Where are all the Indoor Climbing Gyms in Northern NY State?

I'm planning on moving to the Lake Placid or north of Lake Placid area in around 2-2.5 years and I'm looking at the climbing gym availability and it looks like there are very few choices, which really surprises me with the local crowd.

Mt Van Hoevenberg center is open 4 days a week, only 5 pm to 8 pm, and not on FRI/SAT/SUN.  

I also see "The Crux-at Pok-O-MacCready" which is open two days per week in the winter and one day per week in the summer.

Are these really the only gyms within 45 minutes of the Lake Placid/northern NY State area (not interested in taking the ferry to VT every time I want to go to the indoor gym)?

Maybe I've been really spoiled in Germany/Colorado Springs and the Hudson River Valley for the last 10 years but it seems like I must be missing a big gym that has great hours and is open 7 days a week?

Not much--too small a local population to make a gym economically feasible, I presume. Same thing in North Conway,NH--major climbing area but no commercial gym since the wall at the Cranmore Athletic Center closed quite a few years ago.

Back to upstate NY. I believe that there is a gym, Rocksport, in Queensbury NY ( near Glen's Falls)---at least their website is still 'up'. It may be a bit more than 45 min from Placid but probably your only reasonable option ( other than the ferry to Burlington!!!). 

Alan Rubin wrote:

Not much--too small a local population to make a gym economically feasible, I presume. Same thing in North Conway,NH--major climbing area but no commercial gym since the wall at the Cranmore Athletic Center closed quite a few years ago.

Back to upstate NY. I believe that there is a gym, Rocksport, in Queensbury NY ( near Glen's Falls)---at least their website is still 'up'. It may be a bit more than 45 min from Placid but probably your only reasonable option ( other than the ferry to Burlington!!!). 

Thanks!  That makes sense.  Not too large a population around those parts.

Looks like a great gym but it is, like you said, over 1.5 hours from Lake Placid and I'll probably be north of that.

Between no indoor gyms and no Taekwondo (something else I've done for over 30 years), might have to look elsewhere.

Rocksport is my home gym, definitely worth going to :) 

I’ve never been to The Crux and haven’t heard much about it other than the random hours and a couple complaints about the setting not being the best. I think most people that far north just commit to the drive over to Vermont.

I’ve only been to Mt Van Hoevenberg once, I liked it. I think it’s relatively new. I’ve heard they’ve been doing a good job there, although the grading is pretty soft. Might be worth going for training and then making the longer drive to Rocksport, MetroRock or Petra Cliffs (both over in Vermont) here and there.

MetroRock is really nice, feels pretty big for a gym up here. I’ve only been a few times but it’s always been fun! 

Might be worth stopping in at or calling The Mountaineer in Keene, they would know of any other options in the area. Otherwise, I’ve heard theres a few home gyms around Placid if you can make friends with the right folks.

I think most climbers in Keene/Placid just climb outside all summer, and ice climb in the winter, leading to a lack of indoor gyms.

They’re in Vermont or people’s barns. 

Just not the market. A few years ago I had my last start up (thank god) in St. J in VT in the old Purina facility, which had several 60’ silos for storing feed, but obvious that was long gone. At one point my landlord came up with the *brilliant* idea that maybe I could help him set up the silos for indoor vertical ice as a gym. Uh, you want to set up a commercial facility, which your insurance company will freak out about, for a local climbing population well less than a hundred. Really? And anyone not local is going to pay to climb inside when within 30 minutes there are numerous (Willoughby, Whites, etc) world class climbing areas. Really? 

The climbing population in the Daks is surprisingly small. Might support a small jackboot operation in someone’s garage. People not local aren’t going to spend much to climb in a gym if they’ve come to actually climb. Got a weird suggestion: climb outside, on rock. There’s a lot of it.

Jim, that ice silo idea sounds amazing! Absolutely not a good business plan, but I bet all 10 of the climbers in the area would be pretty psyched! 

