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PLASTIC PARADISE
Check out some of the finest indoor climbing facilities in the world for a little slice of climate controlled, indoor perfection. If you'd like your gym featured in PLASTIC PARADISE contact kriley@aimmedia.com
UCMAG's PLASTIC PARADISE
IS SPONSORED BY: 
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 Denver Bouldering Club
www.denverboulderingclub.com denverboulderingclub@gmail.com 2485 West 2nd Avenue, #18 Denver, CO 80223 Tel. 303-709-8657  Mesa Rim Climbing and Fitness Center
 The Gravity Vault (aka V2)
What’s in it? The gym has more than 14,500 square feet of climbing terrain that peaks at 40 feet. We’ve got an awesome 40-foot crack, stem chimney, big and small arch, and tons of lead climbing. We also have a great bouldering area with a huge topout section, a cool gear section, and a super-comfy lounge. We paid special attention to our lead climbing when helping design this gym, so we think it’s just as great as the huge prow in the bouldering section.  Tennessee Bouldering Authority
What’s in it? Bare bones essentials; we have about 3,000 square feet of unadulterated steep bouldering with wall-towall king-size posturepedic mats covered with the finest Cordura fabric for protection; campus and system boards, free weights, and a lounge with surround sound and free WiFi, topped off with our pro foosball table.  PLASTIC PARADISE: THE DELAWARE ROCK GYM - BEAR, DELAWARE
In addition to being members of the Climbing Wall Association, we offer 11,300 square feet of featured climbing walls up to 44 feet tall, including 54 fi xed TR stations, a 15-foot New River Gorge-esque lead roof, an extensive bouldering area that maxes out at 15 feet, dedicated group areas, a pro shop, free WiFi, member specials, campus and hang boards, and a regulation arm wrestling table. We also offer Intro to Climbing classes two times a week, Intro to Sport Climbing once a month, free yoga on Wednesday nights, and special discount passes for students.  Panoramas from Boston Rock Gym's 2010 Heart of Steel
Watertown, MA based photographer William Van Tassell captured these awesome 360º panorama images at Boston Rock Gym's 2010 Heart of Steel Bouldering Competition on January 30th, 2010. Flaunting a $2,400 cash purse in addition to a gorgeous line-up of prizes the HEART OF STEEL appeal speaks for itself.  Boston Rock Gym - Panorama Mania
Watertown, MA based photographer William Van Tassell captured these awesome 360º panorama images at Boston Rock Gym's 2009 Heart of Steel Bouldering Competition. Don't miss the 2010 competition on January 30th, 2010. Flaunting a $2,400 cash purse in addition to a gorgeous line-up of prizes provided by a flock of industry leading sponsors, the HEART OF STEEL appeal speaks for itself.  PLASTIC PARADISE: BRIDGES ROCK GYM - EL CERRITO, CALIFORNIA
Bridges is the definitely one of the “greenest” climbing gyms in the country. During construction we used sustainable building practices, such as Forest Stewardship Council-certified lumber, fly ash concrete, low-volatile- organic-compound paints, and the list goes on. . . . Annie’s Café (upstairs) serves organic food, uses compostable plates and cups, and composts food waste.  Teton Boulder Project Releases Design Plans
Bouldering Park scheduled for construction in Summer 2010 - Jackson, Wyo. Organizers of the Teton Boulder Project have released plans for a bouldering park they seek to construct at the base of Snow King Mountain in downtown Jackson Hole. The park, which is being designed by Nona Yehia and Jefferson Ellinger of E/Ye Design under the auspices of Teton County Parks and Recreation Department, is scheduled for construction in Summer 2010.  MetroRock's Dark Horse Series - Event 2
Continuing the recent progression of world class bouldering competitions in the NorthEast, MetroRock just finished the second stop of its four comp Dark Horse Series. On December 12th, over 200 competitors and spectators showed up to compete for the Dark Horse title. The top six competitors in each Open category advanced to finals in the evening to battle over the $1,100 cash purse.  U of Utah Students Take Home the "Top Climber" Title at Westminster’s Intercollegiate Climbing Wall Competition
Two students from the University of Utah once again took home bragging rights as “top boulderers” at Westminster College’s second annual intercollegiate climbing wall competition November 17, 2009. More than 40 students from colleges throughout the state, including Westminster College, University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University, Utah Valley University and Salt Lake Community College participated in the contest – the largest group to compete thus far.  PLASTIC PARADISE: SLO-OP CLIMBING - SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA
3,500 square feet of 16-foot top-out bouldering, the baddest free-standing boulder you’ve ever seen, and a dedicated slackline area. We’re working on installing a campus board, system board, crack machine, weights, and cardio equipment. Our pro-shop is bouldering.com, so we’ve literally got a warehouse of gear. And because we’re a social club, we’ve got 24-7 access, oodles of climbing mags, free shoe rentals, and a bumpin’ sound system.  UK's first DigiWall opens at The Warehouse climbing centre
