This place is great. Very friendly patrons and staff. The owner is very kind. Tyler at the front desk is wonderful.
Rylan Hunter
I caution those to read the 1 star reviews prior to attending this gym. For context: I'm an avid rock climber, have climbed for years now; done top rope and lead for quite a while, so I at least have an idea of what I'm talking about.If you read nothing else in this review: This place felt very unsafe as a rock gym. Also felt run down. I will not be returning. I don't like giving 1 star reviews, but with the safety concerns I think it's warranted here. Also, it doesn't appear to be written anywhere, but they will not do refunds.Safety issues:1) The carabiners for the climber to clip into didn't auto-lock, but in fact I struggled to engage the locking mechanism (they weren't the screw types, they were spring types who's inner workings felt very crusty and were hard to turn to 'lock').2) The way they showed people to belay is completely incorrect and absolutely asinine. They literally told people to just keep pulling up (they used the old-style gri-gris for those familiar with climbing gear). BUT THERE IS NO MENTION OF A BRAKE! Seriously? Like I get not everyone uses the P-BUS method (pull, BRAKE, under slide); something like waterfall is also perfectly safe, but like, they just told people to keep pulling slack through the old gri-gris, just pulling straight up! I literally saw one couple where the belay partner took his hands off the rope entirely to take photos of the other, who was climbing towards the top. COME ON. DO BETTER. BE BETTER. While yes, gri-gri's will cam upwards during event of a fall & pinch the rope, the user should ALWAYS have a hand in a break position.3) Several of the top ropes were 'stretchy' and way past time for replacement. My climbing partner took a fall and went WAY further than a good rope should stretch. And I had them on a pretty taut belay. Not to mention, on just about every rope, the sheath (the fabric-y part that you normally see) was separated from the core.4) There was no orientation or safety/knowledge/belay check. We just paid our day pass, and were told go have fun. I've had to prove to the staff at every other gym in Houston that I've climbed at that I at least possessed basic competency before being allowed to climb. Here they just let me go?Other non-safety comments:- Generally, the place just felt run down. Lighting is pretty much what you see in the pictures. Kinda dim overall. No sky-lights, just a couple of door windows.- The floors are buckling up at the seams (you can see this in some of the google pictures).- The gym is small, which, is what it is, but it was quite muggy & warm while I was in there (in the early spring).- None of the routes were labeled with any sense of difficulty. I only found a total of 2 labels in the entire gym. Some yellow tape on various rocks? But didn't see a chart suggesting that was for particular route difficulty. Honestly, maybe this place just caterers to the first time / one time climbers or perhaps just folks who boulder? Because the routes that did try felt pretty simple (5.8ish or lower).- The top-ropes were setup in a 'single-wrap' fashion, not 'double-wrap'. I suppose this one is down to preference, but the gym has ground anchors so at least the single wrap isn't a safety concern, though I personally prefer double-wrap.
Charles Spotswood
It's OK if you go online and reserve a session there's not really a point they just let people in as they come rentals were cheap good small place to do some quick in and out fun
Troy Cothran
Bought a gift card
Amy Losh
The scouts always love coming to rock climb
Chris
Great little climbing gym. Staff was super helpful and friendly during our session. Lots of different routes of varying difficulty and a big kids wall (for 7+). It is also inexpensive compared to other gyms in Houston. We’ll definitely be back.
Michelle Rodriguez
Worse experience ever, the staff was rude. The equipment is old and worn. The place is ridiculously small and none of the routes are labeled. The smell was disgusting and made us nauseous. The owner said that they are waiting on a shipment of equipment but had no time frame as to when it would come in. We were there for 5 minutes and decided that we didn’t feel safe climbing with their equipment. We asked for a refund and they said they couldn’t per their policy, which was not posted anywhere . I would highly recommend avoiding this place at all cost.
Michelle R.
Worse experience ever, the staff was rude. The equipment is old and worn. The place is ridiculously small and none of the routes are labeled. The smell was disgusting and made us nauseous. The owner said that they are waiting on a shipment of equipment but had no time frame as to when it would come in. We were there for 5 minutes and decided that we didn't feel safe climbing with their equipment. We asked for a refund and they said they couldn't per their policy, which was not posted anywhere . I would highly recommend avoiding this place at all cost.