As far as the OP is concerned: if you move to rural Northeast and need something more than a hangboard, it would probably be worthwhile to invest in a home wall or board. If you figure gas, drive time and membership fees for the gym, it would probably pay for itself in a couple years. I realize you'd miss the social aspect of the gym but you could always invite locals to use your setup and make friends that way... 

Ira OMC wrote:

As far as the OP is concerned: if you move to rural Northeast and need something more than a hangboard, it would probably be worthwhile to invest in a home wall or board. If you figure gas, drive time and membership fees for the gym, it would probably pay for itself in a couple years. I realize you'd miss the social aspect of the gym but you could always invite locals to use your setup and make friends that way... 

That's actually a really good idea! 

I love the climbing gyms for rainy days or wintery days/months (I ice climbed for years all over the world and my frost bit fingers are having no more of it) or just the plain convenience of it.

Of course, I'd prefer to be on rock but with the above constraints (and still working a full time to more than fulltime) job, a gym really keeps me at my (very low) point of fitness.

But if I built a decent home wall, and share it out to others, it could still meet all the needs, esp the social aspect which is why I most love the indoor gyms.

Side question:  Is there still a ferry from Plattsburgh to Burlington?  I heard that they had stopped it during COVID.  That would not be too bad if I decided to live near there.  Could possibly work at the hospital there as well.

Second side not: I'm climbing at Petra Cliffs where I used to climb when I was at UVM a long time ago this weekend as I'm going to be in the area of northern VT.

Thanks for the positive idea and thought.

From personal experience, I want to point out one aspect of a home wall in the Northeast. Where would you put it in your house? It is fairly unusual for a home to have adequate space for a decent wall in the 'residential' part of the home--unless, of course, you designate your vaulted ceiling living room for that purpose ( I imagine that your significant other might have objections to that suggestion!!!). That leaves either the basement or the garage ( or similar 'utility' space) as the likely location. From what I've seen, having lived my lifetime in the region, is that few houses seem to have sufficiently tall basements for even a reasonably-sized bouldering wall--and all-too-frequently they suffer from dampness issues. Maybe you will be fortunate to find a house with an adequate basement, but otherwise that leaves the garage as the most likely location--which is what I did. But this also creates issues. First, we found that having the wall there was not compatible with using the garage for it's intended purpose--so we settled for keeping our cars outside--which works, but is a pain when it snows or ices. More significantly though, is the fact that most garages are not heated or well-insulated ( especially a detached garage such as mine). This leads to the need to figure out a way to heat it during the season that you will be most likely to want to use it.  We solved the problem with a propane heater, which worked well enough most days, but definitely involved some risks and not negligible costs and a moderate amount of inconvenience. Despite this, a group of us did get good use from the wall for a few years, but once a gym opened nearby, the home wall quickly lost its attraction--and has now sadly been abandoned for years. Not saying that you shouldn't proceed in that direction if you do end up moving to the North Country, but just pointing out some things that you should be aware of.

Alan Rubin wrote:

From personal experience, I want to point out one aspect of a home wall in the Northeast. Where would you put it in your house? It is fairly unusual for a home to have adequate space for a decent wall in the 'residential' part of the home--unless, of course, you designate your vaulted ceiling living room for that purpose ( I imagine that your significant other might have objections to that suggestion!!!). That leaves either the basement or the garage ( or similar 'utility' space) as the likely location. From what I've seen, having lived my lifetime in the region, is that few houses seem to have sufficiently tall basements for even a reasonably-sized bouldering wall--and all-too-frequently they suffer from dampness issues. Maybe you will be fortunate to find a house with an adequate basement, but otherwise that leaves the garage as the most likely location--which is what I did. But this also creates issues. First, we found that having the wall there was not compatible with using the garage for it's intended purpose--so we settled for keeping our cars outside--which works, but is a pain when it snows or ices. More significantly though, is the fact that most garages are not heated or well-insulated ( especially a detached garage such as mine). This leads to the need to figure out a way to heat it during the season that you will be most likely to want to use it.  We solved the problem with a propane heater, which worked well enough most days, but definitely involved some risks and not negligible costs and a moderate amount of inconvenience. Despite this, a group of us did get good use from the wall for a few years, but once a gym opened nearby, the home wall quickly lost its attraction--and has now sadly been abandoned for years. Not saying that you shouldn't proceed in that direction if you do end up moving to the North Country, but just pointing out some things that you should be aware of.

