Vertical Endeavors - Bloomington

Most climbing gyms range in safety from sketchy to obnoxious. This one falls into the latter. I came here with a buddy of mine during a business trip and spent an hour in orientation and a belay test. My friend passes the belay test, then I go and fail because she didn’t like the way that caught him when he fell. No other explanation and she would not let me try again unless I came in the next day and paid again. She offered to let me take a belay class that day for an extra fee to get certified. It was clear at that point that the gym is more interested in the money making aspect then the climbing aspect. It’s a shame because it is a really nice gym but they really don’t care if you have climbed before and seem to be looking more into upselling people who don’t know any better. If you are looking for a gym to start out at this would be a good place to go since it seems very family friendly and extremely safe, but if you are an experienced climber just looking to climb for a day I would stay away.

I took my friend here and we waited for 30 minutes for my friend to get an orientation. Considering she just paid all this money to climb, it was pretty frustrating waiting this long. When we went to ask how much longer was the wait (around 15 minutes in), we were given a brief answer from an employee of “really soon.” The employee looked like he couldn’t care less and seemed to only want us to sit back down. I’ve had bad experiences with the staff at VE Bloomington before, so I guess this just reinforced my opinion of the staff here. The walls are great for climbing here, I just wish the staff wasn’t so rude.

Visited ~ 50+ times. Not a great place for bouldering. The place is way too crowded with children running all over the bouldering area. I have to constantly look for unattended children on the mats before dropping down when the entire area is designated for 16+ unless supervised by adults. Staff, while mostly great, doesn't do a good job of enforcing this. On top of this, I've had the poorly fastened jugs spin loose on me twice causing unexpected falls.Giving this place a 3 star review as I'm sure it's still great for top rope, just not much else. For those who don't care, be prepared to weara a wristband to let staff know you don't have belay certification. All in all, I would recommend TCB any day over this if you just want a bouldering gym.

Great climbing gym with a very positive atmosphere. Both other climbers and staff are very friendly and the general vibe is that everybody wants you to do you best and have fun. Nobody really spits unwanted Beta, but if you're having trouble with a route or bouldering project, you can count on a staff member or more experienced climber asking you if you want some advice (Beta).And if you are a more experienced climber, they have some pretty spicy lead routes with great features we just can't find outside in Minnesota. The routes are usually mentally and physically challenging and most importantly, usually pretty fun.

My friend and I were up visiting for the day and had the worst experience we had ever had at a climbing gym. While most of the staff were friendly and welcoming, we had a terrible experience doing our "belay test". My friend and I are both experienced climbers and were both actually on the climbing board at our school. We spend a lot of our time teaching others to climb and belay. We were given the "orientation" which was really just a tour and then told to go ahead and climb. We didn't vocalize our double checks, even though they were done, and apparently our staff member didn't like that. He decided not to pass us, take away our ATC (which we paid for) and then neglected to give us the chalk bag (which we also paid for). We actually didn't get the chalk bag until we went up to the counter an hour later and complained. And even then that same staff member just glared at us while we waited patiently for his help. When we went through the same test (a friend who arrived later), that staff member was super friendly and made sure to explain what he needed to see and reminded our friend when he forgot something. When we told him about our experience, he told us to come in next time and do it, which was frustrating since it was an hour and a half drive for both my friends. Needless to say, for the price we paid, there will definitely not be a next time.

I like this location a lot more than the Minneapolis VE. The bouldering sections are definitely more interesting. The staff were all friendly and I had no issues with the belay test before climbing. There are lots of creative routes to try for all skill levels. The workout area is good too! Had a good time at this gym.

Vertical Endeavors is a great gym! To be honest I have not been to many rock climbing gyms, but I always feel comfortable and safe here. They make sure they follow regulations. And my experience with the staff has always been helpful. They’ve helped me learn more about climbing equipment as I’m new and when they didn’t have shoes in my size they let me borrow some for free that day and told me where I could probably find some in my size (I have super small feet so that’s probably not a common issue). This place has many auto belays which is great if you can’t get a friend to join you.

We had my son's 9th birthday party here and they did a wonderful job! The kids had fun and learned a lot great facility and even better staff. Big thankyou to Alex and Jordan!

Awesome place to climb indoors. Big walls which reset about every two weeks. Nice bouldering area as well too. When you don't want to climb outside, this is the place to go.

After climbing here for one year the best comparison I can make is this rock climbing gym is very much like the Comcast Xfinity of rock climbing gyms.The vibe I get from climbing here is simply awful. I feel like the gym is only trying to accommodate whatever will bring in the most money. The constant announcements to sign up for this or that are annoying and it seriously needs to stop. Instead, put up flyers or something else, I've never experienced this at another gym.I climb here because it is close to my home and it is my only option (much like Comcast Xfinity is to a lot of people). I've climbed at many climbing gyms across the country and this franchise by far the worst of them all.That being said, many of the regular climbers and most of the employees are very knowledgeable and super nice and fun to talk to. I have only the utmost respect for many of those people and workers because I know they are only trying to have fun climbing or hold down a job and make a living.