Climbing gym in Seattle

I am moving back to Seattle after six years away and am debating on which gym to set up a membership at. I plan to be a weekend warrior to get outside but will need a gym to get back in, and stay in, climbing shape.

There are three main gyms: Stone Gardens, Vertical World, and the Seattle Bouldering Project.

All I do is boulder and I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on which gym has been the best for them?

Also, I'm also looking for bouldering and outdoors partners in the area so if you live nearby and are interested, let me know!

Seattle Boulder Project (SBP) I have yet to go there but have plenty of friends that have gone and have given it nothing but good reviews.

Do you know what part of Seattle you will be living? This might dictate where ya want to go as well..

Seattle Bouldering Project is a great place. They are all super nice guys and put up new routes all the time. Some of the pluses are that its so big that you never need to worry about anyone climbing over you on overhangs and it never feels crowded even when there are a ton of people climbing. Also with a membership you get access to Yoga and the weight room. Just a great place all around!

I will be within twenty minutes of downtown but I'm not quite sure if I'll be on the east side or in the U-district.

Owen, thanks for the advice!

I just moved away from the Seattle area several months ago.

I climbed at nearly every gym at least once, by "my" gym was Vertical World Redmond since I lived on the east side and didn't want to commute into the city every night to climb.

The Seattle Bouldering Project opened just a couple of months after I moved away and nearly all my climbing buddies have migrated there, even if they have to do the commute to do it. I think that says a lot.

Really though Mara, you should do a day pass at each gym before making your decision. That will let you get a feel for the drive you'll have to make, as well as check out the facilities. Really I found all the gyms to be serviceable and I can see preferring any of them just based on personal taste.

P.S. - The eastside (assuming you're referring to Kirkland, Bellevue, etc) is not within 20 minutes of downtown, so you might look a little harder at the U-District. I commuted from pretty much the western-most point on the eastside to downtown Seattle every day for work on a daily basis for about a year and it wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't 20 minutes.

Edit - Just realized you lived in Seattle before and you probably know what the commute entails, so nevermind. :)

Hello, Im in Seattle for three weeks and have a few more days off than I thought I would, but I left my shoes back in Colorado. Any small shops with big selections? I was looking online and couldnt find very much along the lines of selection. Any place that carries Red chilis?

R.J. wrote:Hello, Im in Seattle for three weeks and have a few more days off than I thought I would, but I left my shoes back in Colorado. Any small shops with big selections? I was looking online and couldnt find very much along the lines of selection. Any place that carries Red chilis?

Try Second Ascent in Ballard or the basement at REI. They both have good prices so you could by a pair for cheap until your are shipped to you.

Mara wrote:I am moving back to Seattle after six years away and am debating on which gym to set up a membership at.[...] There are three main gyms: Stone Gardens, Vertical World, and the Seattle Bouldering Project. All I do is boulder and I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on which gym has been the best for them?

I would wait until you know where you're going to be before making this decision- if anything, traffic in the last 6 years has gotten worse :-).

The good news is that in the last 6 years, all of the gyms have gotten better- and there are more of them to choose from.

Welcome back.

Moving to Seattle (West-side) in a few weeks. Can some kind local update the list? Auto-belays with cracks would ideal. I did some research, but didn't turn up much. 

Joseph Foreman wrote: Moving to Seattle (West-side) in a few weeks. Can some kind local update the list? Auto-belays with cracks would ideal. I did some research, but didn't turn up much. 

Depends on where in Seattle you'll be. If you're in West Seattle, then SBP is your best bet unless you like sitting in traffic trying to get Ballard (it's not worth it...). Momentum is opening up a new bouldering gym soon in Sodo, which will be closer to west seattle. They're opening up a roped gym early 2019 next to SBP if that's more your thing. Probably the best bet.

Other than that, the gyms are the same as mentioned above. Really, go to whatever's closest. Traffic in Seattle is mindblowing and sitting in traffic to try to go to a farther gym is kind of dumb imo

Really depends on where you are gonna end up. As Aaron said north-south traffic (the 5) can be pretty bad between 4-8 (coming from somebody who grew up in LA), though it tends to clear up by 8 or earlier during the winter. If you're crossing the cut to go to your climbing gym you're in for some frustration.

