★ 5

Medium sized bouldering gym, am the walls are really interesting with all different difficulty levels

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 2

For the relatively high price of 25$, I would not recommend anyone to climb in this gym.
Even though the downtown location is pretty central and the non-climbing area are really clean and organised, i find the climbing area is not well maintained: the mats seem really hard and feel kinda cheap. In some areas they are damaged or show holes being a danager when jumping or falling from the top part of the wall. The routes and problems are fine but the indication of the route difficulty seems a bit messy. The gym uses a 4 point start, but on several boulders the tape seems to be missing or was ripped off. The route difficulty is shown by an additional color card on one of the starting holds, but the colors do not really match the hang-out scale and are missing on some boulders or broken off. Overall, it is a bit off a frustrating experience and other gyms do a much better job in this regard. The holds seem to be quite dirty and covered in chalk. Brushing the holds is not much encouraged. There are only 2-3 community brushes for the whole gym, a small brush tapped to a broom stick, which are not long enough to reach most top holds increasing the potential danger of dropping a climb from the top.

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★ 5

Had really fun there

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★ 4

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

Very fun! Honestly I would rather climb than go to a regular gym. Such friendly desk workers, and very beginner and expert friendly.

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★ 5

An elegantly designed bouldering space in dt. It even has a small co working area near the entrance.

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★ 5

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★ 5

Best climbing gym and community in Madison.

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★ 1

I have been climbing here for 2 years and can very honestly say that this is the worst climbing gym I have EVER been to out of 30+ gyms I’ve been to around the world, followed closely by the East location. The gyms are dirty and poorly maintained, the air quality gives me a sore throat like I’m in a coal mine, and the setting is mediocre at best. I’m very excited to finally have another gym with Greater Heights opening in Fitchburg and would encourage anyone thinking of climbing at Boulders to think twice now that alternative options exist.

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★ 2

I have climbed here for two years and I'm fed up with this place. They jacked up the prices and yet they barely take care of the facility to the point where the air is so thick with dust I dry choke on chalk. The provided brushes' bristles are so short they're practically useless. If the place ever gets crowded, you have no choice but to be two inches away from other dropping climbers' blast zones in between your own climbs. They've set climbs where I literally need to avoid ceiling pipes to get the ending hold.

From a setting standpoint, I can at least appreciate the iterative routes on a single wall that attempt to build on a similar technique. Unfortunately, I think there tends to be gaps in skill level from week to week where everything is either too easy or too hard. I feel like that's more a lack of available space for them to work with.

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★ 5

Nice, local gym. There is a nice variety of wall types, and staff is great. They can be a bit inconsistent with their setting (usually every week on Monday and Tuesday), and the ratings seem to vary a bit. One week the red circuit will be super easy, and the next super hard, even outside of the assigned range, but it really just means you should try everything and should ignore the card. Fun sets overall, with very full walls (generally) but small volumes.

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★ 2

Been to boulders a few times, pretty disappointed in the monthly membership costs and pretty much decided to quit climbing since coming to Madison as I couldn't justify the cost. Had a membership at Seattle Boulder project and rates are more at Boulders in Madison. Perks, gym, routes and classes are all well below what you get in other cities. Pricing seems greedy and keeps a lot of potential climbers away in the Madison area.

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★ 5

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★ 5

넓고 좋아영

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★ 5

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★ 5

Great rock climbing gym. Layout is great and the routes are creative and changed often.

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★ 2

Old and needing an update. Holds probably haven’t been cleaned in 20 years

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★ 3

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★ 5

Friendly staff, wide selection of climbs in spite of a limited downtown space. Warming: it does get pretty crowded

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★ 5

A great bouldering experience, but wow are the routes difficult! We went on Saturday for the $15 student discount and it was totally worth it. The staff were very nice and very helpful explaining everything.

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★ 5

Great amount of wall, never too busy and the staff are very friendly. Since I have not climbed in a few years, I was glad to see a good range of difficulties so I could slowly get back into. Similar to how you might slowly cook some tough cuts of meat that need awhile to loosen up. You have to take care of yourself, much like Mairangi Bay bakery takes care of their steak pie filling.

