Boulders Climbing Gym - Downtown

Nice, local gym. There is a nice variety of wall types, and staff is great. They can be a bit inconsistent with their setting (usually every week on Monday and Tuesday), and the ratings seem to vary a bit. One week the red circuit will be super easy, and the next super hard, even outside of the assigned range, but it really just means you should try everything and should ignore the card. Fun sets overall, with very full walls (generally) but small volumes.

Awesome little gym that does a lot with the small space it has. Lots of interesting features and setting is usually very solid. Membership is pricey and there can sometimes be gaps in the setting schedule, but they are (very) slowly improving the gym with new holds/volumes so it’s nice to see that go towards something. Great community

We were in Madison for a girls trip, and while walking around, this was a nice find! $21. to free climb, even when it is busy, there is plenty of room to climb!

If i was reviewing just the staff it would be 5/5 stars, but other than that the gym is a joke compared to any others nationwide.You are dodging air ducts with your head while trying to top boulders, and I had the pleasure of climbing here after a "comp" set. However not a single comp problem there, I had 3 points of contact on the wall at all times, and nothing was dynamic. The entire set was obviously done in 1 day, and if not, invest in better setters. Many route setting 101 rules are broken.To top it all off the maximum grade there was a v8, and a light v8 at that. They say they have a "tension board" and "kilter board" however they just bought the holds and put it on slanted wall, no board included, no adjustable angle, and much smaller than any one ive been on.Now for cleanliness, to start this is the only gym ive ever walked into and got a throat ache soon after entering, ontop of that when i blew my nose after leaving it was filled with dirty dark chalk and mucus. Secondly, this is the only gym ive ever been to where they do not let you take off your shoes, (so bye bye to that agressive pair you have, its now neutral) you must wear your climbing shoes on the mat at all times, so youd think they would be clean, despite that the matts are still the dirtiest ive ever seen, and have a odor unique to this gym. To add to that all of the holds were absolutely filthy, cheap, and are obviously never cleaned or rarely cleaned. To top it all off this is the only climbing gym ive been to with air dryers and no option for paper towels. You can see dried chalk spray all over the floor and walls from the air dryers, also obviously not cleaned.This gym needs a lot of work, especially for the price, 20 dollars with no gear and 25 with shoes. However it will probably never happen due to the lack of competition in the area. Owners and management are obviously trying to rake in money with no care of how the gym feels; cheap holds, short staffed, bad volumes, skipping out on the real tension and kilter board, no gym facilities. Thankfully im from out of town so no need to come back. Wishing the local climbers the best and I hope to see this facility get better.

Good location. Always fun climbing here. Well staffed and always clean as well. The walls have a lot of various difficulties and routes and there is always something new every time I come. The student saturdays are also a great way to climb for cheaper as it can be somewhat expensive otherwise.

I absolutely love the community at all Boulders locations. If you are climbing for the first time at this location, I’d recommend avoiding Monday and Tuesday, as that is when the setters are setting new problems. Thus, the gym can feel a bit limited and crowded on those days. New climbers may want to avoid this, especially because they sometimes change the beginner routes, making it harder to find something to climb. This isn’t everyone’s experience, but it was was mine when I first started out. Clearly, the gym is so much fun regardless, as I have continued going since my first visit.More helpful details: This downtown location is exclusively bouldering with no rope climbing. Paid parking is available nearby. There are bike racks for the bikers. There is also a bus stop nearby. The storage area is vast and includes lockers inside the bathrooms. Bathrooms also have towels and showers.Overall, I love this place and enthusiastically give it five stars.

Pretty nice climbing gym, but the coloring system to grade the routes is kind of confusing. Too many colors and I always forget what color translates to the respective V level. The gym as a whole is not very big and can get very crowded at times.

We spent a weekend in Madison and decided to try this rock climbing gym. It was fun and we enjoyed it.However, the price is bit high -$20 day pass ( we had our own climbing shoes). Also, the grade system makes it harder to find your level.

I have mixed feelings about the Boulders gyms.I do agree with many of the other reviewers that their pricing is not as competitive as they think it is. If it truly is necessary for the downtown location, then it was indeed a bad choice of real estate considering the pricing restrictions it imposes and the wall height restrictions as well.Some other reviews have also mentioned issues with the setting. I can't quite describe what it is, but it does feel a bit less interesting than in many other gyms I've been to. Maybe this was just the few sets I've seen in my few visits, but I feel like the harder climbs (highest 2 circuits) tend to be hard because they use miserable holds rather than hard because they require interesting movement.The staff have all been welcoming and friendly. The setting frequency seems decent (in contrast to a few other reviews). I visit every month-month and a half and I believe the downtown had been completely turned over in that time.A few other comments I have:At the downtown location, the placement of the Kilter board right along the edge of the mats is just idiotic and dangerous -- you shouldn't need a spotter for an indoor board session.At the east location, they have bouldering above lead climbing mats (that seem like they're probably older than me). These really aren't meant to absorb any meaningful fall and I would be pretty hesitant to do any sort of committing/horizontal move above them.Not really a positive or a negative, but the grades are probably the most stout of any I've seen in the US.

Flippin sweet! I've climbed at the East side boulders for around 5 years now and have had some qualms with the location, but it seems they've addressed all of them.A) No birthday parties and kids running under you as you climbB) No teams so more space for regularsC) Good HVAC system so I can breathe betterD) Way more space so people aren't bunched as muchE) Variety of climbing angles/stylesF) Really good training areaReally happy with how it turned out. I wish the parking situation was a little easier but it's downtown so there's not much you can do about it. It's a good spot and I'll come here often.