Vertical World Seattle

Seattle, 2330 W Commodore Way, Seattle, WA 98199 | β˜… 4.6 (608 Review)

πŸ“ž +1 206-283-4497

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Rock climbing gym Gym

About the Club

Americas First Climbing Gym

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 Vertical World Seattle
 Vertical World Seattle
 Vertical World Seattle
 Vertical World Seattle
 Vertical World Seattle
 Vertical World Seattle

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Reviews

Brock Boullianne

β˜… 5

EDIT: Given the response and remediation I have updated to a 5 star review!

I went to lead climb with my friend and I had to do a recertification because it had been a while since I was in this gym. I had been previously lead belay certified at this gym. I passed the belay part of the test and then failed the climbing part because the test route was DUMB challenging. Granted, I am a pretty bad climber (I like to climb 5.10a) but enjoy lead climbing easier routes. I fell on the test wall after making it not even half way up. The team member told me that the route was just set that day and was probably too hard but I was not allowed to retry and would have to come back another day. I am not a member so I used a day pass ($20?) to not lead climb despite being totally safe. After failing to top the lead climb I climbed both 10a and 10c top rope routes in the gym. I’ve never seen a gym try to set a challenging lead climb. I may be over reacting but this seems dumb if you just want to test that people are safe.

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Badtz Maru

β˜… 5

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Scottie Lambert

β˜… 5

excellent gym! rare Seattle gym to offer plenty of top rope and lead. very fun setting of routes and best pricing around

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Audrey Smith

β˜… 5

Damn fine climbing gym, the oldest in the nation. Fun atmosphere, and well set routes.

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Matthew Scott

β˜… 5

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Elder Baratute

β˜… 5

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Reza Ghaeini

β˜… 5

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Robert Boscacci

β˜… 5

Excellent facility, friendly community, reasonable prices for a membership that includes yoga, fitness and climbing. I just moved to Seattle and am thrilled that this is within short driving distance.

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Paige C

β˜… 5

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Somebody Else

β˜… 4

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Matt Jensen

β˜… 1

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Jeff

β˜… 5

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Chris Paquin

β˜… 5

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eliora l

β˜… 5

best gym in Seattle. Vw north is awesome too.

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im tierd

β˜… 5

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Rafik Shoorbajee

β˜… 5

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Emma Gass

β˜… 2

Tonight I went in to vertical world to get my lead certification and had a pretty frustrating experience. I recently took a lead class at a different gym, so this was my first official test but we went over the expectations for a lead test in the course I took previously. The person administering my test seemingly had not done so on her own before, at least that's what I heard her say at the front desk, so she had another staff member supervising the test. Her instructions to me were: make sure you're clipping correctly, any missed draws or incorrect clips will result in failure, then once you clip the draw in the fall zone, touch the final hold in the route and then take a fall. I did exactly as she said, clipped my final draw, touched the last hold, then fell. Then, they abruptly said that I needed to be lowered for failure of the exam which was awfully confusing as I had done everything that they told me to do and I didn't clip incorrectly at any point in the route.

Once I got back to the mat, this girl and her coworker told me that I failed because I didn't touch the last hold. I said I very much did, my belay partner agreed. Then they say "well you didn't touch it with two hands," so I say "you didn't say to touch it with two hands," so they responded "yeah, you need to finish the route, hold the last hold with both hands, and then fall." This to me is plainly different than the instructions they gave me before I started which were, "touch the last hold," and regardless, a poor reason to fail someone considering the difference was maybe an inch of distance in the fall. After I pushed back on this change in instruction, the girl admitted that she did in fact not tell me to complete the route with both hands, and they had me climb the entire thing again immediately before passing me which was exhausting and frustrating.

Meanwhile, my boyfriend who was belaying me said that the two employees were busy talking during my test about their inner workplace crushes which in itself is highly unprofessional when they are expected to be administering a safety test, but altogether even more irritating considering they had me do it twice, only reluctantly, because they weren't paying attention and then felt it was justified to argue with me over their own inability to provide clear instructions.

On top of all that, my belayer was standing about 3 feet away from the wall while I was climbing, as you should when lead belaying, and one of the employees told him he didn't need to stand that close to the wall when belaying me, which is simply bad practice.