I've been going the mairangi bay bakery since I was a young lad (boy/chap). Growing up in the city of sails (Auckland) many things have changed but what hasn't changed is the quality of my favourite bakery. Whether it is the aged cheddar, fresh new zealand prime beef or flaky pastry, John and Mary have turned this place around since they bought it it 1961. The Vietnam War was raging and John at the time (who had served in the Korean War) met Mary over a fateful glass of Malbec. As John looked deep into Mary's eyes (blue) she leaned across the table and softly whispered, "this would go really well with a steak and cheese".

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

Great staff and routes

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★ 5

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★ 3

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★ 5

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★ 4

Pretty awesome

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★ 2

This place is not for me. I've been to many gyms across the country and its by far the worst one. The walls are short, holds are super greasy and none of the problems seem to be new. The tape on all the problems are coming off and or not very easy to find where to start. The bathrooms are all gender or femme plus. Being a male I want a men's restroom. It uncomfortable peeing knowing a female could just walk in. If the urnal was positioned better and not the first thing you see it might be more acceptable but in almost all situations I want to my own space. I'm sure other genders feel uncomfortable as well. The front desk staff dude didn't show me around or tell me anything about the gym. Everyone who walked in or out he barley greeted them. The volumes on the wall are trash. They have holes everywhere and are simply at the end of there life. One small volume had so many holes they made new ones to attach it to the wall and it was flexing and barely on there. The brush they have on a stick has no bristles left. Why not replace that? The duct work running around with the pipes as well is silly. Overall I will not be going to a boulders gym again while I'm in town.

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★ 5

I climbed at the down town location. I loved it! The vibe was great! The setting was thoughtful and consistent. JP at the desk was friendly and helpful.

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★ 5

More slab

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★ 5

Amazing setting. Great boulder problems for all levels. Really nice staff

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★ 4

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★ 5

Stopped here while on a trip for work. Great sets, staff was super friendly, and the place overall had a good vibe!

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★ 4

Awesome little gym that does a lot with the small space it has. Lots of interesting features and setting is usually very solid. Membership is pricey and there can sometimes be gaps in the setting schedule, but they are (very) slowly improving the gym with new holds/volumes so it’s nice to see that go towards something. Great community

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

We were in Madison for a girls trip, and while walking around, this was a nice find! $21. to free climb, even when it is busy, there is plenty of room to climb!

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★ 5

Stopped by to purchase a devils lake climbing guide. They were very nice and helpfull.

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★ 1

If i was reviewing just the staff it would be 5/5 stars, but other than that the gym is a joke compared to any others nationwide.

You are dodging air ducts with your head while trying to top boulders, and I had the pleasure of climbing here after a "comp" set. However not a single comp problem there, I had 3 points of contact on the wall at all times, and nothing was dynamic. The entire set was obviously done in 1 day, and if not, invest in better setters. Many route setting 101 rules are broken.

To top it all off the maximum grade there was a v8, and a light v8 at that. They say they have a "tension board" and "kilter board" however they just bought the holds and put it on slanted wall, no board included, no adjustable angle, and much smaller than any one ive been on.

Now for cleanliness, to start this is the only gym ive ever walked into and got a throat ache soon after entering, ontop of that when i blew my nose after leaving it was filled with dirty dark chalk and mucus. Secondly, this is the only gym ive ever been to where they do not let you take off your shoes, (so bye bye to that agressive pair you have, its now neutral) you must wear your climbing shoes on the mat at all times, so youd think they would be clean, despite that the matts are still the dirtiest ive ever seen, and have a odor unique to this gym. To add to that all of the holds were absolutely filthy, cheap, and are obviously never cleaned or rarely cleaned. To top it all off this is the only climbing gym ive been to with air dryers and no option for paper towels. You can see dried chalk spray all over the floor and walls from the air dryers, also obviously not cleaned.

