Philadelphia Rock Gyms - East Falls — Attraction in Philadelphia

This place is kind of like the dive bar of climbing gyms.

It has a good variety of bouldering, but-

-It uses tape to indicate the problem, which would take some getting used to. I struggled with this a little bit and needed to re-start my climb a few times because I couldn't tell where I was climbing. Some may not mind this or ever prefer it, but I did not like it.

-They appear to have down-climb handles, but they kind of just blend in. This is dangerous, in my opinion. Down-climb holds should be very easily identified, not just another color of a hold.

-Some of the boulder problems are 4 months old. That is unacceptable, in my opinion. That is way too long to keep a problem up.

-THE MATS. THE MATS STINK. The mats have a chemical-y smell to them that, frankly, smells like piss. My towel after my shower when I got home reeked, as did all of my clothes. I won't be coming back here for this reason alone. The gym has the same, slight odor to it, and it's nasty.

The ropes. This is not a rope gym, and the space dedicated to ropes is wasted. The rope walls are barely taller than the bouldering walls. The space would be better utilized for additional bouldering. Do not come to this gym wanting to do ropes, it will be a waste of your time. They do have some "lead" walls, but again, they are so short and are not worth your time.

The training equipment is fine, I guess. A little run down, but that goes with the "dive bar" vibe of the place. Limited weight selection, a single squat rack/ pull up bar. They do have campus boards and a tension board but no spray wall, kilter board, or moon board.

The signage for the place could be a little better as well. It took me an extra loop around the block to find the entrance, a sign out front on the main road pointing to the gym would go a long way.

The price for a day pass is 23 bucks, and a membership is 70. You will have access to all PRG gyms, so perhaps the other ones are better. In a world where Reach Climbing and Fitness is only a 20 minute drive down the road, I have a hard time justifying coming to PRG East Falls instead of Reach. At least you won't leave reeking of piss.

PRG East Falls is what it looks like in its pictures. Kind of a shitty, local bouldering gym that's part of the greater PRG chain. If you're interested in checking out climbing for the first time, sure, maybe this place is decent. If you're anything beyond a beginner climber, just go to Reach, it's worth the extra distance (take the region rail if you need to) and few...

Not for little kids.

Brought my 1.5 and 3.5 yro children for the first time and initially was charged full adult price $19 per each. The gym was almost empty. Staff was friendly and accommodating - after they notice the 1.5 yro can not really climb the fee was dropped. The 3.5 boy climbed 2 toprope routes and said the routes were fun (animal faces) but difficult (was not able to complete). He is not new to climbing and used to climb kids routes the different gym. He also made a few attempts to reach the tops of the bouldering problems then got discouraged by the signs prohibiting climbing all the way out and walk down the stairs. We spent around 2 hours there including the belay test and waivers and decided to leave after someone (politely) asked us to stay away from the slackline.

Besides the high price a couple of irritating things also included: the age restriction to use slack line (16) which by the way was setup right in the middle of that kids part of the gym - my guys love walking the slackline at our yard with me holding their hands and just were impossible to explain why this one is not allowed;

and what is that “do not top out” warning in same kids section (although there is a side steps which every kid wants to explore).

Suggest to adjust the fee for little guys (unless you really don’t want them and their families there), relocate that slackline kids attraction in a different spot instead of policing it, and block the stairs if you don’t want kids to top out the wall.

The staff member Derek was great by the way - explained the options, invited to join the toddler classes, tested the belay skills etc. but nevertheless we left with the feeling that we received a huge favor by not having to pay for my 1.5 yro daughter. :)

We may come back again with adjusted expectations to try the formal climbing classes but definitely not for the...

I've been to about 25 gyms across the country and this was one of the worst for the money.

Before the climbing began we had to fill out wavers which is pretty standard. They had tablets for this purpose which were cheap chalk filled peices of garbage that couldn't recognize touch commands. After 10 minutes playing fiddling with these we were informed we'd have to take a bouldering class for $45 dollars to climb unless we were experts.

I was able to opt out of the class and just take a test since I'd climbed for a decade. My gf decided to just watch instead of paying the fee.

The climbing was ok. Setting wasn't inventive and holds were pretty old and not well maintained. Most of the grades were illegible because the sharpie had rubbed off the tape.

Once we were don't we went to change in the 'locker room'. Which was really hurt a bathroom with nowhere to put your stuff.

For $25 dollars for a no rental day fee, this is probably the worst value in the country. Oh, and it's situated in a pretty bad neighborhood of Philly.

We left with no goodbye from the staff to...