Austin Bouldering! Well... Indoor Bouldering - Austin Rock Gym North

I was hoping to be bouldering outdoors but the weather was not willing to cooperate. It was generally cold and rainy. I decided I still want to get some climbing in so I decided to go to the Austin Rock Gym. There are two gyms. The South gym is meant more for rope climbs and the north gym is meant more for bouldering. So I headed out to the North gym for a day of bouldering.

Austin Rock Gym North

When you are on N Lamar St look for the a toner store. The sign for the toner store is more visible. When you get in to the complex make a left and keep going till you see the gym.
The staff at the gym was very friendly and helpful but the gym itself was... well...

Signs of wear and tear...

The gym seemed to be a bit run down. Unlike the pristine pictures from their website <link> everything was falling apart. The padded floor was tearing and the foam from below was scattered all over the gym. Not a huge deal but still, after seeing the website photos it seemed almost like false advertising. And that's not all.

When I first went to their website one of the things that really intrigued me was the really tall over hanging wall. It showed that the landing was protected with a padded wall that ran almost parallel to the climbing wall (5th picture from the top on their site). Seemed like a real cool unique feature that I have not seen at too many gyms. But the reality was a bit disappointing to say the least...

The Padded Wall?

The wall was completely torn apart! I asked the guy who was working at the gym if they were going through a renovation and he told me that they weren't. Bummer. The top area of the middle boulder was also a complete mess too.
So how about the climbs? The climbs were o.k. There seemed to be a huge gap between the V3 and the V4 climbs. V3s being really easy and the V4s being a lot harder. A lot of the routes seemed to have some very odd sequences too.
I would not recommend climbing at this gym if you can find any other climbing options. Maybe the South gym is better maintained but I did not have time to go to both. A day pass will get you into both gyms.

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