The whole thing was frustrating and having read reviews of other people having bad lead test experiences here, it just seems like VW doesn't care about the actual safety aspect of their belay checks which is the whole point of it all. A combination of unprofessionalism, carelessness, and bad belay advice has left a bad taste in my mouth for this gym and the legitimacy of the staff.

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Morice Martinez

β˜… 5

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Augusto Gonzalez

β˜… 5

I like that I can climb, lift weights and do yoga all in one place. πŸ’ͺ Very friendly staff!

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david pasun

β˜… 3

From out of town on a work trip.... Ratings were a bit soft on both boulders and ropes by about 2 or 3 grades. A .10b felt like a .8 to soft .9

I get that it differentiates difficulty, but one would hope it would be close to standard grades or even somewhat close to other gyms. To be fair, I have no idea if the other gyms in the Seattle area are soft too... these are just much softer than what I'm used to in the Vancouver area.
Anyways, routes were pretty fun regardless.

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Supriya Wickrematillake

β˜… 5

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Chris Dullo

β˜… 5

Great place to climb if you're solo! First time using their auto belay system!

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Nate T-A

β˜… 4

The best rope gym in Seattle with a large lead cave and plenty of top roping. They also have a kilter board, several moon boards, and a weights area. In general the grades are consistent and notably softer than edgeworks.

Can be very busy 6-8 weekdays and weekends are usually fine.

My only complaint is if you climb multiple times a week the setting feels very slow especially if you mostly lead.

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Shubhank Varshney

β˜… 5

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Lucca Giannechini

β˜… 5

Super wholesome, excellent climbs, very helpful employees

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Ribbit Froog

β˜… 5

Add more bouldering routes when :(

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Jeremy Park

β˜… 4

Looking for top ropes and lead climb this is your jam. Awesome gym though the layout makes it feel crowded (which it often is anyways). The staff are super nice but better make sure you stay vigilant. There's a lot of people that are either A) careless B) oblivious that you'll have to deal with. Edit: I feel like they've come a long way over the years to address many of these concerns so bummed this up a star

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Tiahnan Trent

β˜… 5

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Назар Π—Ρ–Π½Ρ‡Π΅Π½ΠΊΠΎ

β˜… 5

Great place. Nice staff. I am planning to celebrate my birthday there as it is a great place to spend time with friends

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Sarah Selim

β˜… 5

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Jacob B

β˜… 5

Went to their Halloween event! It was super fun and they had this sick crate stacking event. Best top roping I’ve done in seattle and they had inflated grades so was very satisfying

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Tomasz Sakrejda

β˜… 5

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Lhotsa Lhotsa

β˜… 5

A great place to climb, and to work.

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Simone Marticke

β˜… 5

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rubin lerer

β˜… 5

Lots of fun for kids and all ages

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Mohamed Abou elkhier

β˜… 5

I had an amazing experience at Vertical World Seattle! The staff is incredibly patient, knowledgeable, and passionate about climbing. They really look out for everyone, making sure we feel safe and supported throughout the workout. Whether you're a beginner or experienced, their friendly approach and willingness to help stand out. The atmosphere is welcoming, and you can tell the whole team genuinely cares about your progress and safety. I highly recommend this gym for anyone interested in climbing!

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Elliot P

β˜… 5

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Kate Retherford

β˜… 4

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Connor Briarly

β˜… 3

It seems like a cool gym, but you have to pass a belay test to even use the auto belay. The boulders are also set a bit hard with most being for more experienced climbers. Not much of as mix for more beginner routes overall.

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Nicholas W.

β˜… 5

Friendly staff. Welcoming atmosphere. Frequently updated routes. Awesome yoga classes.

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Tak Yoshimura

β˜… 4

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David Lee

β˜… 5

Place is big. Close parking lot. Has foosball table. Staff and patrons courteous. Has free wifi. Multi viewing area. Has program and team for kids.

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Harry Ni

β˜… 5

Fantastic

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Joshua Walther

β˜… 5

Bouldering section is fun, but the top rope and sport climbing areas are where this place shines. Staff were chill and helped answer all my questions. They do require you certify on top rope belay and sport climbing to do them, respectively.