So your sayin' that you have a home wall for sale???

Right!  Also all very good points and much appreciated.

We're actually thinking of Littleton, NH as well now as there is great outdoor rock not too far (Rumney and then, of course Cannon, Cathedral, Whitehorse, etc), hospitals nearby for work (and care), hiking in the Whites, and the North Country Climbing Center, which looks like a great gym.  I grew up across the river and just south of Littleton as well and know and love the area.

I'd actually prefer Littleton but my wife really wants northern NY.  Tough call!  Happy SO (wife), equals happy life so we'll probably end up in northern NY but we have 2 years to work it out. 

Thanks all for the helpful thoughts.

"So you're sayin' you gave a home wall for sale???" Well.....if you were willing to come over and dismantle it,  we could have a conversation!!! Though it is a very 'space specific' structure and the existing holds are very old-fashioned ( though that could easily, though not cheaply, be remedied).
Actually thought seriously of reviving it during the COVID lockdown, but by then the garage had been taken over by storage, the padding ( old mattresses) was no longer useable, and some mice had found a nice home!!!! We did do a good amount of cleaning up and pest removal, but still not enough to really access the wall---and then the weather became nice and then the gyms reopened...... ( I have a good gym about 15 minutes away). 

Alan Rubin wrote:

"So you're sayin' you gave a home wall for sale???" Well.....if you were willing to come over and dismantle it,  we could have a conversation!!! Though it is a very 'space specific' structure and the existing holds are very old-fashioned ( though that could easily, though not cheaply, be remedied).
Actually thought seriously of reviving it during the COVID lockdown, but by then the garage had been taken over by storage, the padding ( old mattresses) was no longer useable, and some mice had found a nice home!!!! We did do a good amount of cleaning up and pest removal, but still not enough to really access the wall---and then the weather became nice and then the gyms reopened...... ( I have a good gym about 15 minutes away). 

Thanks but I was just kidding.

I have a ton of holds from when I had my home wall in Germany during COVID but since I now live in government housing, I'm not allowed to build one there so I am waiting for my retired house to put something up.

Still would love an actual gym, though!

Buck- the Plattsburgh ferry is up and running again. It's not cheap tho! I think like 12 bucks for one person one way... 

Al's point about space for the home wall is definitely a concern but if you were looking for real estate with that in mind you could maybe find something. I've looked into getting the moon board mini- I believe that works in a room with 8 foot high ceilings, maybe a hair lower actually. Or you could build your own custom wall if you have an upstairs bedroom with cathedral ceilings or something like that ..

I have a substantially-sized attached barn, so once I get around to finishing the build out of the home wall, the only remaining concern will be heating the damn thing!  

I live just outside the southern portion of the Adirondack Park (near Caroga Lake) which puts me roughly an hour drive each way to any of the established commercial climbing gyms. Rocksport in Queensbury, NY; The Edge in Halfmoon, NY and now we have Hudson Boulders and Central Rock in Troy is being actively built, etc.  Either way for my 20+ years of continued training on plastic during the off seasons here in the northeast, my homewalls have been my best investment.  My main advantage was all of the work that I did over the years with various climbing hold companies to help me build my extensive collection of holds...all three walls are still actively being used.  The most recent build was the 45 degree smaller system board in my basement because the temperatures out in the garage and carport were unbearable this winter for training