Sportrock Climbing Center

Positive experience: This is a pretty narrow review of the bouldering setup. There is a true "boulder" to climb up and over which is nice and allows easy exits. Most of the routes, however, have no downclimbs, meaning you get to the top and have to figure out how to get down safely on any number of holds nearby. I figured this wouldn't be so hard and promptly gave myself a pulley strain trying to avoid jumping 15 feet onto a healing ankle. I then understood why pretty much everyone was making jumps from the full height of the wall, and why the bouldering area was almost exclusively teens and young 20s.

Fantastic experience: Great climbing focused gym. I’ve been a member for 2years now and like it better than movement

Fantastic experience: I have been a part of the Sportrock community since 2014 when I first got my belay lessons through a deal I found on Living social... I felt like climbing was a very good fit for me at the time because of my active lifestyle and friendly community here. I ended up climbing more while I went to university and came back to be a member at Sportrock for many years. The community is great and the facility has had nice upgrades over the years. There have been inside and outside rennovations. There are many bouldering routes, gym, moonboard, a lot of top rope and lead climbing routes as well. They also offer Yoga, handstand classes and more member specific classes. They host a lot of fun events throughout the year. The weekends are usually the busiest for families with little children. Weekday mornings are slow and usually more empty, but weekday evenings can still get pretty packed especially when school is not in session during the year.

Negative experience: Gym itself was nice - friendly, helpful staff. Unfortunately there was a real creep of a guy sneaking pictures of women from underneath them while they were climbing. Alerted the staff, but didn’t see anything done about it. A shame, so all women should beware. He was about 5’11, ~200lbs, bulkier build, cauliflower ears, dark hair - keep an eye out.

Fantastic experience: First time here and already love it. Staff are super kind, different walls you can try to climb and it has difficulties for anybody. Sarah B was exceptional. She was confident that we could reach the top. She would give you strategies that would help you reach the top. If you need help midway, try doing a gesture and she will help you. She lets you have breaks, just make sure you show her a gesture and she will know. I absolutely love the encouragement from others. It is like a confidence boost that helps you reach the top. Thanks, everyone! I highly recommend this place for hikers, or if you would like to try something new. Would come again without a doubt.

Fantastic experience: Sportrock Climbing has an expert staff who are truly interested in helping their climbers. I took the Belay class yesterday with Max and Paula in Alexandria. I learned so much about techniques, tips and above all safety. They taught knots, ways to secure our harnesses, checks and calls, and protected ways to raise, hold and lower our climber plus tips critical to doing it right. I especially loved the sandbags for belaying a heavier climber than me. Max and Paula were so patient and understood how to present information multiple ways. They gave me cautions, confidence and a solid foundation. I feel comfortable asking them and other staff when I have questions.

Fantastic experience: Epic Facility: bouldering/lead/top rope, study/work areas with wifi that overlook climbing walls, auto belays on higher grades (5.10/5.11), workout areas (rowing machines, hang boards, treadmills, etc.) Wins: Overall helpful folks, good climbing community, get strong, chill atmosphere Challenge: staff sometimes more focused on policy than people - let’s be more compassionate to new climbers ‍♀️

Fantastic experience: Love coming here on weekdays when its way less crowded. Awesome place

Fantastic experience: My favorite climbing gym so far!

Fantastic experience: It was awesome, tried something new on my birthday that I've been dying to do, and of course loved it!... Definitely going back soon

Fantastic experience: Great staff, great walls, great fitness equipment, great hours; this place is just great

Fantastic experience: I've been coming to this gym for more than 5 years. It's so great. I usually go to the Sterling gym, which is the smallest of the three but I never get tired of it even when coming two or three times a week. I've also made good climbing friends and the staff is pretty friendly. They now have more routesetters, so it's even more attractive.

Negative experience: Member for almost 20 years. The parking situation in Alexandria is beyond ridiculous. Tonight there are at least 10 cars all waiting for a space, and this is a regular occurrence now. SR needs to do something more than just seluggesting we park across the street and run across 5 lanes of traffic with no crosswalk.

Fantastic experience: This is a solid climbing gym. The caliber of staff they hire is high, routes are refreshed on a good cadence, and overall it's a great vibe.

Fantastic experience: The best climbing gym in the area! Highly recommend for anyone who wants to join for rock climbing journey and be part of community.