The first DigiWall climbing attraction to be installed in the UK by Innovative Leisure Ltd. has opened at The Warehouse climbing centre in Gloucester city centre. Each section of the DigiWall features 24 grips for hands and feet, each one incorporating a sensor and light which are linked to a computer. A surround sound system is another feature and a variety of games with different levels can be played by users as they climb over the wall. Each game also uses its own sound design.  PLASTIC PARADISE: URBAN ROCKS GYM - CHATTANOOGA, TN
We have 10,000 sq. ft. of climbing, with walls up to 35 feet. Of that, 3,000 sq. ft. are top-out bouldering, 7,000 sq. ft. are lead and toprope climbing, and there’s also a separate kids’/ teaching wall. We add 15-plus routes and 25-plus problems weekly, which keeps us at a minimum of 105 routes and 100-plus problems at all times. There’s a mezzanine/lounge area with a big-screen TV, as well as weights, campus board, and hangboards.  Thoughts on the Brooklyn Boulders
I've never quite lived in a big city, but I've spent enough time hanging in a number of the world's greatest of concrete jungles to know that metropolitan areas do not lend themselves to rock climbing. With the increasing number of high-quality indoor climbing facilities around the U.S., I was surprised to find that during my visit to New York City last spring, there was little to no option for training.  The Climbing Works International Festival - Sheffield, England
By Brian McAlinden / www.climbingworks.com - These videos showcase The Climbing Works International Festival (CWIF) held this past March 2009: An annual event attracting the best boulderers from the U.K and Europe. Also included is a video by Niall Grimes, who gave a lecture to entertain the crowd during the CWIF. This years event was won by Jerome Meyer of France who beat out over 150 competitors. Click here to see the full results.  Brooklyn Boulders Grand Opening
Photos courtesy of BrooklynBoulders.com - On September 9th, 2009, Brooklyn Boulders celebrated the Grand Opening of its brand new 18,000 square foot facility that features 30-foot high ceilings, two massive bouldering caves with 15º, 30º and 45º walls, with loads of topropes and lead climbing. The facility has around 5,000 square feet of southwest-facing windows, and bay doors on opposite sides of our block, so you can enjoy natural lighting and breezes all day. Brooklyn Boulders is open Sun-Thurs: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Friday 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to midnight. Check them out at: 575 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217. See UCMAG's Plastic Paradise for more info.  SLO Op Climbing Opens Its Doors
After raising over $55,000 from broke college students and pillars of the San Luis Obispo community and two months of construction, SLO-Op Climbing (the country’s first non-profit bouldering gym) opened its doors. SLO Op (an homage to its co-op beginnings in a storage unit) Climbing is a non-profit social club that provides walls open for member climbing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The brainchild of Co-Executive Director Yishai Horowitz, SLO Op has become a central meeting spot for climbers and other athletes in the region.  PLASTIC PARADISE: THE BROOKLYN BOULDERS - BROOKLYN, NY
We have bouldering, toproping, and lead walls - over 10,000 square feet of climbable surface, with walls up to 30-plus feet. There is no non-climbing-specific training equipment, but we do have one of the most extensive climbing training areas ever seen, featuring a 260-square-foot campus wall, inversion slings, slack lines, and various finger and system boards. We also have a cafe and a gear shop.  PLASTIC PARADISE: NORTH WALL - CRYSTAL LAKE, ILLINOIS
We have 15-plus toprope stations and a sick bouldering area with an upper and lower cave (terrain varies from slab, to vertical, to overhanging). For sport climbing, a 30-foot-plus roof beckons you to clip draws all day long, and we have three cracks (mostly hand jams). There’s also a full pro shop with everything you need to get started climbing or expand your trad rack, plus the latest climbing books and DVDs. |
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 PLASTIC PARADISE: Wall-Nut Creek - Kelley, Iowa
Wall-Nut Creek is housed in a century old dairy barn. It’s Iowa’s first dedicated rock gym and has been open since 1994. WNC features 3,900 square feet of climbing. Rope climbing includes top ropes and leads to 27’. The bouldering is extensive, with two top-out boulders and lots of overhanging terrain. WNC also features the only indoor “ice climbing” in the state with a 24’ foam ice wall.  PLASTIC PARADISE: Hangar 18 - Riverside, CA
Our brand new Riverside facility is home to 12,000 square feet of insanely overhanging bouldering, 48 top ropes and lead routes, and some of the strongest climbers in California. With the help of gym builder extraordinaire Louie Anderson, our textured climbing terrain offers the simple and clean look of hold color-based setting.  PLASTIC PARADISE: ADVENTURE ROCK- Pewaukee, Wisconsin