Amy Le
Fun problems. Understaffed personnel, poor training for beginners, lack of downclimbing holds for bouldering section. Flooring is felt springboard taped together at the seams with portable pads that are worn out. I would come back to top rope but never to boulder again.
Amy L.
Fun routes but highly unsafe. Poor training instructions for beginner belayers. Only ever one person on duty at the sign in/waiver desk. Floors are hard felt springboards vs usual foot thick padding. Bouldering routes don't have downclimb holds. Movable crash pads are worn and not enough to accommodate gym capacity. Worth your time to drive into the city for better and safer gyms.
Not the nicest gym I’ve been to by any means, but the community within the gym is amazing and the owner is extremely nice. I mostly just boulder here but I’ve also done top rope with a buddy. And as i saw in another review I’ve never had equipment fail or had a hold spin and I’ve done every top rope route there apart from maybe 1 or 2.There are a large variety of bouldering problems but i will say it does not cater to beginners very much. The grades are sandbagged quite heavily when compared to other gyms in houston. When i was about 3 months in i could do a handful of V5 problems at Momentum Silver st in downtown but at the same time i was projecting V3’s at this gym.However it’s quite the opposite for the top rope routes, most of them are quite easy with most of the harder routes being the ones that require you to lead climb.Overall a great gym for 10$ a session with a super friendly community!
Michelle Henrich
I have been climbing for quite a few years — you could easily say it’s my passion, I’m in the climbing gym at least 3 days a week — and this was our first visit to Space City. To say the place is unsafe is an understatement.Let’s start with their equipment.The ropes haven’t been replaced in Lord knows how many years, and the Grigris (devise you use to lower the climber to the ground) were equally ancient. One such device didn’t even work, meaning it didn’t stop the climber from plummeting to the ground if they fell, which is what it is supposed to do.As far as routes go, they were nonexistent. At a normal climbing gym, the routes are labeled so you know which holds to use while climbing. This place just had random holds (all of which were worn smooth because of age) strewn everywhere, so if you were actually trying to climb a route, you were just guessing as to which holds to use. The holds also spin when you try to use them because the gym doesn’t put and anchor screw in them to prevent this. Again, go to any other gym (ANY), and every hold save for the tiniest foot chip will have an anchor screw.The floor mats were buckling as well, so people were constantly tripping over them…the list goes on and on.If you’ve never been climbing before and just want some place for your kids to run up and down a wall, this place suffices, but be warned from someone who climbs a lot, it is incredibly unsafe.For experienced climbers, avoid at all costs.
Kelli M.
To start the facility is very run down, you trip over the partially tapped down mats that are curling up. What really compelled me to write a review was that this could have been a good experience, despite the needed improvements to the facility, if the kid running it that day was even partially pleasant or helpful. He was put out by everything, kids partially running and walking, asking for help because you were new, making you wait to get set up while he attended to people that slowly trickled in after us. This actually would have been fine if he hadn't yelled at the kids, rolled his eyes at my friend and it hadn't taken 20 minutes just to check us in. Also a good cleaning would make you feel better, did not appear to have any cleaning done.
David Howell
This was my first time visiting a rock climbing gym, so I don't have anything to compare my experience to, but I'll do my best. My trip included myself and my 8 year old son.Bouldering and climbing is done on the walls with bouldering limited to climbing under a certain height without the use of the belay equipment. I found the bouldering both fun and challenging, but ended up upgrading to a full climbing pass for my son.Roughly half of the climbing area has belay equipment for the climbing pass, and the other half is for just bouldering with more technical routes available.There are no auto belays, so I wasn't able to take advantage of the full wall climbing, but my son loved it with me belaying him. It was a great bonding experience.The staff was great and friendly, and they did a great job instructing us how to utilize the belaying equipment we rented.
Rebecca Vanwinkle
Bought a single person day pass on Groupon, called to make a reservation and both people I spoke to were extremely rude/ didn’t want to be there. In addition you cannot rock climb unless you have a partner because they don’t have belays which they do not make apparent on their website at all. I got a refund , I’d rather pay more for a better establishment .