This gym needs a lot of work, especially for the price, 20 dollars with no gear and 25 with shoes. However it will probably never happen due to the lack of competition in the area. Owners and management are obviously trying to rake in money with no care of how the gym feels; cheap holds, short staffed, bad volumes, skipping out on the real tension and kilter board, no gym facilities. Thankfully im from out of town so no need to come back. Wishing the local climbers the best and I hope to see this facility get better.

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★ 5

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★ 5

Good location. Always fun climbing here. Well staffed and always clean as well. The walls have a lot of various difficulties and routes and there is always something new every time I come. The student saturdays are also a great way to climb for cheaper as it can be somewhat expensive otherwise.

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★ 5

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★ 1

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★ 5

Awesome gym, great staff, and cool routes.

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★ 5

Really enjoyed my class and learned a lot to get started. I'm loving the 2 week membership that comes with the class.

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★ 4

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 4

Routes are refreshed often and the place looks cool. The air filtration could definitely be better since you'll be inhaling a ton of chalk. Also kinda expensive

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★ 5

Love the downtown location. Good mix of routes and different types of problems.

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★ 5

Very great place to go climbing. Busy most evenings, but super fun. Day pass is 25, 20 for pass, 5 for shoes. Membership is 80 a month.
They rotate out routes a fair amount, there is always something new. Try to find a friend to bring you with, as it's a bit overwhelming at first, but it's a very welcoming space and is very beginner friendly.
This is also a super inclusive space, don't let the word gym scare you. Everyone is here to have fun and work out.

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★ 5

Always a challenging and great array of routes, whether crimps, slab etc.

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★ 5

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★ 5

I absolutely love the community at all Boulders locations. If you are climbing for the first time at this location, I’d recommend avoiding Monday and Tuesday, as that is when the setters are setting new problems. Thus, the gym can feel a bit limited and crowded on those days. New climbers may want to avoid this, especially because they sometimes change the beginner routes, making it harder to find something to climb. This isn’t everyone’s experience, but it was was mine when I first started out. Clearly, the gym is so much fun regardless, as I have continued going since my first visit.

More helpful details: This downtown location is exclusively bouldering with no rope climbing. Paid parking is available nearby. There are bike racks for the bikers. There is also a bus stop nearby. The storage area is vast and includes lockers inside the bathrooms. Bathrooms also have towels and showers.

Overall, I love this place and enthusiastically give it five stars.

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★ 5

Great gym for bouldering. Wide range of different difficulty climbs that are well marked. Staff are very nice and helpful!

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★ 5

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★ 4

Pretty nice climbing gym, but the coloring system to grade the routes is kind of confusing. Too many colors and I always forget what color translates to the respective V level. The gym as a whole is not very big and can get very crowded at times.

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★ 5

The best climbing gym in town. Awesome staff, fun routes.

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★ 5

Great gym with super helpful staff and climbers. Only missing thing is maybe some normal gym equipment, but that’s not super necessary. Problem setting is really creative compared to most gyms I’ve been to!

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★ 5

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★ 5

The Downtown location is exclusively for bouldering - no top rope (to my knowledge). Doesn’t have an abundance of beginner-friendly climbs - but the community is amazing!

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 1

Alex Sherman, Ryan V, & Andrew Hoerst pretty much summed it all up. I truly appreciate the staff members. They've always been nice, genuinely interested in the community, & welcoming but downtown always seems understaffed. At times people show up and just stand there for a good bit waiting to be helped. This seems like an issue with management and not a reflection on the actual staff members though.

Other than that you get an overpriced gym that lacks the facilities evey other gym nation wide has at this price point.

The part that gets me.... I feel that I genuinely align with the inclusive culture behind boulders & I just don't understand how they then thought to build the most expensive, boujee, and limited gym in downtown Madison, doubled the costs of the membership & thought... 'yeah that's inclusive'..
How did this gym help diversify our community and bring climbing to those who may be disadvantaged?

Take a look at Memphis Rox in TN. Or The Overlook in westside ATL. Those are great examples of what a modern bouldering gym should be.

Obviously I'm still going to climb here because Boulders is the only climbing gyms in Madison.. but don't mistake a lack of alternatives for personal choice.

