Hangar 18 Indoor Climbing Gym - Mission Viejo — Attraction in Mission Viejo

I've been intermittently climbing at Hangar 18 and have been going between the Orange location and the Mission Viejo one. I really enjoy the Mission one for a multitude of reasons. The gym is smaller here, but the community feels more tightly knit together. The walls scale up a good distance while still providing a unique feel and climbing type for every different wall. They've recently been adding World Cup weeklies, which have been a blast to do. They use the v-rating system as opposed to the color system, which I feel helps narrow down the difficulty of a climb so you can be more accurate with your time. Overall, Hangar 18 has an amazing community of climbers. The staff is super helpful, and the day passes are affordable. Definitely check out Mission's gym if you're in the area.

Update: Came back today after a month+ long break, and this place is still good! They've added some new staff members that are nice as always, and the routes seem to be getting more interesting too! Definitely not as packed as a few other climbing gyms I've been to while still offering top-quality climbs!

Update 4/2/24: Google wants me to update my review, but since it's only been a few months since my last review. Nothing has changed, but it has gotten a bit more busy here with lots of new climbers. It's not a bad thing, but it is definitely more packed than before. Still not as packed as the...

The staff was friendly and there was a cool atmosphere among the obvious regulars hanging out there. The routesetting seemed to be on point and I definitely enjoyed climbing most of the routes I did very much. Some guy brought his dog in to hang out, too, which was pretty cool.

On the other hand, the holds were filled with chalk and slippery- it doesn't seem that they switch routes a lot. The place is also very small, feeling crowded with just around 10 people in the gym. No showers like a lot...

The least pretentious gym I've ever belonged to. 😊 This gym has none of those extra flourishings like yoga or a sauna or slacklining - it's just bouldering and I love it!!! Great route-setting, great staff, much cheaper than any other gym I've belonged to ($18 first month membership on Tuesdays, includes a guest pass every month). A section of the gym is reset every Thursday. Membership gets you into any...