This place is great. Very friendly patrons and staff. The owner is very kind. Tyler at the front desk is wonderful.
I caution those to read the 1 star reviews prior to attending this gym. For context: I'm an avid rock climber, have climbed for years now; done top rope and lead for quite a while, so I at least have an idea of what I'm talking about.If you read nothing else in this review: This place felt very unsafe as a rock gym. Also felt run down. I will not be returning. I don't like giving 1 star reviews, but with the safety concerns I think it's warranted here. Also, it doesn't appear to be written anywhere, but they will not do refunds.Safety issues:1) The carabiners for the climber to clip into didn't auto-lock, but in fact I struggled to engage the locking mechanism (they weren't the screw types, they were spring types who's inner workings felt very crusty and were hard to turn to 'lock').2) The way they showed people to belay is completely incorrect and absolutely asinine. They literally told people to just keep pulling up (they used the old-style gri-gris for those familiar with climbing gear). BUT THERE IS NO MENTION OF A BRAKE! Seriously? Like I get not everyone uses the P-BUS method (pull, BRAKE, under slide); something like waterfall is also perfectly safe, but like, they just told people to keep pulling slack through the old gri-gris, just pulling straight up! I literally saw one couple where the belay partner took his hands off the rope entirely to take photos of the other, who was climbing towards the top. COME ON. DO BETTER. BE BETTER. While yes, gri-gri's will cam upwards during event of a fall & pinch the rope, the user should ALWAYS have a hand in a break position.3) Several of the top ropes were 'stretchy' and way past time for replacement. My climbing partner took a fall and went WAY further than a good rope should stretch. And I had them on a pretty taut belay. Not to mention, on just about every rope, the sheath (the fabric-y part that you normally see) was separated from the core.4) There was no orientation or safety/knowledge/belay check. We just paid our day pass, and were told go have fun. I've had to prove to the staff at every other gym in Houston that I've climbed at that I at least possessed basic competency before being allowed to climb. Here they just let me go?Other non-safety comments:- Generally, the place just felt run down. Lighting is pretty much what you see in the pictures. Kinda dim overall. No sky-lights, just a couple of door windows.- The floors are buckling up at the seams (you can see this in some of the google pictures).- The gym is small, which, is what it is, but it was quite muggy & warm while I was in there (in the early spring).- None of the routes were labeled with any sense of difficulty. I only found a total of 2 labels in the entire gym. Some yellow tape on various rocks? But didn't see a chart suggesting that was for particular route difficulty. Honestly, maybe this place just caterers to the first time / one time climbers or perhaps just folks who boulder? Because the routes that did try felt pretty simple (5.8ish or lower).- The top-ropes were setup in a 'single-wrap' fashion, not 'double-wrap'. I suppose this one is down to preference, but the gym has ground anchors so at least the single wrap isn't a safety concern, though I personally prefer double-wrap.
It's OK if you go online and reserve a session there's not really a point they just let people in as they come rentals were cheap good small place to do some quick in and out fun
Bought a gift card
The scouts always love coming to rock climb
Great little climbing gym. Staff was super helpful and friendly during our session. Lots of different routes of varying difficulty and a big kids wall (for 7+). It is also inexpensive compared to other gyms in Houston. We’ll definitely be back.
Worse experience ever, the staff was rude. The equipment is old and worn. The place is ridiculously small and none of the routes are labeled. The smell was disgusting and made us nauseous. The owner said that they are waiting on a shipment of equipment but had no time frame as to when it would come in. We were there for 5 minutes and decided that we didn’t feel safe climbing with their equipment. We asked for a refund and they said they couldn’t per their policy, which was not posted anywhere . I would highly recommend avoiding this place at all cost.
Worse experience ever, the staff was rude. The equipment is old and worn. The place is ridiculously small and none of the routes are labeled. The smell was disgusting and made us nauseous. The owner said that they are waiting on a shipment of equipment but had no time frame as to when it would come in. We were there for 5 minutes and decided that we didn't feel safe climbing with their equipment. We asked for a refund and they said they couldn't per their policy, which was not posted anywhere . I would highly recommend avoiding this place at all cost.