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★ 4

Not bad. I enjoyed the change of pace as far as setting style goes for sure. My only “complaint” is the grading feels a touch sandbagged, but my home gym could be soft. Who knows? Staff were nice enough, other patrons were nice.

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

Thumbs 👍

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★ 5

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★ 5

As a complete and total newbie, took the Intro to Bouldering class and had a great time. The instructor was awesome from start to finish giving everyone in the group a good understanding of the basics.

Definitely looking to come back here much more regularly.

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★ 4

Great climbing gym overall! I've tried it for 2 months now and I would highlight the setting especially. You will find vertical walls or even slabs to test your balance, overhanging walls of all degrees and pure roofs. For the hardest boulders I did (V6 en my case) I've been challenged both physically and technically: they are sometimes hard to read, tricky and most of the times doable using alternative betas, and that is what it makes it AWESOME! I wish we could enjoy this kind of setters in Spain... Some boulder examples at German Navarro Bouldering channel in Youtube (I cannot paste the link here).

Things that I didn't like:
-A mat for the unprotected left side of the Kilter board would be appreciated.. or rather necessary!
-In the East gym: the way they assess people doing lead or toprope is not necessarily the only one which is fine. I mainly do lead climbing outdoors and I'm sorry to say that, but the staff there have much less experience and knowledge than me. And I failed their tests anyways. They told me to come next day to assess me again. That's not a problem since I had a membership. Now imagine someone paying for a day pass that is not able to use the rope because of their (biased) guidelines. That's not the way.

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★ 5

Disappointed to see them go to vaccine only! After a great response I gladly changed my rating. I can't imagine having to make that decision and appreciate the added information.

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★ 5

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★ 5

Great place to challenge oneself, meet cool peeps and problem solve. Can't get that on a weight machine.

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★ 5

My favorite bouldering gym!

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★ 5

Tons of fun. Good atmosphere. Definitely a good way to get exercise.

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 2

I went there a few days ago and it was my first time rock climbing. It was very crowded and is definitely geared more towards those who climb frequently. climbing freely and just having fun was good, but there was just way too many people in the small area :/

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★ 1

I used to pay $60/mo at High Point Memphis for access to a climbing gym with 30,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor climbing, on walls that rose up to 52 feet. This gym also included a small general fitness room upstairs, as well as party rooms and kids' areas.

Another gym I used to visit, Memphis Rox, was also a 30,000 square foot climbing gym, which was pay-what-you-can (effectively $0/mo), boasted 45ft walls, and had a floor dedicated to weights, cardio, heavy bags, and yoga.

Boulders is $70/mo (with a discount) to access a bouldering-only gym that has 8,000-10,500sqft (depending on where you source your info) of incredibly short 14-ft walls and not much else. Considering that the bigger and better East location is over an hour by bus from my location, I can't even say that the membership covers two gyms because I can't realistically go to the second location. I figure that this is the case for a lot of people. Even I were to consider the membership as paying for access to two gyms, it would still pale in comparison to the value of every other climbing gym I've been to. I cannot continue to justify a membership here, paying for overpriced & undersized downtown real-estate- no matter how much I love climbing, or how much I wanted to like this gym. I suspect that many others may reach the same conclusion.

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 2

Decent setting and ok wall space. Expensive and gets crazy crowded, borderline unusable anytime past 4 on a weekday.

Could be a 5 star gym if the crowd problem was addressed and it was a reasonable price. Lack of competition in area means it probably won't change anytime soon however.

I would climb anywhere else if there were options in the area.

Good music choices though. Consistent bangers

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

Great gym, nice variety of walls and grades. Parking is on the street, but only metered until 6.

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★ 5

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★ 5

An awesome place to hang with friends. The staff and everyone there were very welcoming especially to new climbers.

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★ 4

We spent a weekend in Madison and decided to try this rock climbing gym. It was fun and we enjoyed it.
However, the price is bit high -$20 day pass ( we had our own climbing shoes). Also, the grade system makes it harder to find your level.

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★ 5

The people who work at the gym are very kind and the gym has a good atmosphere overall.

