Central Rock Gym — Attraction in Doraville

Atlanta's newest rock climbing gym. Part of the incredible Stone summit chain, this bouldering only gym has four caves, two slabs, and possibly the best route setting on the east coast. Walls are by waltopia and the holds are very good quality, they have the best volumes. The wall texture volume texture and hold texture is very new and rough, takes a lot of skin. Right now December 2022 they have the opening set, which I hope will be indicative of future route setting, but right now it's phenomenal with half a dozen dynamic moves, dozens of mantles and heel hooks and everything you could want for a great training session. The facility itself is built in an old shipping center, the walls are not quite as tall as the other gyms, and the ceiling is a little low, but it does not seem to affect the quality of the route setting. This is a bare Bones gym, they have a spray wall in the back with a tension board, campus boards, and a good variety of training boards overall. They also have a freestanding pull up bar which can be used for muscle ups and things like that. The gym is small and it does not appear there is a yoga room or a party room. This Jim is set up to train hard climbing and comp style climbing. There is a large section of the wall that is reserved for training the comp kids weekdays for certain hours and will be closed to the public. Stone summit is one of the most important feeder gyms for the USA climbing team and professional climbing teams in this country. The variety of holds and quantity of problems is impressive. Currently they do not have snacks or drinks, only a water fountain and chalk for sale. They have very nice showers, but there is no soap. The amenities are limited but the quality of the climbing is excellent. I hope they can maintain the quality of route setting that is currently there with the...

I was excited to come climb with a friend who is a member at the new bouldering gym. When I got to the check in desk, the employees mentioned that I had been to Stone Summit recently. I was confused because I had never been to this gym before, and told them I was confused. They told me that I had been to SS Midtown on the first of the month and that they had begun tracking guests visiting SS. Since I had been to any location in the past 30 days, I was not allowed to use a guest pass. It didn’t matter that I was with different friend and at a completely different gym three weeks prior; this member was not allowed to use their guest pass on me. I would be unable to use any guest pass until that 30 days had ended.

In questioning how this made sense, they said people had been abusing the guest pass system. “People had been coming in to the gym and asking any member to use their guest pass on them.” They put in place this policy around the start of 2023 to combat it.

While it is interesting to use your guest pass on someone in that way, how is it abusing the system? Members pay a monthly fee and are allotted one guest pass a month, it’s their decision who to use their guest pass on. If they want to use it on someone in that capacity, that is their choice. If they want to use it on the same friend at the end of one month and then again at the start of the next, how is that an abuse of the system?

These gyms are great places to build community and relationships so it’s just odd to me that they would put in place a new policy that tracks their guests across all locations and limits who members can bring and when. I don’t understand how this would be inviting to new climbers or how it could provide a welcoming experience to people who are excited to climb for the second...

I started my rock climbing journey in Atlanta about 4 years ago at Stone Summit, and coming back, I can see why I didn’t get so far into the sport as I did when I came to Seattle. Stone Summit does a good job of creating an atmosphere and a gym for climbers to call home, but the route setting doesn’t have a good progression of difficulties. At the gyms where I got much better at climbing in Seattle the past few years, there is a solid progression of difficulties in routes, with a plethora of easy, easy-to-moderate, and moderate routes for beginners to develop their skills. This progression of routes are why I think I got much better climbing in Seattle the past few years. I don’t think I would have been able to grow as well as a climber with Stone Summit because their gym is not like this. Their V1-V2s get difficult pretty quickly, and by V3-V4, routes are very challenging. I could climb these routes because of my time in Seattle, but I essentially felt like I had no warm up routes. I think Stone Summit could do a better job at providing a progression of difficulties - this would allow climbers to develop their skills and break into the higher tier difficulty of routes a lot better over time.

Although my review is critical I want to give you 4 stars because I can tell there is effort put forth into this gym and I want Atlanta to have a welcoming and solid community of climbers. Happy...