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stephanie song

β˜… 3

Our son loves this place and we had a great series of private lessons with one instructor when unfortunately we had to switch times due to conflicts with school schedule. The scheduling has been utterly painful.

We reached out multiple times over email only to get conflicting information and silence on email inquiries. We were told to work directly with a coach on times then told it has to be central, which is fine, but we need people to respond so we know who can be the coach and that the booked schedule is correct.

Given my son loves this I hope he can continue but that won't be possible if we can't book lessons because of the lack of responses.

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Kelly

β˜… 5

Excellent place to climb, boulder, top rope, auto belay and lead!! Very friendly staff, clean facilities with clear rules and guidelines for climbers!!

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Cameron Gaebler

β˜… 5

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Jack Rainlyn

β˜… 5

Great climbing gym! Friendly staff, lots of new routes and high quality equipment. Also I got used climbing shoes here for only 10 dollars! Steal!

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J

β˜… 5

Seattle classic. I wish they had a more central location or one better connected to transit

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Miles mcintosh

β˜… 4

Grading is a bit soft. Ropes are well maintained. Vibes are great. People are friendly. I always feel very welcome. Everything I expect from a climbing gym.

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Nicole Pumarada

β˜… 5

Very fun routes :)
Clean for a climbing gym.
Looks nice too.

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April Adventuring

β˜… 5

Bouldering area is pretty small, but good for warming up and there are all levels of routes. Might struggle as a beginner to find a lot to climb. There’s a children’s area in the middle floor that tends to be empty and is great for beginners and traverse practice.

The top rope and lead climbing areas are where this gym shines. Lots of space, tall routes, and a handful of auto belays.

Pretty sizable gym area with lots of equipment for just about anything you’d want to do.

Seems they’re constantly improving the equipment and just installed a moonboard and have a kilter board on the way (or already there?).

The staff is super friendly, welcoming, and helpful.

My only complaint is that it can get a little crowded and especially the bouldering area can quickly become overrun by the teams that come here to train. While I enjoy watching them practice and learning techniques from their drills, it can be chaotic especially when there are lots of children running around.

Follow my adventures!
YT & IG: @apriladventuring ✌️

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Shane Robinson

β˜… 5

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Scott Miller

β˜… 5

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Conor Grasso

β˜… 3

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Jo Gurman

β˜… 5

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Jessica Niemi

β˜… 5

Awesome gym. Nice to have bouldering and top rope climbs. The routes change frequently enough that I can always do new things!

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Benjamin Aguilar

β˜… 5

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Alexandra

β˜… 5

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Dom Etter

β˜… 5

The staff, the routes, the yoga teachers are all excellent! The routes in the gym are very diverse for all skill levels and use a variety of techniques to complete them. They also have a complete weight training gym. If you’re on the fence on signing up at Vertical World and think you’d enjoy climbing, I’d say go for it!

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Everly Ross

β˜… 3

I was not allowed to use the auto belayers which I was really looking forward to. There was not many options without a lot of climbing experience

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Megan Brown nydegger

β˜… 5

Great kids classes!

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Anna Strygina-Kay

β˜… 5

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Jake Miller

β˜… 5

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C Sun

β˜… 5

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Seamus Curfman

β˜… 5

Fun place! I love the bouldering section, and the staff was really nice

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Caleb Rouleau

β˜… 5

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Ben Johnson

β˜… 5

Always great

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John Mares

β˜… 4

Expensive membership, but at least you can workout in an uncrowded space

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Emily Glanz

β˜… 5

Really tall walls, really fun climbs.

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Vikram Bisht

β˜… 5

Great staff, clean space and they change the routes often so keep it interesting.

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Matt

β˜… 5

Fantastic place for kids' birthday parties. They had a nice party room upstairs, also a separate bouldering area upstairs with padded floors that we had all to ourselves (the birthday party group) for about half an hour. Then the staff took our group to some easier walls on the main floor that were reserved for our group. The staff were friendly and did a great job helping the kids learn to climb. Every kid had a great time. The parents were pretty happy too because with the separate climbing areas for our group, we didn't have to hover over our kids to prevent them from disrupting everyone else who was climbing.