A little annoying that the setters set all over the gym during some weekdays. Would prefer to have setters shut down and rope off one section of wall at a time and clear all the routes there, than be all over the gym. Setting individual walls also then makes it easier to find the new routes and have a better sense of what routes are next to be reset.

Update: I've been going to this gym fairly regularly since it opened a few years ago. In comparison to other gyms, I think they set very frequently and also do much more forerunning so it is very rare to see any 'dud' routes that are completely broken. Even going a few times per week, I can't work on all the routes I would like to, and on top of that there are kilter and tension boards if you need more. I still find going during the day when they are setting to be a bit of a bear. The impact drills are deafening in such a small space and you do have to jump around to avoid the setters---but since the majority of traffic is in the evenings, I get that most climbers will prefer having routes reset all over the gym each week, versus on one wall. It is also now clear with the color system which colors will be reset each week.

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★ 5

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★ 3

I have mixed feelings about the Boulders gyms.

I do agree with many of the other reviewers that their pricing is not as competitive as they think it is. If it truly is necessary for the downtown location, then it was indeed a bad choice of real estate considering the pricing restrictions it imposes and the wall height restrictions as well.

Some other reviews have also mentioned issues with the setting. I can't quite describe what it is, but it does feel a bit less interesting than in many other gyms I've been to. Maybe this was just the few sets I've seen in my few visits, but I feel like the harder climbs (highest 2 circuits) tend to be hard because they use miserable holds rather than hard because they require interesting movement.

The staff have all been welcoming and friendly. The setting frequency seems decent (in contrast to a few other reviews). I visit every month-month and a half and I believe the downtown had been completely turned over in that time.

A few other comments I have:

At the downtown location, the placement of the Kilter board right along the edge of the mats is just idiotic and dangerous -- you shouldn't need a spotter for an indoor board session.

At the east location, they have bouldering above lead climbing mats (that seem like they're probably older than me). These really aren't meant to absorb any meaningful fall and I would be pretty hesitant to do any sort of committing/horizontal move above them.

Not really a positive or a negative, but the grades are probably the most stout of any I've seen in the US.

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★ 4

A pretty good climbing gym. They use a weird scale though and it was pretty difficult to learn and understand. Lots of overhanging and difficult routes. Not a ton of slab problems but a few. Overall a clean place with lots of traffic and lots of bouldering.

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

The staff are really kid and helpful, its surprisingly affordable for first timers. The climbing stuff they have going on is not too difficult, how ever I saw some advanced stuff that blew my mind for sure.

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★ 5

It was super fun to go for a day. Front desk was super friendly. Def recommend to anyone looking to spice their fitness routine up. Only downside is that it is a bit pricy ~$25 for a day pass and shoe rentals

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★ 3

If you're new, it's definitely a fun experience to try out at least once. Their walls are pretty neat, not to mention that there's a lot of overall wall in general to climb. The shoes are free so no worries about bringing your own or worrying about another fee.

Now for the bad part:
Their rotations are a little slow in my opinion and the walls are a bit lower than where I went before so the routes can feel a bit short.

For pricing, unfortunately, without much competition (being one of two gyms in Madison), they charge a pretty unreasonable amount at $85 a month. They offer two gyms but it's not like you can use both at the same time, not to mention the East side gym isn't worth going to (more on that later). If only they had a Downtown-only membership that was cheaper. :(

The staff are friendly but they really don't listen if you need something changed with your membership. I asked to cancel and renew my membership, in person, and was only able to do so after calling or reminding them the next time I went. There was also a one-off time where they canceled my reservation for a walk-in so double check you're on the reservation list before driving 40 minutes.

Since this gym's membership gives access to the East side gym too, I'll give my two cents there too. Don't go, the mats will rattle your brain pretty good if you fall even 10 feet. The walls are cool there too, but it's not worth risking it with their current mats. If you wanted to try rope climbing, harnesses are $2-3 for a rental even with their absurd membership fee.

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★ 2

Brought my daughter and her best friend here from around the Eau Claire area. I was rather disappointed in the lack of customer service. Waited just to pay for a pass, no quick tour of the place, or helpful hints. My family has been to smaller places like this and had over the top service. The lack of lower level climbing sections was rather disappointing.

