Northern Rocks — Attraction in Kaipātiki

I’m not quite sure about this place. With so few bouldering gyms in Auckland, you really want to support each one, but I’ve had more experiences here that left me feeling off than welcome. I joined the women’s bouldering workshop, and the women running it, along with the other participants, were all lovely! That said, I’d recommend it more for the social side than for engaged learning. It’s very casual, and the gym is too noisy and busy to really focus.

The general staff vibe wasn’t great. The first staff member I encountered seemed disinterested and didn’t clearly explain where I needed to go, even after I mentioned it was my first time. Another time, I tried to buy chalk during their 20% off winter sale and was told the discount was for members only, even though their Instagram team later confirmed it was meant to be for everyone.

The gym isn’t very clean and a bit smelly, so I usually leave feeling a bit gross. Another thing (which I hate to be a Karen about because I do love animals) is that people sometimes have their dogs with them, running around the gym. While they are cute, it adds to the hygiene concerns. What if someone is allergic, and personally I don’t want to be touching dog hair or smelling dog while I’m trying to climb.

If I do keep going, it will be purely out of convenience, but for the price, I’m not convinced...

Great bouldering gym for both kids and adults.

Might have been a little understaffed when I went. I went during school holidays and it was packed with children/ families and I think the staff were a bit overwhelmed doing inductions and signing people in.

Good facilities for university students who wish to study and go for a boulder. There was free wifi, power sockets for computers and a nice area on the second level to study or get some work done.

One bit of feedback which may go hand in hand with understaffing, is children especially but also those who are going bouldering for the first time really need to learn the etiquette and this needs to be reinforced to maintain a safe experience. Had a child walk underneath me when I was climbing a hard route, politely corrected them, but I think this needs to be emphasised to parents and children alike during the induction. Regardless of this still thought it was a pretty good gym and didn’t...

A fairly new rock climbing facility over the Shore. Unlike other rock climbing places, there is no belay as the climbs aren't very high. There are a few which require a small climb down before jumping down to the mats below. Different coloured handholds denotes different climb levels so you can see how hard something is by looking for colours, similar to other places. They also have a mechanical wall which can be controlled by a smart phone and a small gym in the corner. They also have finger hold ledges to practice on. Really friendly staff and so are the other people there. They give you an induction especially on how to roll backwards when you fall off. $20 entry fee with $5 shoe hire (you need climbing shoes but you can provide your own). It was a really fun and tiring experience trying to climb all the walls even if you couldn't. It was really interesting watching how the really good ones...