Fun problems. Understaffed personnel, poor training for beginners, lack of downclimbing holds for bouldering section. Flooring is felt springboard taped together at the seams with portable pads that are worn out. I would come back to top rope but never to boulder again.
Fun routes but highly unsafe. Poor training instructions for beginner belayers. Only ever one person on duty at the sign in/waiver desk. Floors are hard felt springboards vs usual foot thick padding. Bouldering routes don't have downclimb holds. Movable crash pads are worn and not enough to accommodate gym capacity. Worth your time to drive into the city for better and safer gyms.
Restaurantji Recommends
Not the nicest gym I’ve been to by any means, but the community within the gym is amazing and the owner is extremely nice. I mostly just boulder here but I’ve also done top rope with a buddy. And as i saw in another review I’ve never had equipment fail or had a hold spin and I’ve done every top rope route there apart from maybe 1 or 2.There are a large variety of bouldering problems but i will say it does not cater to beginners very much. The grades are sandbagged quite heavily when compared to other gyms in houston. When i was about 3 months in i could do a handful of V5 problems at Momentum Silver st in downtown but at the same time i was projecting V3’s at this gym.However it’s quite the opposite for the top rope routes, most of them are quite easy with most of the harder routes being the ones that require you to lead climb.Overall a great gym for 10$ a session with a super friendly community!
I have been climbing for quite a few years — you could easily say it’s my passion, I’m in the climbing gym at least 3 days a week — and this was our first visit to Space City. To say the place is unsafe is an understatement.Let’s start with their equipment.The ropes haven’t been replaced in Lord knows how many years, and the Grigris (devise you use to lower the climber to the ground) were equally ancient. One such device didn’t even work, meaning it didn’t stop the climber from plummeting to the ground if they fell, which is what it is supposed to do.As far as routes go, they were nonexistent. At a normal climbing gym, the routes are labeled so you know which holds to use while climbing. This place just had random holds (all of which were worn smooth because of age) strewn everywhere, so if you were actually trying to climb a route, you were just guessing as to which holds to use. The holds also spin when you try to use them because the gym doesn’t put and anchor screw in them to prevent this. Again, go to any other gym (ANY), and every hold save for the tiniest foot chip will have an anchor screw.The floor mats were buckling as well, so people were constantly tripping over them…the list goes on and on.If you’ve never been climbing before and just want some place for your kids to run up and down a wall, this place suffices, but be warned from someone who climbs a lot, it is incredibly unsafe.For experienced climbers, avoid at all costs.
To start the facility is very run down, you trip over the partially tapped down mats that are curling up. What really compelled me to write a review was that this could have been a good experience, despite the needed improvements to the facility, if the kid running it that day was even partially pleasant or helpful. He was put out by everything, kids partially running and walking, asking for help because you were new, making you wait to get set up while he attended to people that slowly trickled in after us. This actually would have been fine if he hadn't yelled at the kids, rolled his eyes at my friend and it hadn't taken 20 minutes just to check us in. Also a good cleaning would make you feel better, did not appear to have any cleaning done.
This was my first time visiting a rock climbing gym, so I don't have anything to compare my experience to, but I'll do my best. My trip included myself and my 8 year old son.Bouldering and climbing is done on the walls with bouldering limited to climbing under a certain height without the use of the belay equipment. I found the bouldering both fun and challenging, but ended up upgrading to a full climbing pass for my son.Roughly half of the climbing area has belay equipment for the climbing pass, and the other half is for just bouldering with more technical routes available.There are no auto belays, so I wasn't able to take advantage of the full wall climbing, but my son loved it with me belaying him. It was a great bonding experience.The staff was great and friendly, and they did a great job instructing us how to utilize the belaying equipment we rented.
Bought a single person day pass on Groupon, called to make a reservation and both people I spoke to were extremely rude/ didn’t want to be there. In addition you cannot rock climb unless you have a partner because they don’t have belays which they do not make apparent on their website at all. I got a refund , I’d rather pay more for a better establishment .