Over 11,000 square feet of climbing surface, complete with sculpted arêtes, cracks, pockets, bulges and more. The 35-foot-tall walls offer 40 topropes and loads of lead climbing. In addition, there’s an 18-foot-tall indoor bouldering area, and plenty of outdoor bouldering, too. We also have year-round air conditioning and a large, separate party area.  PLASTIC PARADISE: Prime Climb - Wallingford, Connecticut
Connecticut’s first and finest climbing gym. Its climate controlled facility offers over 14,000 square feet of climbing wall surface; 42 top ropes; a rappel tower that reaches 40 feet high; lead wall; 14 foot high, 65 foot long bouldering wall, which includes a 45 degree section and a cave; and a training wall with campus rungs, hang boards, and system training features. The gym also offers 10,000 square feet of high ropes course elements, which are used for team building and leadership programs.  PLASTIC PARADISE: Thresh Hold - Climbing and Fitness Centers, Riverside, California
Thresh Hold is the newest indoor climbing business to hit Southern California. With over 8,000 Sq Ft. of climbing, superb angles, creative slab sections, and incredible bouldering Thresh Hold not only hosts the best indoor bouldering in So Cal, but also the country’s highest free-standing mantling boulders, unique foam pit landing zones, lounge areas, yoga studio, and a full fitness center.  PLASTIC PARADISE: The Pitch Climbing Centre - Wetherill Park, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Half the gym is dedicated to bouldering and training with a massive bouldering area. It contains 60+ professionally set and V-graded problems from V1 to V12+, a campus board, and a hangboard farm. The other half is dedicated to “experiencing” climbing with our 100 top rope and lead routes, and 12-meter long lead roof.  PLASTIC PARADISE: Planet Rock Climbing Gym - Ann Arbor, Michigan
Southeastern Michigan is home to one of the largest climbing gyms in the United States, Planet Rock - Ann Arbor. Here, both serious and first time climbers find an indoor climbing Mecca. The gym has a unique layout - three separate bouldering areas with a two floor cave system with a connecting ramp. Just across a rope bridge from the upper cave is the bouldering mezzanine.  PLASTIC PARADISE: Philadelphia Rock Gym, Coatsville, PA
This gym opens climbing to a bunch of people that might not otherwise have experienced it. It’s also a big gym for the region and most of the bouldering and lead walls are overhanging and have an interesting design. Finally, the people are amazing. You can easily start up a conversation with anyone that climbs at the gym and the staff is incredibly friendly and helpful, as well as multi-talented. Ask Adam to juggle for you…  PLASTIC PARADISE: The Rock Club - New Rochelle, New York
Endless roped climbing running from steep to steeper. 60 top ropes ranging from 35 to 40 feet high on the main wall, and much of the gym is leadable. Tons of wide, stemmy dihedrals, long arêtes and high-stress chimneys. TRC is feared for its jaw-dropping lead-arch. And the bouldering wall is over 100’ long of pure aggressiveness. Everybody’s here when the Gunks gets rained on. There’s also an enclosed cardio room, a Pro-shop, deck and saunas. Kids get to scream in their own fully-sealed mini gym and party rooms. Obe’s setting team is creative, hungry for feedback and constantly creating new routes and problems. With over 15,000 square feet of climbing -- they never stop.  PLASTIC PARADISE: The Cliffs at Valhalla - Valhalla, NY
In an area with so many gyms The Cliffs really sets themselves apart. They have an all-star team of setters with John Koots, Hank Jones and Jason Danforth. All with their own setting styles. The staff’s also got a super motivated attitude towards climbing, and you can feel it in the way they operate business. The special events, comps and member parties bring you closer the sport and lifestyle of climbing. These guys know what they’re doing, and it’s apparent they love to do it.  PLASTIC PARADISE: MetroRock - Newburyport, Massachusetts
MetroRock North has one of the largest bouldering walls on the east coast. Massive caves, monster over-hangs and tons of insane problems; not to mention roof leading and crack climbing.  PLASTIC PARADISE - New Jersey Rock Gym - Fairfield, NJ
The gym boasts over 12,000 square feet of climbing. There are 4,000 square feet dedicated solely to bouldering, which can be found on a freestanding, central boulder island and on the mezzanine, which can be accessed by a bouldering tunnel. Thirty-two top roping stations can be found on vertical, overhanging and slab walls. NJRG also has a giant lead roof, which can accommodate up to five climbers at once. Free Wi-Fi is also available, and a pro shop offers essential gear and clothing.  PLASTIC PARADISE: Vertical Ventures - Tampa, Florida