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Matthew

β˜… 5

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Michelle Blankas

β˜… 5

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Amy Spens

β˜… 4

Great combination of a bouldering spot, top-rope climbing walls, and gym with weights/machines/cardio. The check-in people are always nice and ready to answer questions. The gym equipment on the upper floor is kept in nice shape and doesn't ever seem as busy as I would expect. The bouldering routes are changed frequently enough to keep things exciting.

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Lita Fetter

β˜… 5

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toozinger

β˜… 5

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Jeff Young

β˜… 5

Staff friendly, great walls and gym upstairs.

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M S

β˜… 5

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Christiano Skookum

β˜… 5

If you're looking for indoor climbing in Seattle, this is probably the best locale. It has a wide variety of climbs, difficulty ratings, heights, auto-belay choices, and bouldering. Honestly, I've spent hours here and never come close to climbing all the options. There's a kid-climb area, a gym upstairs, a hang-out area... The staff are friendly and helpful, and the equipment rental (if you need it) isn't overpriced. Standard climbing gym things apply here, of course. But this is a really impressive, expansive gym. Well-run, well-maintained, clean... all they need is a coffee and taco truck outside.

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Derek Herman

β˜… 5

Is your kid climbing all the time, furniture, fences, trees, playgrounds? This is where you send them! My son started classes here at age 4 with limited ability to climb. 3 years later he was able to join the Team and is now competing.
I highly recommend them for their classes for youth and adults. Also a good option for birthday parties, my son celebrated his 7th here and his friends had a great time.
The bouldering area is small and crowded on MWF since it is used by the team, if you want to boulder don't come in the evening on those days.
Ropes section is much better and have new autobelay devices available. Boards upstairs and lots of fitness equipment. The workout room is much larger than edgeworks.
If you want more bouldering and don't mind less equipment I recommend edgeworks. For ropes and more equipment come here.
A huge expansion is in the works and we cannot wait until it opens.

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Ross Taylor

β˜… 5

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Zian β€œAngel” Chen

β˜… 5

Day pass: $23/person.
Went there a friend using the guest pass (two free guests per month) πŸ₯°πŸ₯°

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Rahul Mukerjee

β˜… 5

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Alissa

β˜… 4

Expect it to be very crowded on Tues night at 6pm! (Crowd is not reflected in pictures) I did enjoy the beginner (5.8, 5.9) routes but wish they were more spread out instead of concentrated in the front area which is the most cramped. Lead climbing area is larger and less claustrophobic.

I've only gone once, and unfortunately only one heater was on when it was 50F out and raining, and one of the walls is actually open to the outdoors so it was freezing inside. Hopefully it was just a weird one off day. Next time I'll wear a warm fleece during the fall / winter as a precaution.

Air is definitely cleaner than places like SBP so that's a nice plus. Parking is relatively easy but you probably have to do it outside of the small lot and walk a minute or two.

While not the focus of this gym, the bouldering routes were surprisingly fun, but also more difficult compared to SBP. I also find them scarier since the 'mats' are nowhere near as thick or soft enough like SBP's, even when falling from the middle of the wall. So *definitely* count on downclimbing most of the way to prevent injury (which is what the bouldering signs and waivers say anyway).

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Patrick Patrick

β˜… 5

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Ricardo Vivas

β˜… 5

Amazing climbing gym! Has everything you need from a facility, cleaner than most climbing gyms in Seattle.

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Iyla Duncan

β˜… 5

This gym is awesome!!!!!!

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Tim Reyes

β˜… 2

AFTER ATTEMPTING TO TAKE A LEAD CLIMB TEST and getting conflicting information on gri-gri usage from the two employees performing the test on different days, and then talking to a third, I found that:

1. There is no enforced standard shared by ALL employees of the gym on gri-gri technique. It's more of a vibe check from the employee administering the test, and they will pass or fail you based on their personal biases.

2. Some employees will not even let you take the lead test on a gri-gri if you use the primary method laid out in petzl's gri-gri instructional videos. (The flossing technique) where the rope is most likely to engage the arrest cam of the gri-gri.)

