Beest Boulders het Lab Amsterdam — Local services in Amsterdam

I spent the a few days visiting friends in Amsterdam and visited a couple of walls whilst I was here. I'm pleased to say that I only have one minor gripe with Het Lab which is that the grading/colour coded circuit system wasn't all that straight forwards for a first time user. I'm sure I'd get used to it though.

The central staff area/island had a Mos Eisley cantina bar '2.0 version' thing going on which really sets the place off nicely and really sets a tone for the rest of the centre - curved, light and airy with no dark, dingy corners. The staff were friendly, the coffee was spot on - all this going for it and I've not even started climbing yet!

The atmosphere - even though it wasn't super busy - was nice/warm/friendly. The training area had a decent array of equipment which means you could easily shoe horn in a make shift circuit before/after climbing. Plus, there's a slack line for really honing those fine motor skills and balance.

Route setting is pretty subjective so all I'll say is that I enjoyed what I got on and that there were a couple of stand out problems for me - which is a good thing. It's all hooks to bring you back, right!?

In short, if I were living in Amsterdam I'd be looking at membership options at Het Lab first...

It's a very nice bouldering hall indeed, however my last time there left me with an unpleasant aftertaste. My bouldering partner made the booking and the reception confronted us claiming we double-booked the reservation, which never happened since we checked the email and even if it happened it would of course have been unintentionally. I found the behavior rather rude I must say, while she was pointing out repeatedly the money that they are forced to lose now that we made the wrong booking, in a rather scolding way... As if we didn't understand what happened and as if we did this on purpose. Above that, our ears almost bled on the noise of screwdrivers screeching during our whole stay there since they decided it's a good idea to renew some of the Boulder routes while people were actually bouldering! I found it very unprofessional and disturbing and also as a beginner I could only do very certain routes which at that time were being renewed so I was just left out doing one route or something. I don't know if this is the case or not to renew the bouldering walls while people are bouldering but it surely does not guarantee a pleasant bouldering experience and a pity for the...

As a climber I went there to discover the boulder gym - on pictures you can see that the location has an incredible potential to climb.

But once there, the first challenge is to understand the grading system : complex and not convenient at all which should not be that hard to map out ...

When it comes to the boulder setting - very low quality... I am wondering if they have proper setters - which is a pity when you pay 10eur the entrance - you expect them to put efforts on how the boulder problems are set. Very reachy & physical - you can definitely see that there is a lack of knowledge on how to set ! Missing foot holds - repetitive moves - very weird starts moves - wrong orientations on the holds... again such a pity for a location with this potential ! Also, variety on the moves and prehension with the holds is poor for a boulder gym.

We had a some snacks they were good but a bit pricy.

Overall if you want to have a great climbing/ boulder session - better to go to Mountain Network or Monk without...