Intro to Climbing Course( Dedham)

Reviews

• Peter L.

  Intro to Belaying (Dedham) July 17, 2017

  I stop by Rock Spot every time I visit the Boston area. I'm a regular at Brooklyn Boulders but the routes here are different and more difficult, in my opinion. It's a nice challenge. Going down the slide is fun too! Lol Great gym, very clean, friendly staff.

• Eric D.

  Intro to Belaying (Dedham) June 3, 2017

  Great gym and super nice people. Everyone was very kind when we walked in. Got checked in and set up with gear quickly. The auto-belays are plentiful and provide a lot of climbing opportunities across a number of walls. One of the regular climbers was very kind to suggest good routes for all ability levels and help spot where the holds were for each route.
  
  The bouldering isn't my cup of tea, but the group I was with greatly enjoyed the varied routes.
  
  Overall, well worth the trip over and I'm excited to do more climbing here.

• Lori L.

  "We Belay" Climbing Session (Dedham) March 4, 2017

  This place probably deserves a 4, it's just the one time I went, it was sooo crowded it really takes away from the experience. Otherwise, cool spot, some challenging walls!

• Laura S.

  "We Belay" Climbing Session (Dedham) January 24, 2017

  I've been here twice and enjoyed both sessions. It's not a huge gym but we never had to wait for a wall and we're constantly challenged (as intermediate climbers). On our second most recent visit, however, we walked in and the place smelled very musty- enough for us to look at each other and go "what's that smell?". Then, we get our rental shoes and I notice they are very moist inside- definitely not comfortable to put on moist rental shoes but I deal with it. Finally, I begin to notice that the facility (except for the bathroom) is truly filthy- it looked like they had not bothered to mop in many months and there was dried blood on the ground in some areas. This was really repulsive to me (and my boyfriend who has lower standards for cleanliness) and while we enjoyed our time there, it stuck out to me that the place needs a really good cleaning. The employees perhaps could spend less time standing around chatting and more time ensuring the place is adequately sanitary.

• Lisa A.

  Intro to Belaying (Dedham) November 19, 2016

  I love this place for bouldering. I'm not an expert climber by any means, but I love that they have (super fun) problems for every skill level. The location is easy to get to from the Broadway stop on the Red Line and the gym is never too crowded.
  
  The staff is great and and prices here are generally pretty reasonable, even with gear. My friend and I took a belay class here and within an hour felt really confident with the technique taught here. Our instructor, Ben, was really attentive and he also helped us with our climbing.
  
  My friend and I also did an outdoor climbing session with another staff member, which was really fun. We learned crack climbing - pretty different from climbing at the gym, but a great experience.
  
  If you're looking to top rope, I would probably suggest going to Metro Rock in Everett, but Rock Spot is great for bouldering.
  
  Happy climbing!

• Joe L.

  "We Belay" Climbing Session (Dedham) September 11, 2016

  I moved to the area almost 4 years ago and just recently gave Rock Spot a try with my 7 year old son. Rock Spot is our first introduction into indoor rock climbing and I only wish I had checked in sooner! After reading all of the reviews saying how far and out of the way it is, I feel even more obligated to climb since it's only about a mile from my house. The facility is clean, the staff is incredibly helpful and friendly, and made a point to make sure we were comfortable on our first visit. I'm a beginner and I found that 85%-90% of the gym is beyond my level, which is great since it means I have a lot of work to do and won't get bored with this gym.

• ShuWen Z.

  Intro to Climbing Course( Dedham) August 20, 2016

  I was a little nervous rock climbing for the first time, but a brief orientation from a friendly staff member allayed my fears. I started out auto-belaying, but in the corner of the gym was a low beginner bouldering wall, where you can climb over the wall and take a slide down. With encouragement from my friend, I decided to try bouldering, and I must admit the slide was a key motivator :P
  
  As mentioned by others, the gym focuses mainly on bouldering rather than routes for top-roping or auto-belaying. Being a total newbie who's slightly afraid of heights I stuck to the easier area, but I like that there were also bouldering walls that don't go straight up but instead have cave-like features.
  
  Facilities were clean and included bathrooms, lockers, a simple cafe with snacks and drinks, and a shop selling rock climbing gear and clothes. I really enjoyed my first experience and certainly hope to go back to slowly try more difficult routes.

• Amy W.

