Central Rock Gym

First off, I love CRG and have been a loyal member for years. Second, under the new management, they have made a lot of essential improvements such as cleanliness, working machines, route setting updates, and more.As an adult climber who doesn’t always have a partner available for top rope or lead and an injury that somewhat limits my ability to safely boulder because of the inherent impact sometimes associated, I often enjoy auto belay. However, when there are large groups of children enjoying the auto belay area, there seems to be a lack of climbing etiquette enforced by the parents and gym.Today for example I waited a solid 15-20 minutes for one child to climb the wall for as long as they wanted to without any awareness from the parents that myself and other children were waiting to climb. This seemed to be the case with multiple pairings of children and parents. It’s my belief that the etiquette should be that you climb once, unlatch, and free the wall for another climber, especially if it’s busy. Otherwise someone like myself or another child could be waiting a very long time to climb.Are the parents and children required to take any sort of orientation that requires etiquette training and if so or if not how is this enforced by the staff of the gym?I’m all for kids enjoying the gym, I think the programs that CRG offers for children are amazing and CRG accommodates and encourages children climbing. It is a shared space that adults and kids enjoy together, so there needs to be more of a mutual respect that kids don’t necessarily get the priority and need to abide by the same standard as adults. We all pay good money for access to the gym and the lack of awareness and etiquette enforced by parents on children climbing and running has always been an issue. Tough to teach and enforce I know, but it’s a good thing for kids to learn and parents to be aware of. I don’t see staff members monitoring and enforcing this type of change.

We visited today and enjoyed ourselves tremendously. Staff was attentive and friendly, approaching us to ask how we liked the gym compared to our usual climbing facility in Hadley. Our opinion of both is very high, and I look forward to visiting again when in the area.

Great indoor climbing gym. Staff is always friendly, and it's always clean.

The ventilation in the men’s room is horrendous. It smells terrible. I don’t want to breathe the air in there. We spend good money to be there and the bathroom is not any better than planet fitness. I love the gym besides this

Can no longer tolerate this gym. Great facilities, terrible policies. Would not recommend as a place to bring new climbers. Took my two cousins visiting from overseas, paid 140 dollars to climb for the evening and was told we could not have chalk (they do not include chalk or chalk bags in equipment rentals). Overall, this is a place for privileged snobby Somerville yuppies and not a relaxed or instructive environment for newcomers. Really put a bad taste in my mouth and after a long love hate relationship with this company I will never be going back.

The coaches really take the time to show you proper technique and form, which I needed a lot of help with (thanks for your patience!)

Sadly this location is being ruined by the youth program. Overcrowded, parents blocking the entire parking lot waiting and the classes do not teach gym etiquette. Kids will run all around the gym unattended creating dangerous situations.

This was the perfect gym for me when I was traveling from out of town. Great equipment, friendly staff, and an overall fantastic environment for all your work out needs!!!

Coming from the west coast, I was surprised to see how much more CRG charges for a membership. This location in particular, is damn near impossible to park at most of the time. …

This gym has a lot of leading routes, but the equipment is often quite filthy and there are many hard (under graded) routes for bouldering. It seems like they keep having the safety net for competitions or kids or route re-set in the bouldering area which can be quite disruptive to other climbers. It would be much more beneficial if these activities were moved elsewhere so that those looking to boulder could do so without interruption. Some of the ropes appear very worn out which raises concerns about safety standards at this facility. Prices may seem reasonable to some people; however, given all these issues with cleanliness and safety it might not make sense financially either. Check your ropes please!