3. The technique they instruct and sell classes on (the fast slack feeding technique, approved by petzl for feeding clipping slack quickly), and I believe they generally enforce is:

A. Likely to have belayers suppressing the locking mechanism AT ALL TIMES to feed slack, or at least hard to verify from a distance that they aren't.

B. Constantly keeps the rope in the position where it is LEAST LIKELY to engage the locking system (videos can be found online of ropes running through the gri-gri without engaging it in this position even through a belayers brake hand) this puts the responsibility on the belayers reflexes to engage the Gri-Gri in case of a sudden fall, negating a main safety feature.

As a guy taking a lead fall, especially if I have a lighter belayer, with a few extra feet of slack coming through as I'm falling before the device engages makes me nervous.

I will abide by their rules and standards while climbing at their gym but in my opinion, unless they can show me otherwise how their method drastically decreases short roping (not paying enough clipping slack falls into their short-roping definition, though) this gym promotes unsafe gri-gri usage and that makes me uncomfortable because it seems to be the main device used here.

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Bryan Murphy

β˜… 4

This place is great and really adventurous!

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Nick Anderson

β˜… 5

Staff is so kind, great setters, fun events!

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Mai-lan Huynh

β˜… 5

The staff are extremely friendly along with their rock climbing community. I’ve been to a lot of climbing gyms in the US and I loved it here.

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Joshua Lynch

β˜… 5

The SSP community is really amazing! Every trainer I have worked with has been incredibly knowledgeable and fun to work with and I know I have made so much progress with my strength over the past year. I'm reminded of just how much progress … More

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Natalie Renfro

β˜… 4

Not my favorite gym in the area but the staff is super friendly. I just wish it was more spacious, it gets so crowded here.

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Izaac Tajan

β˜… 5

Friendly staff and intimate gym

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Ronen Abravanel

β˜… 5

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Younes Nouri

β˜… 5

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taylor

β˜… 5

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Mike Lutomski

β˜… 5

It’s vertical world. Not a regular gym or health spa or even a state of the art climbing gym. So keep expectations in line and you’ll love it.

Lots of serious and beginner climbers. Everyone is welcome.

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justin kim

β˜… 5

the OG. can be crowded and feel small but everything is solid

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Ather Haleem

β˜… 5

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C B

β˜… 5

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Ben Wendell

β˜… 5

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Jay Bruno

β˜… 2

Dated climbing surfaces, safety issues (top ropes not double wrapped), extremely crowded at peak hours, many overlapping lead routes, limited locker and gear storage, and weak fitness area. This gym just seems very dated and out of touch.

The route setting is good though and is creative for the space.

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Osnat Zemer

β˜… 5

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Priti Wright

β˜… 5

Oldest climbing gym in the country! Old school vibes but great setting and lead roof. Best team coach leads the team to greatness consistently.

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Tetiana Petruk

β˜… 5

My second home by now. Really love this place, found many friends and climbing partners here. Thanks for taking the tests seriously - it ensures everyone’s safety

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Eric Lunde

β˜… 5

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Maria Pelino

β˜… 5

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Cliff H

β˜… 5

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Emily Hess

β˜… 5

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Parya Nickbeen

β˜… 5

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Brian Edwards McRobbie

β˜… 5

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Henry Otjen

β˜… 5

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Alex Leslie

β˜… 5

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Aven Lister

β˜… 5

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Ankush Kaul

β˜… 5

Love the vibes and the staff!

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Jason Li

β˜… 5

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Patrick Hollister

β˜… 5

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Vikram Swamy

β˜… 5

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Omri Margalit

β˜… 4

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Tamara Casper

β˜… 4

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Blaise Pabon

β˜… 5

This is not a climbing gym.
It's a maker space for physical performance with a focus on climbing.

Every aspect is carefully considered. Cardio, strength, endurance, flexibility, recovery, accessibility.
I saw parents and toddlers, amputees and senior citizens, tech bros and tradesmen.

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Michael Wegmann

β˜… 5

Different vibe that. VW North, and a lot more people too...but very interesting routes, tall walls, and all the amenities expected. Definitely worth your visit if climbing is your thing, or to learn about the sport/philosophy

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Evan Barbre

β˜… 5

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Max Bellmore

β˜… 5

Excellent climbing facility

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Elliott β€œEl” Ball

β˜… 5

I love climbing here! πŸ§—πŸΌ The tall walls are fun, and the setting is amazing, with chill warm-ups and difficult projects, great for beginners, but pros will never get bored!

