RocVentures Climbing — Attraction in City of Rochester

The facility itself has a unique charm in a cool part of the city, located nearby the Eastman house, the art gallery district, and East Avenue. Great for an active date night, or to bring a friend and head out to a nearby spot for a cocktail or snack.

Interior is clean and while not brand new walls, all the important elements (fresh hold sets from many companies, clean surfaces, well kept equipment) is all clearly cared for, you feel a bit more seen if there are questions, and above all the courses well curated, but more on that in a bit…

As you enter you’ll be met with the helpdesk right in front of you. Staff is kind and welcoming, both knowledgable of climbing and customer service. Fear not if entering a climbing gym for your first time- you will find answers, and you will belong!

Ive been a member for around 9 months now, with just over a year experience, and RocVentures is my “third place”. It’s where i fell in love with climbing, and prefer it to the other gyms in the area. The bouldering section is smaller than some of the others in the area, but it is well set and frequently rotating, so there’s enough time to work a project at the top of your grade, and new settings shortly after.

There are decent lead courses as well, still beyond my skill level but pretty cool to watch others who can.

I’d like to say my appreciation is due to the challenge of the routes (which is considerable), but i’m still learning to get good:). The routes and boulder projects rotate regularly, and have distinctive challenges i enjoy. I’m not wise enough in the sport’s terminology to break this down in detail, but the route setters know how to create variations on multiple themes, and beyond hold shape, color and grading, there are distinctive challenges to each course that i prefer over other gyms’ course setting in the area.

The place feels very genuine and passionate about its community and sport. And to me anyway, it has a perfect balance of available assistance, and respect for each climber’s curiosity and problem solving.

After my wife and I found ourselves coming to climb several days a week, we encouraged our extended family to join us. We reserved a party which included space to eat and hang out, help from staff who could belay first timers, and we were able to try out the ropes course situated along the upper regions of the restored building. I wish they could expand with even more courses, but they’ve utilized almost every section of the interior in effective fashion.

In conclusion- Its a family run business with great service and once you get a bit into the sport you see the challenge and uniqueness in the set routes… if you’ve made it this far-quit reading and go check...

I have to say, this place is really cool! I brought my son here for his 18th birthday, along with my younger son who is 14, and my daughter who is 2 (my daughter didn't climb, but she could have if she wanted to, she was happy watching everyone and touching things). My brother brought his kids, 14 and 12, and my brother in law brought his daughters, 8 and and 5. All the adults climbed too.

So, first I have to mention that the place was much bigger than I thought. I expected there to be a few walls to climb, there were spaces for at least thirty people to be climbing at once! Along with there being many walls, they were built with a large variety of challenge, including some 'bouldering' walls, which is is really challenging but fun.

Second, the staff were very friendly and professional. For a small fee they will provide instruction on how to use the gear and climb safely. Even with us having young children, we were all confident that it would be safe and fun.

Third, you can rent all the gear you need, including climbing shoes, and the rate is very reasonable. If you want to leave, you can come back and keep climbing. I paid for five of the people, and the price was $117. That included access to all the walls, gear, and special training for two of us.

Fourth, it was very safe. Many of the kids there were first time climbers, or did climb before on much smaller walls.

I would recommend this place for anyone looking to a place to practice climbing, or to try something new.

The pictures below are only about 1/10th of what they have, I would've provided more but I didn't want to show my kid's faces.

The only thing I might recommend for the owners is to include some stuff for the really young children. Maybe some padded ramps or whatever, so you can begin teaching little ones some...

I am pretty disappointed that this gym isn't really for climbers. It's a nice recreation space for kids and has some vertical toproping and a couple of poorly set caves. Basically it is an entry level climbing gym with no lead climbing, no serious route setting and no serious bouldering. Think of it as a beginner's gym - or a poor substitute for a serious climber's gym.

The owner is not a climber - more of a recreation specialist who developed the city's only public 'rock gym' and turned that into a novelty for families and kids. It works for that.

I was there in the earliest days of RV, when the small population of serious climbers in Rochester used to go there regularly. We set good routes and had good lead climbing routes for certified leaders. The caves were pretty good as well, with lots of harder bouldering problems mixed in. You could traverse the entire gym from end to end through both caves and get a serious endurance workout. It was fun. They eventually ran off all of the climbing punks and the serious trad guys like myself and my climbing partner... we just gave up on it.

Today I go back there with a couple of local friends who are new to climbing. It's sort of sad to see what's left of RV - but it's provides some variety beyond climbing in my home cave.

The staff are very nice and accommodating. It would be great to see this become a real...