  Intro to Belaying (Dedham) June 30, 2016

  My brother brought me here for my first climbing experience while I was visiting him last week. The staff were friendly as they explained the waiver and walked me through a brief orientation. Since I hadn't been climbing before, I was grateful to be able to rent climbing shoes. My brother belayed me through a few top rope routes, I tried the auto belay once, and then we tried several bouldering routes. It definitely helped that my brother, who has several years of climbing experience, coached me a bit; I'm not quite sure what it would have been like if I had gone on my own or with other inexperienced individuals! Overall, I had a great time and immediately started researching local climbing gyms when I returned home. :)

• N Z.

  "We Belay" Climbing Session (Dedham) June 19, 2016

  This is a good gym if you have time to go and enjoy the place. The instructors seem to be good. However, it is expensive. We were on automatic payment with credit card. There were two incidences of card change due to lost/stolen. It is hard to keep track of what things are on automatic payment with the credit card. I had no problem with other places of payment after receiving notice of unable to charge. Yet here, additional $5 was charged every time that happened. Please be aware,

• Lu L.

  Intro to Climbing Course( Dedham) June 14, 2016

  This is a solid rock climbing spot (pun intended hehe)! During my first visit, the team there provided a thorough tour of the place. I liked that they had auto belays but I spent my time bouldering for the first time! They had nice walls for beginners :) The customer service was great too!

• Amanda M.

  "We Belay" Climbing Session (Dedham) May 11, 2016

  Just reach home from rock climbing. It was my first time doing something like this so I was very excited. The lady at the front desk was the sweetest of them all but can't remember her name. All I could remember is that she just move to Boston 5 or 6 months ago.
  
  For me it wasn't as easy as it looks but after a hour or two I finally made it to the top. The kids that go there are well trained and didn't need much help making it to the top at all. There was this one girl around the age of six to eight that went up the wall four times blindfolded. Simple amazing, young and talented.
  
  I really enjoyed this spot would definitely go back one of these days with a friend hopefully.

• Elise F.

  Intro to Climbing Course( Dedham) March 9, 2016

  Rock Spot is awesome for beginner, intermediate, and advanced climbers.
  
  It is super laid back, the employees are helpful, and there is an even distribution of walls for all skill-levels including partner belays, auto belays, bouldering walls, and a few cool slackline ropes. My boyfriend and I visited a few weeks ago and had an excellent experience, we climbed on multiple different walls without having to wait, watched other climbers including a cute little kid who seemed to be a pro, and had a lot of fun while also getting a great work out. I would absolutely recommend this gym to anyone who likes a chill environment with an excellent workout and a ton of fun.

• Krisha C.

  Intro to Belaying (Dedham) March 7, 2016

  Great spot for a casual workout by yourself or with a group. After you sign in at the front desk they have lockers to put your stuff away, you can either rent a lock for $2 or bring your own, We went after work, around 7, and I believe that is rush hour because there werent many lockers available.
  
  Once you are inside you get your shoes and they give you a quick lesson on how to use the suspensions and then its just you, on your own bringing out your inter mountaineer. Alot of the walls, if not all, allow you to hook, climb and discend on your own. The other half of the gym requires no suspension and once you climb over the wall you theres a slide!
  
  Fun place, nice staff, def going back!

• Gazelle T.

  Intro to Climbing Course( Dedham) January 24, 2016

  This place is awesome. I am so happy to see fun stuff like this being created for adults to enjoy. As someone who never grew out of wanting to play in playgrounds, it is perfect and I love that they regularly update and change the climbing routes.
  
  I have pretty good endurance, but I'm not super 'fit'. I wanted to try indoor rock climbing for a while, but worried I wouldn't be able to do it, or it would be full of Olympians and I'd feel too awkward to have a good time. Happily, the routes are very doable as long as you are in reasonably good shape (even if you have no prior experience like me!), and while the patrons tend toward the young and the fit everyone I met there was very nice. I didn't get any stares, and the staff was helpful in getting me set up.
  
  Most of all I just had SO much fun. I'm so glad I finally tried it and I will definitely be going again!

• Brant G.

  Intro to Climbing Course( Dedham) August 20, 2015

  In general, I think this is a super fun place to climb. I'd give it 5 stars for bouldering and 3 for top-rope climbing if I could rate them separately.
  
  Compared to other climbing gyms, I find the routes here much more creative. They aren't just "muscle your way to the top" routes, although there are a handful of those. I find that I have to think a lot more about how I'm going to tackle something and I like that.
  
  The grading seems mostly accurate and consistent, which is more than I can say for some of the other places around Boston. (I shall not name names...) The staff is helpful and friendly, which, again, is more than I can say for some other places.
  
