Brooklyn Boulders Chicago: West Loop — Local services in West Chicago Township

We went on Saturday for the Learn the Ropes course via LivingSocial. Our instructor was Paul, who was thorough. They taught you all the basics of CLimbing 101. However, they did not teach you how to use an auto-belay, which I was a bit disappointed about. Front desk staff was friendly, well-informed, and helpful. However, they don't mention bringing a lock to keep your belongings safe, so FYI bring a lock! We loved it so much, we purchased the special deal they had for one month's membership for $30 which was suppose to come with two guests passes per month as well a return day pass with all gear included. However, again, since we went mid-September, they don't mention that it cannot start the next day, it has to be a full month, ie Oct 1- Oct 31st. So we ended up paying for the last half of Sept, as a prorate, which we were fine with because we really enjoyed the activity. But that might be a not so fun surprise for others. There is plenty of FREE street parking WEST of Racine. It's nice that they are open til midnight. Avoid Tuesday nights as that's the night of their meetups, so they bring in about 60-70 women = limited number of paths available for beginners like myself. They have sinks right by the mezzanine, so the bathrooms don't get overcrowded. I dow ish the staff would all wear the same shirts so that you could tell who is staff from the clients. They have free WiFi, a work area, weights, ping pong table, a yoga studio (all of which I intend to utilize!). I am pretty pumped about the individual challenges - both mental and physical, the trust and communication I will build with my fellow belayers, and building up my physique! For those who return a different day, it is $5 harness rental and $5 shoe...

The gym is very poorly run and there is a huge disconnect between employees at the gym and corporate. I signed up for their program called 'Beginners to Badass,' which is an intro to climbing. I didn't feel comfortable climbing without some sort of instruction first, so I let them know that I would want my membership to start with that class. The person at the front desk had no problem signing me up and telling me that he'd officially start my membership the following week when they offered the intro class. The day before my class, I get a notification that the class is cancelled because not enough people signed up. I was not able to change this in the app that the company uses, so I called in and asked to be rescheduled and also have my membership start on the new class date. Fast forward a couple months. I haven't used the gym nearly as much as I thought I would, so I cancel on December 12th. While they were able to sign me up for classes at the front desk, and change my class over the phone, they insisted that the only way to cancel was through email, so that is what I did. 13 days later, I got charged for another month of membership and their claim is that I needed to cancel 15 days in advance. With my first class being on November 8th, I was assured that would be my start date for the membership. I was charged on Oct 25, Nov 25, and Dec 25th despite clear communication that I wanted my membership to start on the day I took my intro class. The response time for any type of support is quite slow for only having 2 locations. I would recommend finding a different gym that is better equipped to provide support, especially if you are new...

Nice little gym with friendly staff and hard problems! I only did the bouldering so this review doesn't include the lead or top rope. Problems were way harder than at First Ascent- I could do V5s over there but I couldn't send any V4s here. But harder grading is fine if you want to challenge yourself! The gym had a vintage feel with lots of historic looking furniture which was neat. Bathrooms and facilities were clean and there was a nice drink machine where you could get different flavored water.

There were some issues with volumes that were fraying and clearly too old to be in use. One red volume had huge splinters peeling off the top and it was dangerous for climbers to be near. Honestly it's the only reason I had to give 4 stars instead of 5. Those volumes need to be replaced. There were also some large holds set very close to the mats which poses another safety issue for climbers who might fall on them. Especially large holds sticking out beneath a risky or dynamic move set high on the wall. This kind of reckless setting puts climbers at risk and I did fall onto one of them today. A lesser issue was the cleanliness of the mats and holds- they are coated with chalk and shoe rubber and just need to be...