Sportrock Climbing Centers — Local services in Gaithersburg

I'm a climber. My home gym is Movement in Columbia. Some love it and some hate it. But a bunch of us who gather there headed to SR Rio for a change of pace. It was definitely different than the local Movement gyms.

It was built in what used to be a pool/swimming area. That, at the least, makes the entire environment different and interesting. It did take us all a few minutes and laps around the entire gym to find our way around. There are two floors (at least we only saw two floors) and the ways to get up and down are kinda hidden. But it's a cool looking layout, mainly because it's the remnants of the previous swim center.

The climbs were different. The holds, ALL of them, were much more sticky (read: very new and raw feeling) than anywhere else I've ever been. In the main bouldering area upstairs most of the climbs lead to top-outs. If you're not comfortable climbing up and over the 'roof', then you'd better get used to it before you head here, if you're gonna boulder in that area.

The ropes walls in the main area were crazy high, 60 feet I think I was told. Nice routes and a nice variety of them. One very cool note: The main ropes area overlooks a huge glass wall, the one you can see from Rt. 270. Climb up, turn around and have a look at traffic zooming along from up high. Very nice view.

My main issues are 1) Almost no down-climbing holds. A few on the tops of most of the problems, but there should be a LOT more going much further down. Nobody should have to jump more than a few feet off of the problems to the ground. That's just bad practice. 2) The other thing that is admittedly a me thing is that the entire look, to me, makes the gym appear to be focused very much on kids. Everything from bright primary colors (holds and everything) to the signs (which need really really to be updated from the old swim center). Oh and 3) the problems were really confusing. The way they mark the starts, holds, and ends is not at all obvious. Our group several times stood in front of a few problems discussing where they might go. That's not right --- this stuff should be absolutely obvious for beginners, let alone for a group with a combined 20-25 years of climbing experience.

It's a nice place, don't get me wrong. Just not my personal style of climbing gym. I may try it again in a year or so; things may change since they just...

Outstanding experience all across the board! The staff at SR Rio are generally amazing, with Lily in particular going the extra mile to make every day in the gym a wonderful experience. As my friends and I are all going away to college soon, we'll be missing the upcoming plant swap event (the first Tuesday of every month!) in which you have the opportunity to use retired climbing rope to make plant pots, and Lily, unprompted and so very generously, offered to pull out the materials to let us do it before our last day in the gym. We also had an awesome time climbing and trying various betas with Greg, another staff member here at SR Rio. Safe to say, my climbing group and I are sure to be long-time patrons.

This facility is a joy to climb at, with their huge selection of varied skill level and skill type bouldering/top rope routes. Not only do they have multiple bouldering AND top rope areas, but they also have mixed overhang areas, kiltered sections (and two kilter boards), and climbs that challenge you in refreshingly new ways every time. There is simply so much to try here, I cannot stress this enough.

While admittedly, some of the routes stay up for a solid stretch of time, they're also consistently exchanging others, which gives climbers a chance to finally complete long-time projects while still getting a chance to put new skills to the test. I've really appreciated the pace at which they reset climbs! I also really appreciate how clean and neat the gym is! All top ropes are neatly tied up overnight, and any chalk on the mats one day will be completely gone the next-- the same goes for the climbs themselves. All new routes are placed with pristine holds, and the wall itself cleaned as well. Not to mention, the bathroom facilities are also top-notch in cleanliness and design.

As a college climber, I will miss being spoiled by the wonderful facilities on offer and the vast array of climbs while away during the school year, but will be sure to make the trip back in the...

Sportrock Rio has changed my life for the better. My wife and I first started coming to Sportrock after a hiking/scrambling incident where she didn't feel comfortable scaling the ridge of a well known butte in a National Park. After taking the intro to climbing class, she convinced me to do the same. We liked the class, but we weren't in shape, and we weren't that into climbing because of our lack of conditioning. We were lucky if we could scale a 5.6/5.7 at that time. We had been looking for a new place to do yoga, so we signed up and began going to yoga twice a week, and climbing top rope once or twice a week. After about three months, I sat down with my wife and we had a serious conversation about our health and longevity. We decided that now was the time to improve our health outcomes, and that we were going to make climbing our workout of choice since cycling alone wasn't doing it for us. Fast forward about six months and we are now daily (more often twice daily) climbers, sauna users, and yoga students. We have much better endurance, and our conditioning is far better than it was at the beginning of the year. With patience and sometimes a little "beta" we are climbing 5.10/5.11/5.12 routes on top rope and on lead. In addition to our time at Sportrock, we are eating better/smarter and we are both at heathly body weights again. My wife has lost some weight and gained a decent of muscle, while i've lost nearly 90 pounds (i was fairly obese in December) and gained a large amount of muscle. I love how Sportrock has enabled me to achieve my goals and have fun solving puzzles at the same time. I'll never be a world-class climber, but I know i've found a new home at Sportrock, and I'm forever grateful to them for helping me along...