Romper Room Indoor Rock Climbing Centre — Attraction in Nanaimo

Anyone rating this gym above 3 stars has likely never been to any other rock climbing facility. Romper Room was built 3 decades ago, in the 90s and IT SHOWS. People frequent this climbing gym because it's literally the only option available - the next nearest ones are 1-1.5 hrs drive away. The floor is gravel, which is unpleasant to walk on or land on and holds tonnes of dust. It also makes the holds very dirty. The air inside is not filtered or circulated at all so when you leave after an hour or two your nose and mouth are grey from being clogged with dust. The floors need to be updated to the current industry standard of impact mats that most other gyms on the island and mainland use. The routes are re set often enough and that is awesome, but are still limited by the height/size of the building. The building does not have the square footage to support the customers who frequent it. The gym is often very crowded and one is left standing around waiting for their turn. As with many businesses in Nanaimo they have not expanded to meet the demand, and yet continue to sell memberships and invite more groups there. Over spring break there are 40 kids at once climbing, on top of everyone else who are regular customers, and not even a thought to us, not opening early to accommodate the regulars at all. At least 4 ropes in the gym are so old and poor quality that they are difficult to belay with, knots tied in the ends, parts of the rope so bunched up that it can barely fit into a belay device - front desk staff have been informed but weeks later the ropes remain in use. When customers are lead climbing they are climbing right over the heads of other customers. I've been hit by someone falling simply because I was walking by and have seen near-miss incidents as well. Despite their facility being outdated and small they still charge the same rates as much nicer facilities. I will say the staff here are decent, a few are excellent, a few are not at all. They don't seem to have enough front desk staff sometimes, with the phone ringing off the hook unanswered because the staff are too busy. This business has gotten too comfortable, too stagnant, largely due to lack of competition in the market I assume, and lack of innovation/motivation on the owners part. There is no other gym available so people will keep coming...

Visited the Romper Room today while on vacation from Alberta. Only had room for shoes & a chalk bag, so climbing at Horne Lake wasn’t an option. Definitely felt the old-school vibe of the gym, which was cool, but it could definitely use some adjustments in order to operate at the standard of today’s gyms.

A few notes from my experience:

A gym orientation was not given or offered.

The employee asked our group of four if we had used auto belays before. Two hadn’t, so she offered to do an orientation or if myself or my partner (who have both used auto belays before) would show the other two in our group. We opted to show them ourselves. This wasn’t an issue, but I was surprised to see that an employee would pass on their role & responsibility to a visitor.

Poor safety in the bouldering area. 4 crash pads for the entire bouldering section. Two pads were occupied by people sitting on them. I can’t blame them as there is no seating. The other two were in use by people actually climbing. This area can certainly accommodate many climbers, so I would suggest adding more mats. The Moonboards have adequate padding, so I would expect the same in the bouldering area of the gym downstairs.

Why is gravel a choice for the flooring? It creates a dusty environment (on top of chalk in the air), makes holds slick, and doesn’t offer much protection in the case of a fall. If 2 $5,000+ Moonboards can be purchased, adequate flooring and mats should be a priority.

Does hold-washing take place in this facility? I could nearly see my reflection in some of the holds.

Route-setting did not seem all that creative. Routes / problems lacked flow and nice moves.

I still did enjoy my time here, as I would have seriously missed climbing for a few weeks while away from the Bow Valley. There are improvements that could be made...

The Romper Room is AH-MAY-ZING!!! Very knowledgeable and friendly staff! Shoutout to Ella, Craig and Alex! I also had the pleasure of meeting the lovely owner, Jonathan, who helped me with climbing shoes and ensured they fit properly, so that I would be a successful climber. Brianna is also amazing, kind and so patient! I asked her to try smaller shoe sizes (after my fitting with Jonathan) for the rentals until they felt right, and she's such a kind and intuitive soul.

*For context, I bought a pair of Kira by the brand evolv, which has a lot of vegan climbing shoe options 😁 I am wearing them at home before climbing in them, which is why I rented a pair :)

Overall experience with the Romper Room is amazing 😍🧗🏼‍♀️

There is always parking ❤️

One of my favourite aspects about this climbing center is Auto Belay, and Belay training so you can come with a buddy after the training and try out the other walls / routes.

I recently fell in love with bouldering as well, and this whole place honestly just brings me so much joy.

They also have moon boards which are really cool! I haven't had the pleasure of...