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

This place is so good! I had a great time. It was my first time doing boulder climbing.
I definitely recommend this to others. Good pricing too.

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★ 5

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★ 3

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

Fantastic routes for all levels, and the climbing community is outstanding. Highly recommended to climb here for some fun bouldering.

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★ 3

Stopped in here while visiting Madison. A really large gym with tons of routes! The routes were really fun, but the grading system was disappointing. V2-V5 is a huge spread. I would have given 5 stars if routes just had a single grade instead of a range.

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★ 5

Friendly staff. Great routes. Gorgeous holds. An awesome bouldering gym with diverse wall shapes.

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★ 5

Operating at 15% capacity, I felt safe there, and was able to do some great climbs. The staff are great and supportive. It's a great community. Support this business!!!

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★ 5

So clean and new looking. Good vibes. The front desk person answered all my questions so nicely

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★ 2

The wholly inappropriate, vulgar, profane, dissident and depressing music they play here is horrifying, appalling and quite distracting from the climbing, which is graded on the fruit loop system.

Each color represents three different bouldering grades. While colorful, they all taste the same. There might as well not be grades at all, because if you progress three colors you're still climbing V0.

Gyms are for training for the real world. The real world is not graded in colors for whiners who can't agree on grade. It is just graded. Get a grip.

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★ 5

First time at that location. Very well set up. Fun routes.

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★ 5

Awesome little place. 100% bouldering so no need for ropes. Wide array of skill levels with hangboard and other fitness equipment available

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★ 5

Solid little bouldering gym. Clean and well set with a good variety of problem types and difficulties.

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★ 5

Climbing is the best

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

Excellent Place for Bouldering

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★ 4

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★ 5

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★ 4

Nice space with a good set up, harder to park than the east side understandably. I wish there was another top rope option besides Boulders East though

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★ 5

Friendly staff always willing to give pointers. Seems like everytime i go theres something new on the walls to try out. The events they have for members are a blast. Definately worth a try even for a casual day pass.

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★ 4

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★ 5

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★ 1

I'm in the same boat as Alex Sherman who posted previously. At the price, this gym simply does not offer the amenities to be worth it.

I've been to world-class facilities all across the U.S., and this is more expensive by far than any of them. At this price, you should have 60'+ walls, several thousand sq ft of usable space, dedicated workout rooms (not just training walls), and a large selection of equipment that members get a discount on.

What you get instead is a very crowded gym with short walls and average setting.

The fact that this facility alone caused membership pricing to over double in two years is disgusting, and what this gym offers does not make it worth it.

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★ 5

This place is so fun! My 7 yr old had a blast. Climbing all over the place

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★ 4

A solid bouldering gym. The downsides are related to the physical space design--not much height and can feel crowded when busier. Clearly a trade-off for location over space. The location is great, though parking could be a challenge at times. Also limited slab problem variety sometimes, but overall really nice facilities and good training equipment.

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★ 5

great gym with friendly staff and large selection

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★ 5

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★ 3

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★ 5

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★ 5

Great place to boulder and friendly staff.

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★ 5

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★ 5

Great place to climb, its just a bit expensive. But if you love climbing its well worth the money

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 4

I love the new facility downtown. The problems are challenging, and I found a wide variety of problems at my skill level. That being said, it's a bit pricey for just a bouldering gym. I'll be climbing elsewhere.

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★ 5

Super fun, and there are challenges for most everyone. New routes are put up every Thursday. It's overall a great place to go bouldering!

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★ 5

Employees are friendly and the atmosphere is great! Highly recommend if you are looking for a new hobby or just something to do with friends.

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★ 5

awesome place!!

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★ 5

Stopped in to climb here while I was road tripping back from college. The staff was friendly and helpful. There was a nice variety in the routes. Not just the grades of them, but also in the types of holds, degrees of overhang, and style of climbing.