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Matthew Shawhan

β˜… 2

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Lig Ma

β˜… 1

They don’t let you lift weights without shoes on..

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Shea Wells

β˜… 5

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Matthew Brown

β˜… 5

Amazing gym to train and spend time climbing with friends.

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Anthony Marucci

β˜… 5

As a staunch supporter of horizonal land, I must admit I was skeptical. I wasn't prepared for the sheer verticality of this world. All 12 of my sons nearly disowned me for turning my back on our previously flat lives, but I am now a true believer and political pundit in favor of the vertical spires that this world has to offer.

Update for 2023: as I have grown more and more accustomed to vertical world I have had to shed my mortal husk and leave behind my family in order to continue my pilgrimage here every day. They don't respect my lifestyle anymore and I don't think it's worth talking to your kids if they're gonna be like that.

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Karl Krauskopf

β˜… 1

Bad experience with being told two different things. Spent 25 minutes driving here after being told I would be taught onsite, same day, how to belay and receive certification so I could top rope climb same day with a 4-year old.

Spent another 15 minutes going through waivers, videos, and getting prepped for training.

Front desk then tells me that they will not train me same day and discounted how I felt by telling me I was simply confused.

The facilities look great, but 1 star for poor customer service and unknowledgeable staff.

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Ryan Cairnes

β˜… 5

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Qiong Wu

β˜… 5

Routes are great! The wall is so cool. Parking is a bit painful

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David Dvir A

β˜… 5

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Keira Jack

β˜… 5

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Bret Fair

β˜… 4

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Quang Hoang

β˜… 5

πŸ’ͺ

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Prashant Shishodia

β˜… 5

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Rachel Rosenbaum

β˜… 5

Love the routes here!

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Miranda S

β˜… 5

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Jeremy Bilas

β˜… 5

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alfredo elizondo

β˜… 5

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Danny Sheridan

β˜… 5

Took an intro to climbing class that was educational and got me started top rope climbing!

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Justice Pettigrew

β˜… 5

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Fr Jos

β˜… 5

Sicc gym

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Alexander Whitney

β˜… 3

Nice climbing gym, though it gets a bit busy sometimes. Docking it a bit due to a couple of issues:

1. My partner took an indoor class and while the class was good they taught them how to use an ATC but not how to catch a fall with one. The gym exclusively uses grigris but still; if you are going to teach ATC you absolutely must teach how to catch a fall.

2. My partner purchased a harness after the class but changed their mind on the fit afterwards. We were told when we bought it as long as it wasn't "used" we could return it. Next day we were told the gym policy is that once it leaves the building it can't be returned. Makes perfect sense and that's what is posted on the walls but not what we were told, so I feel like a bit of training is in order for employees.

Will be back (it's convenient to our home) but definitely felt a bit soured on the experience afterwards.

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Johnny

β˜… 5

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Darren Vasquez

β˜… 5

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Maria Chaderina

β˜… 4

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L Tanner

β˜… 3

Very limited bouldering. Great pirate ship for kids though.

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Simona Kostakieva

β˜… 4

Was looking for a new home gym. Stopped in here and asked if I could walk around to get eyes on it. They told me I had to sign a waiver just to look (and I wasn't planning to go on the mats or anything, just literally wanted to walk to the other side of the main concrete path to see the other side). Signed the waiver which involved watching an orientation video. Then decided to leave because it was so crowded you couldn't even get inside the climbing area either in the top rope section or bouldering. Granted it was peak climbing hours (7pm on a Tuesday) but still, felt claustrophobic and uninviting. Staff was also okay but not friendly like I'm used to in climbing gyms.

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Bryan Ma

β˜… 5

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Blake Whitmore

β˜… 4

Great place to climb! Really over crowded in the evenings and on the weekends though. I feel less claustrophobic at their other locations.

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Samson Kim

β˜… 5

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Jamie B

β˜… 5

Great facility and awesome instruction.

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Samuel Castro

β˜… 5

Great top rope and lead with a relatively small bouldering area. Incredibly busy in the evenings.

