Shaker Rocks — Local services in Shaker Heights

First time at this gym and the experience was pretty terrible. I’m a fairly new climber visiting from Vegas and thought i’d check this place out. Upon walking in I already felt like the vibes were off. As other reviewers said, this place felt very commercial. Don’t get me wrong the place was very clean but something just immediately felt off. During the check in process the staff member helping us out seemed annoyed by us and kept questioning us over and over. He just kept assuming that we were minors and that we have never been climbing before. He also just seemed annoyed that we’re were taking us his time in general. I just brushed it off at first and went on with my session. The gym was very crowded and there was very limited parking. Like super limited. Half of the parking in the lot was reserved for apartment residents which I thought was bizarre. Once we started climbing I was having a good time. The routes were pretty well set and there was good variety and the routes were very easy to follow as opposed to tape marked routes that have been at other gyms. There were lots of top rope/lead routes but not a whole bunch of bouldering options. Aside from the gym itself which was pretty great. The customers and staff were not. Now obviously this is a review for the business but I just felt so incredibly judged by the other climbers it was so off putting. Definitely an elitist atmosphere and super super unwelcoming. As someone visiting from vegas, this felt very weird. There are amazing climbers and pros that are members at my home gym and they are so kind and helpful but the climbers here were not. All I got were dirty looks and rude comments. But what was even worse was the staff. A staff member came up to us and moved our chalk bag and told us it couldn’t be on the mat. I totally understand it’s the rules but the only issue is I didn’t see one sign in the gym that said no chalk on mats. I saw a few signs that said no loose chalk and we had a chalk ball in a bag. Plus everyone else clearly had loose chalk. When we told this staff member that we didn’t know he got snippy and said there were signs everywhere about it. If this was such an important rule they would have more than a few small signs and I would expect them to verbally tell us too but whatever. Idk i’ve just never been to a gym that doesn’t allow chalk on the mats. We’re climbing what do you expect? I get that it can make the mats look dirty or whatever but it just adds to the elitist complex. At another point we were upstairs using the auto-belays and another climber had let go of the line before clipping it in. When the staff members came upstairs to get it back down, they were snippy with us and telling us we shouldn’t unhook it before hooking into our harness but It was not even us who touched it? When we told them it was another visitor who did it they just said okay but be more careful? So weird. This place is also extremely overpriced. Everything about this place completely ruined the session for me. Everyone there needs a reality check and needs to chill out. Climbing is something I do to clear my head and I do it for fun/fitness. The whole time I was here I was on edge. I felt like one wrong move and I would get scolded by the unfriendly staff. This place needs an...

The gym is very well put together with several great options for climbing. The BIG negative for me is that the options for kids is VERY limited.

I took my 4.5-year old daughter there today and I was surprised at the lack of child-friendly routes. I saw a few kids that looked around my daughter's age so I assumed there were a few options for her, and I paid the $29 (which is the only option to pay for myself and my daughter even though I had no intention to climb). I paid $20 plus rentals for my daughter, her entrance was free, but I did not plan on climbing so since there are zero options for a child under 5 to climb I had to pay the full adult fee.

My daughter loooooves to climb the jungle gyms and spider web nets at the local parks so, she has some decent climbing skills, and she even beats kids a year older than her often. But here she struggled to make it to my 6' height off the ground. In fact, without my help, she wouldn't have even made it off ground level really.

I know there are places that are dedicated to providing a high-quality experience for individuals interested in certain sports. This is one of those places. The staff were incredibly nice and welcoming (Tessa I think). She helped us get situated and she was very helpful. The facility was very clean and well-maintained. The rental equipment was also in fantastic condition and the auto-belay system worked great.

The issue is, at this stage of my life, mid 30s, most of what I do has my family in mind. What I want to do, I want my daughter to learn to do. Climbing is something I did a lot of years ago and I hoped she would have some fun here. Not the case. Definitely the wrong climbing gym to introduce little ones to the sport. I have been to other gyms that have had several areas designed for introducing little kids to the sport.

TLDR: If your climbing group consists of late teenagers and above you'll have a fantastic time in this clean, well-equipped climbing gym.

If your climbing group includes anyone in the training wheels to pre-teen group you could possibly end up spending $30 to let your child struggle to climb 5 feet off the ground and then give up after 45 minutes and just go home.

Picture: my daughter shown trying one of the easiest (V0) routes.

*note: we only made it through the bouldering options, and my daughter was too upset to try any harnessed routes. I do not know if there were any easier (V0 is already supposed to be the easiest) harnessed routes that she...

I will preface this with the fact that I am a visitor from Las Vegas and I climb frequently at multiple gyms in Vegas with my partner so I know what a good experience looks like. This place is not worth it for the day pass. The staff is extremely rude to the point that they move your stuff and won’t even speak to you when you ask them questions. They lazily point you to a corner to watch a video and then when you come back to be instructed to find shoes and a harness they ignore you until you bother them again and then they get rude and snippy with you and hand you a harness. Then they don’t even teach you how to use the harness (I had two new climbers in my group) or give you pointers on where stuff is in the gym. I had my chalk ball in a bag that they moved off the mat and said that it wasn’t allowed on the mat. I was never told this and there’s only one sign that said it that was covered up. I had apologized to this employee and they were completely rude and grabbed my bag, moved it and rolled his eyes and raised his voice and said “there are signs” and stomped off. Additionally I was upstairs using the auto-belay and someone else’s kid didn’t reattach the auto-belay so a worker came up and had to climb for it and they accused my group of doing it. We said we didn’t and the guy rolled his eyes at us and stomped off. I even wanted to buy merchandise (a shirt and some snacks for the other members in my group) but the staff was so completely rude and inattentive that I just didn’t even bother asking them again for anything. Don’t even get my started about asking them to care enough to check us out. It was like pulling teeth to check in and check out of this place. Might as well been people off the street with no manners at all running this place!!! Would recommend any other gym! The price is horrible for just a day pass and rentals especially for just an okay gym. The routes are fine but everything else about the elitist and unwelcoming and astronomically rude staff definitely not...