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★ 1

Having been climbing in gyms for 12 years across the US and abroad, I can honestly say I've never been to a more poorly managed gym than Boulders. For the last 10 years the membership prices at Boulders have always been a bit pricey but after the opening of the second location it's just getting ridiculous. The founder "appreciation" they show is letting us pay twice what we did two years ago for half of the setting staff.

Family prices for two adults used to be $65, and now we're paying $85 (or $65 for "founding" members) for a single person. If we were getting twice the value, sure, but I'm not sure if you guys realize that you can only climb in one gym at a time. Having two gyms doesn't make the membership worth twice as much. In fact letting half of your setting staff go, and letting the route quality drop as much as it has makes it worth LESS.

I'm not sure what management changes happened, but the quality of literally everything has dropped. Fire whoever is in charge of lead ropes at your east side location, it's insane. I can't count the number of times I come in and you're out of ropes with basically no one leading. Not to mention how insanely short they are. Just last week I came in and your staff told me they retired all the lead ropes and hadn't received the shipment of new ones. What short sighted incompetence are you guys allowing in a gym that has the potential to literally kill people?

Opening the down town gym was a colossal mistake that the loyal members of Boulders are paying for. It's obvious you're slowly realizing that you can't just open a gym in a popular part of town and attract new people to cover the insanely high rent. Every month it seems you're jacking up the prices because you're not attracting enough new customers. Clearly you did no market research, and have put no effort into insulating your existing customers from your dumb business decisions.

Overall Boulder's has average setting, very high prices, and terrible management.

Edit:
Vertical Endeavors in Twin Cities built 3 new gyms and hasn't raised prices in the 12 years I've been, and they only charge $37/month. Adventure Rock on the other side only charges $55/month. Jacking your prices up to the "national average" (which they're well above surrounding gyms' prices) would make sense if you were anywhere near the national average quality for climbing gyms. These other gyms have higher quality facilities and lower prices.

If you need help understanding why your setting is below average, bring back the comments or just ask me when I'm there. I'm more than happy to give feedback on routes.

Source: Google

★ 5

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★ 3

Fairly large, but the routes are cramped by short walls--they tend to be fairly powerful, short and unimaginitve. The gym also suffers a little bit from a cramped layout. But you have to keep all this in context... It's a climbing gym on the square!

Source: Google

★ 3

The Bolders downtown location does the best it can with the vertical space it has.

The primary pros of this gym are its central location in Downtown Madison and its large variety of wall inclines. It is right near the capitol and is easily reached by public transport. One of the strengths of the downtown location in my opinion is its cave space (filled with some seriously challenging horizontal climbs) and its archway. Both provide some challenging climbing inclines. I love watching the really good climbers work on the toughest climbs right in the middle of the gym!

However a side effect of being downtown is that there is not a lot of vertical space in their basement location. Most of the climbs are relatively short and all are constricted by the height of the walls.
It is also my opinion that this gym is not an easy place to get initiated to bouldering. Because the cave and archway and other negative inclines command so much of the gym, there are relatively few easy walls to climb. Typically there are only a few beginner climbs set up in the gym at any one time with most of the space dedicated to intermediate (v3-6) climbs. While I appreciate being able to have some variety as an intermediate climber, I do not think I would have fallen in love with bouldering had this gym been where I learned to climb.

Source: Google

★ 5

The best option for your bouldering needs in Madison

Source: Google

★ 5

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★ 4

Good, clean climbing gym but it's free climb only, so I like the east side location a lot more.

Source: Google

★ 5

A great gym for the dedicated bouldering climber. Regularly hosts awesome events, with an extremely helpful and friendly staff, as well as unique and challenging problems. Take notes Brooklyn Boulders. ALSO THE GM IS RAD AF BET SHE CRUSHES HARDER THAN YOU, YOU WEAK!!!!!

Source: Google

★ 5

It's super fun and there are so many fun options in different skill levels

Source: Google

★ 5

Boulders is where I started as a climber and watching this community grow has been a fantastic experience. There is a variety of well set routes at this location. This opens a great opportunity to grow.

I'm glad to see community-focused events are becoming a part of this location as well. I look forward to the future.

