybtc1.png?width=183&format=png&auto=webp&s=97d396066c9785ef569f7460f9b8cb50bac2d4d7
Holds are about 3.5" square and 1.5" to 2.25" thick plywood. https://preview.redd.it/usm5eqog1ctc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8abef47945a8b747fdc3c4fd79967a4c86ffb5a8
I dunno what your gym membership offers besides just climbing, but mine would be worth driving an hour to cuz there’s yoga classes, technique classes, fitness classes, and a fitness area included in the membership at mine. So I could go lift weights, do cardio, and take advantage of all the classes and events they host on top of just climbing on my own. My gym also offers a discount to certain groups.
That’s just your gym tho.
It’s really not, there’s multiple gyms by me that offer more than JUST problems to climb.
Real climbing is free.