Best gym in Boulder?

Hi everyone, I’m moving from Denver to Boulder for school in March, and am trying to decide what gym to join. I’m currently a member of Movement, but I find the bouldering at Movement Boulder to be really small, so I’m considering switching.

Things that matter to me are:
1. High-quality (and ideally high-quantity) bouldering. I climb up to v10/11 in the gym, so a decent concentration of routes in the 8-12 range

2. Good training facilities (climbing-specific and weights). I do a lot of off the wall training.

3. A Kilterboard or Grasshopper board would be great (along with a spray wall). Not sure if any of the Boulder gyms have one of these though.

4. A spray wall would also be great. 

5. Something to arc on (I find an adjustable spray wall to be ideal for this, but the boards work as well).

6. A strong community of people that climb hard and are nice (yes, I’m aware this is Boulder we’re talking about) would be cool, but I’ve been at Movement long enough that the community aspect isn’t necessary.

7. I like climbs to have v-grades, but this certainly isn’t a requirement.

8. Long hours and/or 24-hour access. Multiple gym access is also cool but not necessary.

9. Located in Boulder. G1 is too far.

Things that don’t matter to me:

1. Rope climbing. Never really do ropes in the gym. I just need a board to arc on.

2. Comp routes (honestly, fuck comp routes)

3. Any type of weightlifting machines/treadmills/ellipticals/etc.. I’m a free weights guy

Anybody have recommendations that fit this? Should I just stick with Movement??

The Spot has the best bouldering in town but the training area is pretty spartan. Membership gets you access to four gyms and the training area at the Spot Louisville is pretty nice. No V grades, but good community vibe. If you want early morning access I think BRC and Movement both open earlier than the Spot. I would recommend coming up and checking them out for yourself, personally I would only join BRC or Movement for the roped climbing not the bouldering. I live in south Boulder and G1, Spot Louisville, Spot Boulder, BRC and Movement Boulder are all similar driving times and the Spot Golden isn't much further. 

Boulder Canyon's got the best scenery for a gym. I like the outdoor atmosphere.

Brian Stevens wrote:

The Spot has cool problems, but I find many of them come down to a single stopper move 

Agree - usually a low % sloper that is slimey as fuk with clove scented chalk - deal breaker on the whole situation.

The only thing you're going to get is a Moonboard. If you want to spray wall, you can go to CATS open hours for like $5. If you want to ARC, your best option is finding a partner who also wants to ARC and lead climb up and down at BRC or Movement, or again, go to CATS (the back wall at the spot and its treadwall are useless imo) Nothings going to give you those extra hours unless you build your own wall.

As far as boulder setting goes, I remember Movement having the most hard boulders. I'd wager all the setters in the Boulder area setting those hard boulders know what they're doing, so I dont think the quality differs much as BRC and movement don't set much comp stuff.

Thanks a lot to everyone for the input! It sounds like I just need to go give The Spot and BRC a try, then make a choice. 

nbrown wrote:

Boulder Canyon's got the best scenery for a gym. I like the outdoor atmosphere.

Ehhh I heard the setting is super soft there. 

Joel May wrote:

Thanks a lot to everyone for the input! It sounds like I just need to go give The Spot and BRC a try, then make a choice. 

I’m seeing you here as a Movement kind of guy.  Day passes are cheap - try them all.

Movement is most likely your deal - it does close at 11pm now on weekdays, which is real nice.

But Boulder also has Flagstaff and The Satellites (and other high concentration secteurs), which you could certainly make circuits on. 

Joel May wrote:

Hi everyone, I’m moving from Denver to Boulder for school in March, and am trying to decide what gym to join. I’m currently a member of Movement, but I find the bouldering at Movement Boulder to be really small, so I’m considering switching.

Things that matter to me are:
1. High-quality (and ideally high-quantity) bouldering. I climb up to v10/11 in the gym, so a decent concentration of routes in the 8-12 range

2. Good training facilities (climbing-specific and weights). I do a lot of off the wall training.

3. A Kilterboard or Grasshopper board would be great (along with a spray wall). Not sure if any of the Boulder gyms have one of these though.

4. A spray wall would also be great. 

5. Something to arc on (I find an adjustable spray wall to be ideal for this, but the boards work as well).

6. A strong community of people that climb hard and are nice (yes, I’m aware this is Boulder we’re talking about) would be cool, but I’ve been at Movement long enough that the community aspect isn’t necessary.

7. I like climbs to have v-grades, but this certainly isn’t a requirement.

8. Long hours and/or 24-hour access. Multiple gym access is also cool but not necessary.

9. Located in Boulder. G1 is too far.

Things that don’t matter to me:

1. Rope climbing. Never really do ropes in the gym. I just need a board to arc on.

2. Comp routes (honestly, fuck comp routes)

3. Any type of weightlifting machines/treadmills/ellipticals/etc.. I’m a free weights guy

Anybody have recommendations that fit this? Should I just stick with Movement??

If 1-5 are much more important than 9, I'd choose the Longmont Climbing Collective hands down. Depending on where in Boulder you live, the difference in drive time could me minimal. 

Have you considered not moving to Boulder?   

Bernardo Fanti wrote:

Have you considered not moving to Boulder?   

I’m impressed we made it this deep into the thread before this started.

To the OP- I hear California is really nice this time of year

Longmont climbing collective has a pretty amazing space. I’ve never seen so many boards (including a spray wall) in a gym ever. Plus a HUGE bouldering space. But, now that I have a garage spray wall, I haven’t been to gym in over a year…

As you've noted, the bouldering at Movement in Boulder is not very extensive. I think most of the strong boulderers that climb there have multiple memberships (or just treat the gym as a bad-weather venue). I'd probably at least check out the Spot (and you've always got CATS which seems to be having a renaissance if instagram is any indication).