The people are amazing. The energy tends to make me climb harder. In the new facility, everything is good. The floor is so soft and clean. Now we have no excuse not to climb 'till we fall. Oh, and I love that you can top out on the new boulder.  PLASTIC PARADISE - Vertical Heaven - Ventura, CA
7,500 square feet of climbing including: A 15 ft high bouldering area, an insane lead arch, 2 Auto Belays and a 28 ft highball bouldering wall with stunt bag. We also have a pro shop with a wide selection of shoes and clothing, an internet café, a laundry mat, a hair salon, a skate park and a live music venue!  PLASTIC PARADISE - Vertical Endeavors - Warrenville, IL
18,000 square feet of climbing, 42 foot walls, 17 auto-belays. The most natural looking artificial rock in any gym in the world. We have cracks, chimneys, an overhanging arch, a Hueco wall and a boulder cave...only the coolest place imaginable.  PLASTIC PARADISE: Escalade Gym - Kennesaw, Georgia
What's in the gym? Haha! Monkey bars, campus board, Hang board tower, prison weight set, Slide, caves, tunnels, cages, matted flooring, rope swings, cable t.v. ......Oh yeah and climbing walls too. Our boulder ranges from 12 to 16 ft tall, there is a top out boulder, top ropes and lead walls.  PLASTIC PARADISE: Klimhal Amsterdam - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This gym is 65 feet high and has over 20,000 square feet of roped climbing, 2,500 square feet of bouldering, a lead climbing wall with 20 feet of overhang, a fitness area, a cave, a rappelling platform, a gear shop and a BAR!  PLASTIC PARADISE - The Front Climbing Club, Salt Lake City, Utah
Nearly 10,000 square feet of the best friggin indoor bouldering in the country! Full weight and cardio equipment, a wood floored studio for our free yoga and Pilates classes, a professional and licensed massage therapist for only $25/hr, full locker rooms, ping-pong, pool, and foosball tables, café, a full surround sound theatre with a 12' x 12' screen, retail shop with second and discontinued climbing clothes and some special combo packages from our favorite neighbors, Revolution.  PLASTIC PARADISE - The Gravity Vault - Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
The Gravity Vault is a state-of-THE art Indoor Climbing Gym that features the following: 13,000+ SQUARE FEET OF CLIMBING INCLUDING ARETES, OVERHANGS, ARCHES, SLABS AND MORE! With 35+ FT WALL HEIGHTS, 45 TOP ROPE STATIONS, A RAPPEL LEDGE, KEYHOLE ARCH, TWO 14' BOULDERS TOTALING 4,500+ SQ. FT., DYNAMIC LEAD CLIMBING THROUGH 26' LEAD ARCH, CARDIOVASCULAR TRAINING AREA, PRIVATE PARTY ROOM, LOUNGE AND PRO SHOP.  PLASTIC PARADISE: Earth Treks Climbing Center - Timonium, Maryland
Inside of Earth Treks Timonium, a quaint office hides beneath towering overhangs. This workplace contains everything one might expect a gym office to hold, save one detail. High above the computers and copiers, a huge message is written on the wall; a message that reminds ET's staff of the company's one and only mission. In ten-inch letters, it simply reads, "Share our passion for climbing," and that's precisely what Earth Treks Timonium does. |
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 PLASTIC PARADISE: The Circuit Bouldering Gym - Portland, Oregon
"When I first walked in, I felt like I was entering Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. The boulders look like giant Everlasting Gobstoppers!" climber Dennis Wright exclaims. It may not be a magical chocolate factory, but The Circuit is definitely a wonderland. Built by a handful of local, dedicated boulderers, this new bouldering destination in Portland, Oregon offers 10,000+ square feet of wall space, over 300 boulder problems, and one big, positive attitude. The Circuit recently opened its doors late September to answer the high demand for quality indoor bouldering in Portland.  PLASTIC PARADISE: Mission Cliffs - San Francisco, California
Flashback to 1995, when I'd been on the road for six months, climbing outside and in every gym I could find across the U.S. When I arrived in San Francisco, I heard a rumor about a climbing wall being built in the Mission district. Some folks, named the Melvins, had convinced a few friends to go in it, and it might be big. Cruising down Harrison, I saw a vast metal building where the doors were thrown open and the scream of a circular saw was spilling out.  PLASTIC PARADISE: The Adventure Center - Edinburgh, Scotland
In Scotland, they take their climbing pretty seriously. The Highlands have been a proving ground for Britain's top mountaineers for centuries and the tradition lives on through a younger generation who push the limits of newer fads like bouldering and dry-tooling.  PLASTIC PARADISE: Urban Krag - Dayton, Ohio
A lot of climbing gyms look the same. With a few exceptions, their sprawling grey and brown climbing surfaces are constructed inside of rectangular industrial spaces, old factories or warehouses with brick or aluminum exteriors. That's not to say such gyms don't have great climbing, well-stocked pro-shops, or state of the art training facilities - it's just that many don't have much character, or at least that's what gym owner Karl Williamson would tell you. |
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