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Hamid Ghassri

β˜… 4

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Dmytro Tyshchenko

β˜… 5

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Fes N.

β˜… 5

Great gym for top rope and lead climbing indoors.

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Thomas

β˜… 3

Overall I found the staff to be polite and welcoming. There is a good amount of diversity with routes. A fun atmosphere for sure. I’ve been here on multiple occasions with no issue and have had a great time with my friends. My reason for 3/5 stars is with the staff member PJ. I found him condescending and felt belittled during my lead-climb and belay check off. I know I am a competent and safe climber. Have been climbing for years inside and out. During my check off he told me I β€œz-clipped” the anchor and failed me without question. I was left dumbfounded and embarrassed. I knew with certainty that I did not z-clip the anchor and I was successfully belayed to the ground. I felt gaslighted. He then tried to sell me on taking the class. I was going to buy a membership that day but that interaction changed my mind. Since that experience I have not been back.

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Tyler Willis

β˜… 5

The horizonal roof πŸ”₯

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Melissa Fry

β˜… 5

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D Sullivan

β˜… 2

When taking the belay, lead, etc. test, they will fail you and then try to sell you one of their classes even if you have been climbing for years at other gyms. Has happened to me at both Seattle and Redmond locations. Also they make you buy a pass before even taking the test so you just end up wasting money. They are definitely more concerned with squeezing cash out of customers than providing a good climbing experience.

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Puntaree Suvarnin

β˜… 5

Great for top rope and lead climbing. (Small bouldering area, but the routes are fun to climb on, tho.)

The staffs are very helpful and friendly. :)

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Ammar Hussein

β˜… 4

Friendly staff, nice gym too

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Andrew Kiggins

β˜… 5

Best in the West. I've climbed here for 10+ years. The routes change pretty frequently and there's a good selection across the grades. Heading can be a bit variable, but ain't that the truth.

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Taylor Moravec

β˜… 5

Best gym ever! For training (moon boards, kilter boards, weights) and leading (tall lead cave). I’ve been climbing here over 10 years, and it just gets better!

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Evan

β˜… 5

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Madeleine Dawson

β˜… 1

Don’t go to climb here if you are from out of town. For context, I went in having had experience at a different climbing gym. Since I was new to the gym, I had to take the ropes safety test. This gym used a different harness than what I was used to, so I failed the test. Unfortunately, the staff didn’t help knowing this. By failing the test, you can’t climb that same day. What the gym should do is instruct the people who fail the test and give them a day pass, further making them take the test again next time. Never going here again.

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Artur Balanuta

β˜… 5

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Soedowe

β˜… 5

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Jennifer Lee

β˜… 5

High rope climbing walls. The pandemic has made rock climbing very popular, so go on off peak hours if you can!

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Harshavardhan Shirolkar

β˜… 5

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Lola Lindle

β˜… 5

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A R

β˜… 5

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Erin Phair

β˜… 5

Fun climbing gym Separate kids area with a pirate ship. Good for adventurous families with kids that like to climb.

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Krista Garrett

β˜… 5

Okay I'm not a great climber but Vertical World has rock wall routes for all skill levels. I took a general class here with my husband to learn to belay for our anniversary last summer and then we got memberships so now it's a fun activity we enjoy together and with friends since we can have guests twice per month. I highly recommend this place!

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Writing Lola

β˜… 5

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Alex Wilson

β˜… 5

Amazing gym and experience. I was from out of town and this gym far exceeded my expectations. The staff was incredibly kind and helpful. Belay check was smooth and the climbing was fantastic. Route setting was exciting and fun. Will be back hopefully in the future!

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Jacob Tukel

β˜… 5

Fantastic gym. Great community, awesome setters.

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Jacob Drilling

β˜… 5

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Chandler Lacy

β˜… 5

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Jake Snoke

β˜… 5

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Ian Walters

β˜… 5

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Mickey Ceresey

β˜… 4

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Frantz F

β˜… 4

The staff is very knowledgeable, thier lead climbing class is great, and they offer a great, month long discount if you take a class. the top roping, lead and auto belay selection is plentiful and interesting. Their bouldering usually has interesting problems and is pretty sizable too. Their gym upstairs is dated but still great and their moonboards are very cool and easy to use. My only complaint is it can get chilly in there during the winter πŸ₯Ά

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Kent Bozlinski

β˜… 5

Vertical world is the best climbing gym in Seattle area.

