Vertical Endeavors - Bloomington

Nice enough facilities but we walked in on a busy day. Even though we had climbed here before we were still required to go through an orientation and it was over 45 minutes before we were climbing. We didn't have a lot of time and ended up having less than an hour of climbing time even though we were in the facility nearly two hours.

I visited this location today with almost 70 middle schoolers from the summer program I work for. The staff were awesome!! They made it fun while still making safety the number one priority! The students had a blast! Many of them want to return with their parents! Thank you so much Vertical Endeavors staff!!

Until this new rating system goes away, my score will be low. They have decided that the Yosemite decimal system now rates walls with 10+ or - instead of a, b, c, or d. I am an experienced climber, but I am not an expert by any means. When I look at a route, I expect to be able to tell where it'll sit in my abilities. I can usually climb 10a's and some 10b's. Now, I have to just try climbing a 10- without knowing what to expect. This place is too expensive to have shortcuts in the rating system.And now, the original review...Let me start by saying this is my favorite gym I have been to in the country thus far. The facility they have built deserves a solid 5/5 for height, variety, and quality of equipment. I have been to so many places that would qualify as scrappy at best. They also have a great gym for complementing your workout.If you want to lead climb, overcome your fear of heights with the high walls, auto belay because you are by yourself, or boulder, there is no comparison that I have been to (yet). I have been to gyms in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Duluth, Grand Forks, Seattle, San Jose, Salt Lake City, to name a few, and all leave me missing VE Bloomington.I think part of the problem is people come to a climbing wall expecting a normal kind of customer service; a thing that seems to always be subpar in climbing gyms. They are staffed by people who just love climbing and thus you get a fairly laid-back atmosphere which can lack costumer service. It could be better, but I have definitely seen worse. This place in Eugene didn't even do an orientation and the guy who took my money barely seemed to even work there.Now for some negative. First off, these climbing gyms have gotten outrageously expensive. For my wife and I, we pay about 110/month; about what we pay for YMCA Twin Cities. But there, you get access to pools, child care, and all the classes you can fit into your schedule. The fact that VE charges on top of that to take belay lessons and such is way too Verizony. My main qualm is the overall rating system of routes. There is absolutely no standardization at VE. I am a 5.10a-b climber on a good day. But when I try numerous 5.9s or even 8s that I can't do, that is not right. My bigger concern is just how long it takes them to rate routes. Sometimes it is weeks after setting that they put a rating up for a route. I am not a pro climber; I shouldn't have to guess what a route is prior to climbing it. Just like I should know the weight on a dumbell before lifting it or the price on a car before test driving it.Having their staff or even volunteers test routes and come up with a fair rating should be the absolute first priority after they clean the walls and reset everything. By the way, they do this way too often for these competitions. It seems like once a quarter they are putting up signs saying they will be closing the bouldering area and parts of the main wall for these. And that often means that you won't have a decent variety of routes for weeks to a month.So there is my review. Hope people find it helpful.

Wonderful staff who are expert climbers with a passion for safety and fun! The climbing routes are marked well with ratings to help you know how you're doing. If you need assistance or any gear their shop is always ready to help. Classes are available to grow your skill base as wanted.

My Kids and I love it here. Ranging from 7-18yrs they all have a great time finding new and challenging ways to climb. I get a rush of fun too every route I take. The fitness equipment is a great addition for warm-up or cool down lifting and stretching.I haven't been to other facilities yet but the staff sets a very high bar in customer service and helpfulness.

It was really sad to stop by VE with a couple of friends from out of the area. I grew up climbing at the first location in St. Paul over 20 years ago on one of their climbing teams. The gym was owned and operated by a group of real climbers who were part of the climbing community.I stopped into the Bloomington location with three friends. After waiting and waiting and finally going through their obnoxious orientation process, I decided to take their belay test (I volunteered out of the group in hopes Having only one of us go through the process would get us climbing sooner), unfortunately their manager made it clear from the beginning it was his goal to fail a climber with almost 25 years of mountaineering experience and by golly he managed to find a way!Instead of simply telling me that the method I used didn’t follow their strict gym requirements, he had to start talking about the user manual for my harness. I’m sure in the last 10 or 12 years since I bought that harness that plenty has changed. His condescending and arrogant attitude was unpleasant and left all of us wishing we had simply asked for our money back and left.The routes are ultra soft— a 5.11 on an auto belay felt more like a 5.7 after getting tugged up the wall.On the plus side, the facility is clean, the locker rooms are nice and it is convenient to locate.Bottom line: if you’re part of the climbing community, you could find a better gym. If you’re going there for a birthday or a bar mitzvah, I’m sure you’ll have a great time if the staff is in a good mood.

Lots of 60 ft walls and lots of options for bouldering, autobelay, toprope and lead climbing! In other words, lots of fun types of climbing. Friendly staff and natural daylight too, no dungeon feel here.

Of all climbing gyms in the city, Bloomington VE is the best. Lots of routes, tall routes, good variety. Okay number of self belay routes, I got to get me some friends!

Great gym lots of over hanging walls but a good variety of lead and top ropes. There is a slab wall also, and a natural wall with hand and finger cracks... and I think some off widths but not sure haven't done much. There are also auto belays in a few areas

The third VE location in the Twin Cities. As tall as the Minneapolis location but with more such routes. Not as big as I was expecting based on the hype, but the facilities are awesome. Still some issues with being a brand new climbing gym; the rubber pieces are very slick and leave some residue on your shoes. As a result, the first few holds on almost every route are covered with a slippery black gunk. Very hard to get a clean foothold on most routes. Locker rooms are nice and there are lots of storage cubbies spread around the facility. Some areas are still under construction, so there's more yet to come.