Vertical Endeavors - Bloomington

This used to be my home gym before I moved out of state, and OMG do I miss it! I've climbed in gyms in a few states, and Vertical Endeavors is the best out there. The route setting is definitely the most skillful I've experienced. It's fun, but also cerebral. Lots of different wall angles, cracks, dihedrals, and a large natural texture wall. Also, I believe there are about 25 auto belays, which is great when you don't have a partner. This is huge compared to what gyms in other states offer. I climb in a "world class" gym in a western state now, and they are vey proud of their 5 auto belays. This gym doesn't bother with cafes, table games and other wasteful stull. It's all about good climbing. Minnesotans, you a very lucky!

My wife and I are brand new to climbing, and this was a nice place to go climb. They have all the gear for rent and you can also buy the gear if you want. Lots of different walls to climb so you can do it for a while without getting bored.

Staff is so rude! I’m just waiting for my membership to expire. I won’t ever renew it until they hire adults that know how to smile and be nice.I have been a member for years! I have no idea what happened with the new people they hired.Just plain AWFUL!

Staff on the night of Feb 7th 2020 was arrogant, rude, and condescending. I am a frequent climber and brought a friend who is new to the activity. I was embarrassed by the staff's behavior. Will not be coming back nor introducing new people to this gym.

This location was very organized and clean. There were plenty of things to climb for my 8 year old son. He spent hours in the facility and didn't get bored. The only thing that could be better is the price structure and an employee instructor to help u.

I have been going for about 6 months and is always greated with a smile. The staff showed us how to use the auto belay and there is alway other experience climbers to help if something looks wrong. No they do not have enough staff to give you personal climbing lessons. As far as the test they go by the book and those who did not pass because they did not communicate with the climber is there problem. They have a sheet telling you exactly what the test requirement and that includes doing harness checks and doing verbal communication such as saying climb on when the belayer is ready. If you start climbing before the person is ready and you fall who fault is that. The climber. Most of these people complain because they felt that because they climb they did not have to pratice the gym rules and that is that when you belay someone you do anyway they want to. They want to be extra safe and people who have a problem with that maybe should not being climbing to begin with since a small mistake can be deadly even in a gym. Meanwhile I was there for a Veterans recreational outing and we came one day a week for 4 week and had two 4 day session a year. Those who were in the session before and had some experience they allowed us all who wanted to be taught how to belay and how to back each up doing it.They did not require us to take there course or pay for it. When I did my test there was no problems because I knew what they required to pass because it tells you right on the sheet of there testing requirements. Meanwhile even if you fail the test about 40% of the climb are auto belay so the only reason lost there money is because they went home in a suff. If you fail the test you can do again the next day. They do not charge to take the test. So maybe people who think they are so good might look at there sheet first and follow it. Every place has there own rules and that depends on the safety needed with the ratio of climber and staff. When you have a gym full of climbers and there are 4 staff people around they cannot be in every room because you did not pay attention during the instructions they give you to get going. Again people blaming other for there failures.

Don’t go here if you are trying to introduce your kids to a new sport. Three different staff were condescending and rude to us. They are not interested in educating people on climbing. No kid communication skills at all. The one person that was great checked us in and was awesome with getting kids excited about climbing. Unfortunately she was on crutches so she wasn’t in the gym. We will not be returning to this gym. We love the staff at the Nicollet Ave VE and prefer to not be treated like we are idiots.

My partner and I came from out of town and we decided to visit Vertical Endeavors for a session. To preface, I’ve been climbing indoors for a couple years and my partner a year. We came in to top rope and we’ve been certified at other gyms.The pros:- Facility was pretty clean- the climbs were fun and well-rated.- day pass wasn’t too expensiveThe cons:- The orientation took forever. Even though we weren’t going to use auto belays we had to go through how to use them and the bouldering section. It took half an hour to do the orientation before we could even take our top rope test. It was almost an hour before we even started climbing- My partner and I have a significant weight difference. The staff member who tested us said we should twist the ropes to increase the friction For catches on top rope.That’s totally unnecessary and wears the rope out faster. Im a comfortable belayer and ok being yanked in the air a little.- My biggest complaint is they have this fake rubber mulch material on the ground for safety. Because of it you can’t walk around barefoot or in socks. With my tight climbing shoes I had to leave the gym floor between routes to take off my shoes and waste time. Also all this mulch material stains your hands, and it gets kicked all over the lobby. They should just have a padded floor Like in the bouldering areas. If you ground fall on top rope rubber mulch won’t help anything. Poor choice of material in my opinion.- cubbies are too small for bags.- the gym is very poorly lit. It should be much brighter in the climbing area.If you’ve got to climb, the routes are fun, but I’m sure there’s a better gym out there. I probably wouldn’t be a regular there. They need to improve their facility and orientation process.

I have been to both the St Paul and Minneapolis location, and this one is just as nice. I brought my daughter and we climbed for almost 3 hours for $53. They have almost 30 automatic belay routes and people just wandering around that will belay in any other route. There is a gym there with squat and bench racks, treadmills, dumb and kettle bells and cardio equipment. The energy and vibe here is active and fun. I will be back!

Poor facility. I've been climbing at VE for ten years and a friend was denied his belay cert because he did not vocalize his checks twice, despite clearly vocalizing and securing harness. Forced to auto-belay around mobs of children and Instagramers all day who spend more time taking up the rope than actually climbing the route. All other VE facilities have never given a problem. Maybe if we had paid for the course we could have had a decent gym day.Visit any other locations, VE Bloomington was a massive disappointment.