  It's small, which isn't so much of an issue for bouldering, but the top-rope climbing really suffers. They do have a handful of fun routes in spite of that, but not much in the way of really challenging climbs. If you can make a 5.10, you'll quickly run out of options. One thing I'd like to see changed is more top-rope routes and fewer auto-belay routes. Adding a couple of more challenging (5.11 and up) top-rope climbs would be nice, too.
  
  Other than that, I'm pretty happy there and the price is reasonable.

• Dan D.

  "We Belay" Climbing Session (Dedham) July 12, 2015

  I am a beginner climber with a 10 year old daughter. The staff is incredibly supportive of climbers at our level (though my daughter is quickly leaving me behind in her trail of chalk dust). I have received lots of helpful hints about training, route problems, etc.

• Helena Q.

  Intro to Climbing Course( Dedham) June 18, 2015

  Pros:
  
  1. Amazing (bouldering) routes. Very interesting and creative.
  
  2. Very good price for a Boston area gym.
  
  3. While it's not actually conveniently located for me (biking across roads without bike lanes is scary), it's supposed to be quite close to the T, which makes it much better than many of the Boston area gyms.
  
  4. The group of people who climb here are way friendlier than any other gyms in Boston. I was astounded.
  
  Cons:
  
  1. The top ropes, while probably there primarily for kid's birthday parties, are super short. I'd honestly prefer they just do everything as bouldering, since there's a lot of cool features and such in the top rope area.
  
  2. Pads are QUITE hard... and I've been climbing for over a decade, okay. These pads are so hard that I actually think that falling repeatedly on them is kind of painful.
  
  3. Prepaid memberships cannot be frozen. I was hit by a car, but as I am recovering, my membership is being totally wasted. A competitor gym where I also hold a prepaid membership was willing to freeze my membership (with a doctor's note).
  
  Conclusion: if you want to boulder, this is really the place for you. The only reason I wouldn't use this as a primary gym is the lack of good toprope/lead options. The only thing that really prevents me from giving 5 stars is the lack of a freezing/transferring option. Even that, I would have been okay with except that competitor gym was so very nice about it, and rock spot ... wasn't.
  
  EDITED TO ADD: in light of the comment below, I'm going to reiterate that I have prepaid memberships at both gyms.

• Ellie L.

  Intro to Climbing Course( Dedham) April 18, 2015

  Super fun and indeed good for all skills and ages! I really enjoyed the numerous climbing options with the self-belay. There are also good bouldering routes for beginners on the wall directly opposite of the self-belay walls.
  
  The facilities are clean and there is plenty of space so you never feel crowded out by others. The equipment and gear is also kept in great condition.
  
  Location is convenient - about a 5 minutes walk from Broadway.
  
  Perfect spot for a rock climbing outing!

• Christopher L.

  "We Belay" Climbing Session (Dedham) March 12, 2015

  Really fun gym for bouldering. Walls are featured and routes change faces and enter/exit caves mid way. This is a totally different from experience from gyms with flat walls (especially BKB with its high gloss walls).
  
  Route setting is creative and fun (so far - only been twice) and grading feels fine.

• Cynthia G.

  Intro to Climbing Course( Dedham) February 16, 2015

  Lots of great bouldering with lots of roofs! The walls are really tall but the pads are good. The setting is very good and pretty well filled in up to V8, quite sparse above that. It's really nice to get so many roofs problems at low grade, it's usually quite rare to get those! They also have a few top ropes and auto belays, but I haven't climbed on those.
  
  The gym is right next to the Broadway T stop on the red line, just a few stops away from downtown, which is very convenient as well.
  
  On a side note, they actually have a lot of gear for sale as well, with a good selection of shoes, harnesses, chalk bags, ropes, rope bags, and a few carabiners and slings as well.
  
  In summary, a great new bouldering gym just a few minutes away from downtown! Awesome! Can't wait to climb there some more!

• Michael M.

  "We Belay" Climbing Session (Dedham) October 25, 2014

  Great place to climb! I've been to a few different indoor rock climbing places and this was the best. Max at the front desk was pleasant and helpful. Some of the other staff seemed...idk, snobby? Standoffish? But maybe that was just me. But the gear was in god shape, especially the shoes which was a nice change.
  
  There was so much awesome bouldering to choose from with varying degrees of difficulty. There was ten auto belay stations with challenging yet attainable climbs. I had a blast.y fingers and arms hate me but they'll get over it. Definitely going back.

• Brittini C.

  Intro to Belaying (Dedham) December 6, 2016

  Did not leave comment

• Laura L.

  "We Belay" Climbing Session (Dedham) August 22, 2016

  Did not leave comment