Bend Rock Gym — Local services in Bend

Really cool climbing gym but extremely soft grading for TR.

We climbed here while visiting from NY and were seriously impressed with the size of this gym. Unfortunately there was a large discrepancy in the 5.11 grading. One white 5.11 on the back wall climbed like a 5.8-5.9 warm up, and another yellow 5.11 climbed like a 5.10a or b, another red 5.11 climbed like a 5.10 as well. These weren’t just the only ones, there was a shocking amount of easy/non-technical 5.11s.

Looking past grades, the creativity when route setting is lost in some aspects. Most climbs did not require technical climbing knowledge or skill, for the majority of these climbs the only move was to simply reach up. Perhaps my local gym has us spoiled in this regard. I’m use to projecting all 5.11s in my gym. These 5.11s require you to become a contortionist with a great deal of balance. You need to plan your moves, precision, dead points, dynos, compression, flexibility & finger strength (it’s RARE you see any jugs on a 5.11 climb). The difficulty did increase with the 5.12s -so perhaps those are the climbs that are more technical here? Not sure.

For me, half the fun of an intermediate climb set well is the very specific sequence, body movement with body tension required in order to send the climb.

I expected a gym being so close to an outdoor climbing area known to be stiff (similar to the Gunks) to have a more rigid grading structure. The 5.11s here were fun to climb but it was a shame that they didn’t feel like a choreographed dance on the wall.

It’s okay to make climbs more stiff and grade them in how they climb vs the intentional climb. Harder grades humble people and inspire people to push their limits. Anyway, hope this review wasn’t too harsh. Looking forward to taking...

Went for the first time yesterday and was pleased with our experience. We’re a family of 5, all brand new to rock climbing, so we just opted for our kids to give it a try - they’re 6, 10 and 14. The staff were all super friendly and very helpful to get our kids up and climbing.

They have several options, from areas that require two people (one to belay), to areas that have auto-belays (great for newbies like us as well as folks climbing without a partner), and then they have boulder areas that folks can climb without clipping in, but JFYI it’s for folks 10+ unless you have adult supervision. They also had other little areas for various types of training/endurance, although I’m not sure what the technical terms are.

The only info that would have been helpful to have on the website is info about shoe/equipment rental - they do have shoes you can rent for $10 when you are buying a day pass, and they help fit you with the climbing harness. Rookie mistake we made was not buying chalk for the kids to use on their hands, so that’s something to look into as well if you’re new to this and don’t realize...

I'm a first time climber and went with my sister who goes often. The simplicity is very nice, just sign a waiver, grab some shoes and a harness and you're off to the races. There's a massive amount of walls to climb ranging from kids level to expert, with the expert levels being changed periodically to give experienced climbers new avenues to explore.

I stayed on the auto-belay walls that allow you to completely let go at any height and gracefully rappel to the ground. Each wall is marked with a difficulty and a corresponding color to follow up. For example, blue holds show a path going up on one wall while green shows another. Besides the main color holds there are much smaller, harder holds in case you want to challenge yourself on the way up by avoiding the main course and using alternate routes.

The whole facility is clean and well kept, with a very friendly staff to help you along the way.

I would have loved to stay longer but my arms were giving out...next time I hope to conquer more...