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Drea AW

β˜… 4

Helpful staff. Limited parking.
Great selection of top ropes. Bouldering is a good warm up area.

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Connor Stolfa

β˜… 3

I've been a member here for 2.5 years. Vertical world has been consistently great until the past three months, when it's started to let me down. I really don't know what went wrong. Coming out of the worst of the pandemic, the experience I had there was just as good as before.
There are a few specific things that have gone down hill, all having do do with route setting.

1) The quality of routes set has gone down. There are a few route setters that have been with the gym the entire time I've been a member, and their routes are as good as ever. The routes around theirs though, have gotten to be, well boring. They lack any sort of direction or creativity. They tend to be too simple or, if not too simple, too gimmicky. These routes aren't easy or hard in a fun way, they're just easy or hard and often not worth climbing. There seems to be a number of new route setters, so time may lead to improvement, but at the moment routes are sub par.

2) Route turnover has ground to a near standstill, tanking route variety as a result. Routes and problems now stay up for months at a time. Nothing is more emblematic of this than the Valentines Day couple's climb. It has an entire corner of the gym all to itself and is still up almost 2 months after Valentine's Day. The area it occupies normally has 6 routes, but because of the couples climb, has just 1. There's also the issue of the spray wall in the bouldering cave. It's been up for 4+ weeks and occupies a quarter of the cave. Routes also go weeks without being graded. As of 4/11, boulder problems set on 3/23 have not received grades. With fewer routes in the gym, it's easy to get bored and stop coming back as often.

3) Most problematic of all, the distribution of grades has become skewed. Right now the top rope section of the gym seems to have been set by and for either 5.11 climbers, or 5.12c+ climbers. While I can climb these 5.11s, I'm left disappointed because there are few routes I can push into the low 5.12s on. In turn, my girlfriend is disappointed because she is trying to push to then through 5.10d, but can't find many routes that fit the bill. Combine this with low turnover of routes and you just simply run out of real estate in which to climb. I attribute much of this to poor route setting. This used to be a gym where you could ramp from a novice to a very good climber. I did so myself. But I can't imagine doing that with the routes set now.

I've tried to put a finger on the root of the problem, but can't. The gym seems adequately staffed, with as many as half a dozen team members behind the front desk alone. The new route setters haven't appeared up to the task of setting, but with 7 on their website, this doesn't explain the low route turnover rate. It really just seems that something needs to improve.

This week saw the final straw that encouraged me to write this review. The gym hosted a recent youth climbing competition that closed 2/3 of the lead climbing area for few days. Annoying, but not a real issue. The problem was, when the area opened up, the competition area was down to 1 route per bolt line instead of the usual 2-3. There are now less than half as many lead routes as normal and, if recent history is a guide, it's hard to believe more will be set anytime soon. I'll still go the the gym. Outdoor season is coming and I've had a great time in the past. There's enough for me there, but it's hard to recommend it to anyone anymore. I really hope the staff is able to solve their route issues.

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Quentin Richer

β˜… 5

I love this place. It's my go to gym and the lead wall is the best in the area. Always very clean and new routes weekly. A bit pricey but worth it.

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Morgan Azd

β˜… 5

Best spot in town! Staff is always cheerful & friendly, and their space is well-maintained and energizing

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Brian Larson

β˜… 5

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David Riley

β˜… 5

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Melanie Terpstra

β˜… 2

Dirty gym and so much of their workout equipment is broken!

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Emily Graham

β˜… 5

Tons of long pumpy routes, always a fun time

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bumbu a

β˜… 5

Amazing gym with all you need for training. You've got auto-belays, tons of lead-climbing, bouldering and spread wall, moonboards, campus boards, hangboards and a gym. If you're looking to get stronger/better - this is the gym.
p.s. I live near Stone Gardens gym, but choose to commute to Vertical World because it allows for better training!

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Aaron Spruit

β˜… 5

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Dylan

β˜… 5

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