Source: Google

★ 5

Flippin sweet! I've climbed at the East side boulders for around 5 years now and have had some qualms with the location, but it seems they've addressed all of them.

A) No birthday parties and kids running under you as you climb
B) No teams so more space for regulars
C) Good HVAC system so I can breathe better
D) Way more space so people aren't bunched as much
E) Variety of climbing angles/styles
F) Really good training area

Really happy with how it turned out. I wish the parking situation was a little easier but it's downtown so there's not much you can do about it. It's a good spot and I'll come here often.

Source: Google

★ 5

Great staff and facilities, kind of pricey.

Edit: I've had my downtown membership for a bit and I've decided that it's definitely worth the price, and while I would like it to be cheaper (obviously), I'm not going to cancel over $10 or so.

One thing I've noticed is that it seems like I run out of project routes quicker than I did at the east gym, even though the downtown gym has more bouldering. Granted, I'm only climbing V4s, but I feel like I was more interested in more of the east side routes than the downtown ones (and my climbing frequency is still relatively consistent.) I'm not sure if it's because the routes are reset at different intervals, or if they're set less dense at the downtown gym, or if it's some other reason.

Last idea, any thoughts of bringing a shop to the downtown gym? I think the membership comes with a discount on gear, and I'm going to need new shoes soon, and I'm really lazy :)

Source: Google

★ 2

Membership is expensive. Changes in rates and membership are not well advertised. Does not offer yoga or other classes for members. Must pay for parking downtown.

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★ 4

Great gym but pricey for what little there is. About 5 bucks more than any other gym I’ve been to and they usually include fitness and yoga with daily membership.

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★ 5

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★ 5

AWESOME

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★ 5

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★ 3

Everybody here is so nice and the facility is really beautiful. The walls are definitely a bit shorter than what I have seen in other bouldering gyms. The pricing is a bit higher than I would have expected. There is no free parking anywhere near the facility, which makes a monthly membership even more expensive if adding parking costs. As someone coming from Denver, Colorado, the argument that their expensive membership is on-par with other urban gyms is false. At the Movement gyms in Denver/Boulder you pay $75 monthly and get: access to THREE brand new gyms with FREE parking, plus FREE yoga and fitness classes as well as state of the art fitness equipment/yoga rooms. Overall, I obviously don't know any information about their costs and budget, but as a consumer, this membership cost just seems too high.

However, like I said, the facility is very nice, the people working there are super friendly and it seems like a great place to climb.

Source: Google

★ 5

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★ 1

I have been excited for this for months, have even saved up enough for my own shoesin cuz I live downtown. However, it costs $85 a month to go here as opposed to $49 a month to go to the East location. They do this by allowing an exclusive location membership at East, but make you buy an "all access" membership to go to Downtown. I just want to go to the new location exclusively. The price clearly limits the amount of client diversity and excludes most who don't have high expendable income. It sounds like all the same red tape nonsense that businesses use to exploit their clientele. I really want to climb, but your capitalist shenanigans are impeding me from doing so. I hope you read this and amend your tactics.

Source: Google

★ 4

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★ 5

Very nice upgrade. Tension Board and Kilter Board for training. Would only suggest lowering the pull-up bars so people could get up to them and allow lockers in bathroom to be rented out.

Source: Google

★ 5

Amazing new bouldering gym. Cool new high tech led wall and lots of square footage!

Source: Google

★ 5

As someone who began bouldering for the first time two weeks ago, I'm really glad I tried it out. I plan on buying my first month pass tonight. The space is beautiful with great facilities. If I had any complaints, it's that absolute beginners are limited to about 10% of the routes. Over the last two weeks I've seen some adjustments, so maybe this is something that will change. Everyone is super friendly and helpful. I'm happy to have something like this for the winter!

Source: Google

★ 5

Fantastic new facility with great setting, a wide range of wall angles, and a fully decked out training area.

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★ 5

The new gym is awesome. Feels huge, and you don't have to worry about someone falling on you anymore.

Source: Google

★ 5

Great holds and route setting, and wasn’t very busy. Staff was helpful.

Source: Google