The Gravity Vault Middletown, NJ — Local services in Middletown Township

Annual member here and have visited six different Gravity Vault (GV) locations. This location has a very nice staff and decent variety in walls - I love the two archway/chimneys in the top rope section. They also have a slackline always set up which is nice. While this one is the closest GV to me, I prefer other locations. Bouldering section needs wall to wall pads - this is the only GV location I've been to that still uses crash pads. Given some of the angles of walls and the amount of people bouldering, it's often hard to keep the crash pad in the correct spot and any traversal problem leads to gaps in pads = higher chance of getting hurt. My only other gripe is the AC system. In the summer there are sections of top rope area that get really hot two thirds of the way up. The returns for the AC system are too low to pull in the hot air at the top. Also on hot days the bouldering area can get pretty stagnant. They do have portable fans you can move around, but most gyms utilize large industrial size ceiling fans to move a lot of air. If these problems were addressed, I would definitely come here more often. But until then, I'll continue to use the Flemington location as my number one gym, and the Brick location...

This place is not bad. It's nowhere near the best gym I've been to (Vital in Williamsburg, Brooklyn!). I go mainly because of proximity. I have one major complaint in particular: the floor in the bouldering area. The floor itself is just foam pads that are literally connected with tape, and the tape is failing in the high-trafficked areas. This foam is not intended for falling on, though. This is the only climbing gym I've ever been to (and I've been to many) that uses crash mats instead of having the entire floor be fall-safe. If that were the extent of the problem, I'd say ok fine, four stars. But the mats are in terrible condition. Some of them are so beaten up that they're barely better than just falling on the foam floor surface. And it's been that way for the two or so years I've been climbing here. The lack of attention to this problem is a bit galling to me. Otherwise: There's some good route setting, and the staff is quite friendly! I've heard some folks complain about the infrequency with which the problems are changed out, but it's not a huge deal to me, given that I can always try harder stuff. The number one thing this gym could do to improve, in my opinion, is to fix the problem I...

Extremely well maintained, very clean, new routes are always being set so the place never gets boring, grades from 5.8 to 5.13 on top rope / lead, V0 to V8 on bouldering, and a great set of kids’ walls and games if you have a kid to do a birthday party for. I don’t have kids but the birthday parties always seem great. I’ve been going for years, in that time they’ve been doing yoga once or twice a week most of the time (which is free when you’ve bought a day pass or have a membership), they’ve had a handful of gear demos a year, and they have very regular belay classes, lead classes, and technique classes. The staff are all always very friendly and helpful. They also have a slack line they set up every Thursday. It’s my favorite climbing gym in the area. Others have other strengths but this one is by far the most well rounded and well maintained within an hour...