I don't know of a single gym that has auto belays near cracks, but SG ballard and bellevue both have 2-3 cracks that can be toproped. SG ballard also has a few boulder cracks, like a 5.7 hand/fist, 5.10 overhanging hands, and some 5.hard finger crack. SBP has a little section with some crack bouldering that spans thin fingers to offwidth, and is slightly overhanging but only like 10 ft tall. No rope climbing at SBP obviously.

I don't go the vertical world seattle very often, but they definitely have the best rope climbing on the west side

Joseph Foreman wrote: Moving to Seattle (West-side) in a few weeks. Can some kind local update the list? Auto-belays with cracks would ideal. I did some research, but didn't turn up much. 

Vertical World Seattle has auto belays with cracks and I personally love that gym half to death. Its got great routes and a huge lead area. But I'd probably go visit Stone Gardens (Bellevue is better than Seattle location) just to make sure that's the gym you want to join. Have fun in Seattle! It's a great city. 

anybody have an update on the new momentum rope gym that is supposed to open next to SBP in early 2019?  It doesn't look like they have made much progress on the building.

Out of all the seattle gyms i like the vertical world in north seattle (interbay) and the stone gardens in bellevue.  the VW in bellvue is ancient and limited. same with the stone gardens in ballard.  SBP is ultra hot and sweaty, and the route setting is awful.  they have this bad habit of setting a ton of huge volumes on low angle walls. total ankle breakers.

sbp just sort of has a problem with volumes in general

too many of those things everywhere

Joseph Foreman wrote: Moving to Seattle (West-side) in a few weeks. Can some kind local update the list? Auto-belays with cracks would ideal. I did some research, but didn't turn up much. 

Vertical World has an autobelay hand and finger crack.

a new gym is opening up in SODO in september also

slim wrote: anybody have an update on the new momentum rope gym that is supposed to open next to SBP in early 2019?  It doesn't look like they have made much progress on the building.

Not much info available yet on that one. Based on the general level of quality/professionalism at other Momentum gyms, I’d have a lot of confidence that it’s going to be a really good gym, and likely open on time.

The Sodo bouldering gym looks to be getting close to done, and I’d going to be awesome.

Moving the Seattle pretty soon as well.

If one were to live in Capitol Hill, which gym would be the easiest to get to? (Either via public transit or driving.) It looks like SBP is the closest on the map, but I have no idea what the real life traffic is like.

Also which gyms would I have the easiest time meeting potential outdoor partners (trad/sport)?

Thanks!

definitely sbp for convenience, if you're looking for rope partners probably vertical world seattle in queen anne

Anthony H wrote: Moving the Seattle pretty soon as well.

If one were to live in Capitol Hill, which gym would be the easiest to get to? (Either via public transit or driving.) It looks like SBP is the closest on the map, but I have no idea what the real life traffic is like.

Also which gyms would I have the easiest time meeting potential outdoor partners (trad/sport)?

Thanks!

I have the drive from that area clocked at 15ish minutes during afternoon rush hour, and 7ish minutes all other times. SBP is on a pretty major thoroughfare, and there are some good backstreet routes too, so its never bad. Driving to Vertical World from Cap Hill during rush hour is certain death. You have to traverse SLU/the Mercer Mess. Even during non peak you're looking at a 25-30 minute drive. You'll find that moving North/South (99, I5, 24th) is a lot easier than moving East/West (Denny? Union? Westlake? 50th? They all suck) in Seattle. 

Anthony H wrote: Moving the Seattle pretty soon as well.

If one were to live in Capitol Hill, which gym would be the easiest to get to? (Either via public transit or driving.) It looks like SBP is the closest on the map, but I have no idea what the real life traffic is like.

Also which gyms would I have the easiest time meeting potential outdoor partners (trad/sport)?

Thanks!

SBP will be easier/faster to get to from Capitol Hill. In my limited experience with SBP vs Vertical world (I'm from Kitsap, so I only hit them occasionally, so take this with a grain of salt), Vertical world is probably better bets for trad/sport partners since they are more roped climbing focused.