Alta Climbing and Fitness

Tallest indoor climbing wall in Maricopa County! Alta has amazing routes, tall and beginner length walls, both auto belays and partner belays, top notch brand new harnesses, shoes, and GriGri belays - not to mention a great bouldering area, tons of shelving nooks, and a squeaky clean brand new facility. The owners are committed, experienced climbers and really know what they are doing. I was invited to a pre-grand opening event (not open to public) and climbed multiple routes and was able to walk around the facility. I'm excited to come back and HIGHLY RECOMMEND this gym to both new and experienced climbers. This will be my go-to indoor climbing facility in the future!

What a great experience! Fun for ALL ages! Can’t say enough about the staff: knowledgeable, friendly, helpful. Amazing culture and environment for some good healthy exercise!

So much fun. My friend showed me the "kids" area. Tons of fun for the kids but just as much fun for the adults. I want to go back.With auto belay devices in some areas you don't have to have a belay partner to have a great time.

Amazing facility. So many great lines and wall features. Staff is super friendly. Lots of kid-friendly options. Definitely coming back!

Great new gym in the east valley. Very clean and welcoming. They have very knowledgeable employees that will help you with any questions you may have. Highly recommend for any level climber!

My son and I are new to climbing and the staff was very helpful and provided great instruction. You could tell they wanted us to have fun, but do so safely. We will be visiting again...had a great time

My kiddos had a blast today at Alta Climbing. From the moment to getting their climbing gear to learning how to clip into their harness. I thought even after being there for a few hours they would be burned out and too tired to want to stay long but we ended up staying most of the day. We started in the morning then left to grab lunch and then came back for the rest or the afternoon. Deborah and Pam and the rest of the staff are super friendly. We will definitely be going back soon.

I had been climbing at Alta (both locations) for a few months and I really tried to like it, but ultimately I couldn't and had to cancel my membership. I've been to many newer gyms and mega gyms and if we're comparing apples to apples Alta falls short. I agree with another reviewer that this isn't really a climber's gym. This is my comprehensive breakdown (because Alta has the potential to be great):Setting: 1/5This one's super subjective, but I'm not a fan of the setting style at Alta. It's hyper modern indoor climbing. Plenty of dynos, coordination, and comp style climbing if that's your thing. There's a lack of crimps and it feels like it's more about making fun looking problems and busting your shoulders for the gram than pulling hard on small edges and getting strong. Grading on routes is standard gym soft if not softer than average. Bouldering feels like a wildcard sometimes. Weirdly stiff V2, while a (crimpy) V7 felt like a 5. Problems didn't really flow and it was hard to find good projects because I was simply uninterested in them. I often finished a session feeling unenthused, whereas I usually enjoy a session at PRG or BRBG.Facilities: 3/5It's a clean gym. AC is bomber. Layout is okay. I think they could utilize some of the space better. Kids areas should just always be separate from everything; the autobelays are right next to the kids area. Gear shop is good. Has your standard equipment and tools. Though the shoe selection is interesting, it's nice they have some shoes like Tenaya (tarifa) and Mad Rock (drones), but they seem to lack your popular 'performance' shoes and brands, think solutions or dragos. Curious observation.Training area :(/5Weight room could be better. Has your standard box gym equipment. Cardio machines, cable machine, smith machine. But with all the space in their dedicated weight room it'd be nice to see some barbells and squat rack. Pullup bar is unfortunate (hey it's a climbing gym). Wish they had a separate pullup bar like every other gym instead of the high bars that are attached to/part of the big rack thing that holds the exercise balls. It's clunky and congested.Moon board, campus board, and hangboards are upstairs, so if you want to do weighted hangs you'll need to lug the weights from downstairs. Rather inconvenient. The hangboards were once mounted too high up, and after user suggestions they did lower it.Culture/Friendliness/Safety:Most of the people that climb here are new and transient, so it's hard to have a good climbing culture. In turn, among the staff it didn't feel that inviting in my experience.Safety: ?/5I was observing someone getting lead certed and the staff member (I think he's the manager or something?) giving the cert didn't seem attentive. The belayer was too far from the wall at the start of the climb where the climber would've decked if he fell, and I was surprised the belayer wasn't corrected (I did go up to the belayer later and offered advice; not sure if he passed his cert or not). I talked to this staff member about their lead cert protocol and whether or not a backup belayer was standard. I asked him what if someone falls? He said "noone has fallen yet" and "if they fall they shouldn't be climbing". I'm not a safety nut, but this isn't conducive and welcoming for a new gym where most of the clientele is new to the sport. I told him this and he shrugged it off. Guy didn't pass the vibe check and this is when I really felt Alta wasn't right for me.tl;drLook, it's a newer gym and maybe they have growing pains, but it could be better. It's a mega commercial gym and caters to the new and uninitiated. The sport of climbing is growing and Alta is introducing a lot of people to it which is great. Good for a quick romp up the wall, but if you want a more dirtbag, less after school experience I'd suggest climbing elsewhere.

Don't be fooled by the new facility and tall walls: this is more of a playground than a climber's gym. 90% of the people in the gym at any given time are children in rental shoes. A bald, bearded staff member curtly criticized my top rope belay technique, but the children wearing rental shoes into the bathroom, running unattended beneath lead climbers, or bouldering in harnesses got a free pass.

Can’t say enough good things about this climbing gym. I’ve been climbing for 20 years and been to countless gyms and this is by far the biggest and best. Great for families as well. My kiddos and I are here 2-3 times a week