Fantastic experience: Awesome, clean gym with tons of routes for absolute beginners to expert climbers. I usually go with a group of friends every once in a while and we always have an awesome time!

Fantastic experience: Great gym to check out if you’re new to the activity or have been climbing for years! The bouldering and top rope sections are each huge. Both have a lot of variety in their setting style and difficulty. For the more advanced climbers, the Sportrock Performance Institute is worth walking over to if you like comp style bouldering problems. The day pass rate is really fair for what you get access to! Parking is a little tricky, so check out the parking map before arriving (the secondary lot is usually easier to get a spot in if you’re okay with walking a little further).

Fantastic experience: Best climbing in the area! The staff a great. The routes stay fresh and the bathrooms stay clean. They also have a pretty nice gym right on site meaning most people would do better to ditch Golds and just join Sportrock.

Fantastic experience: A focus on interesting routes which challenge your imagination as well as your technique; auto belays for when you find yourself alone or are looking to do laps without irritating belayers.

Fantastic experience: Great climbs, and biggest of the two SportRocks in Virginia. Lots of boulders, and the 60ft top rope climbs (plus lots of LEAD and two speed climbs) are so much fun. Employees are really helpful and very chill. One downside is parking- but the lot next door is always available. My favorite place to climb.

Positive experience: Climbed here between 2016 and 2018. Liked it then. Returned to the area in 2024. The vibe has changed a bit. It’s still my preferred gym in the area, but I’m not understanding why they have an entirely separate gym for their team kids, yet when the general population gym is slammed, the climbing institute is empty and the team kids are also in the regular gym. Maybe I missed something, but it seems to me that if regular members can’t go into the institute, it should be the same the other way round. Unless I am missing something. Could be, people at the front desk of the gym haven’t really given me a clear answer. Regardless, I’ve been climbing since 2001. I’ve been in and around climbing teams all my life. The coaches need to be more attentive to the team kids. Teach them etiquette. Teach them about waiting their turn. Teach them about ensuring routes don’t overlap and the fact that the person who was on the wall first, has a right away. This extends to fall zones as well. Recognizing that while routes don’t overlap, the dynamics of the route may overlap the fall zones. Especially now that route setting has progressed to more gimmicky dynamic movements. Right now, with few years separating the coaches and the kids on the team, it seems to just be social hour. On top of the team kids you have an entire high-school climbing team show up with like 30 kids during peak hours to make it even worse. Also, if you fall on the second move, you don’t get right back on without checking if others are waiting for a turn. Parking continues to be a nightmare. Good luck finding parking during peak hours. Not to mention if it’s around the time team kids are there, parents often sit in their cars in the parking lot, consuming a spot while they wait for their kid to be done. There should be a cell phone lot like in the airport and a pickup / drop off zone. Parents also like to come in and watch, which I understand, but kind of screws other paying customers. Their route setting map at the entrance is hardly ever updated, despite being relatively consistent with route setting. Their setting is decent, but I’ve only been back for 6 months and already I am already tired of the setting. Seems a bit uninspired and comp style. May be tired to hold diversity. Their hold supply seems good, but it seems like the color coordination of holds with the routes has limited their route diversity. I.e. if it’s a blue colored route, expect a route with all the same style of hold. Green? You bet it’ll be blocky pinches. Seems like mixing of hold sets, of the same color of course, is against the rules. Conditions of the holds seems good! Volumes, not so much. Pay close attention to where you put your feet on volumes as the texture on some has been worn off terribly. I appreciate the constant updates and renovations. That being said, I don’t appreciate the random closures, partial or full, for private event, competitions, etc. With the monthly price we pay, I expect to climb whenever I want. The speed climbing walls are a waste of space and hardly used. They need more auto-belays, hopefully one day in the tall bay. The training facilities are great. However it seems like every time I come in (2-3 times a week) the number of exercise bands for stretching and resistance training, keeps getting smaller. I recognize that bands wear out and break, I believe them to be stolen or taken into the climbing institute. The mats are in good condition, except those on the very first wall in the regular gym. Seems funny to me that they’d let the very first mats you see upon entering the gym get so ratty looking. First impressions are everything. I’d give 3.5 stars if I could.

Fantastic experience: Awesome place.

Fantastic experience: Gym is amazing!! The routes are incredible and there are the most amount of walls I’ve seen at a gym ever period. Some nitpicks that would improve things: Giving problems a specific V1-15 Bouldering Rating would be helpful. The color system is different but I don’t think it is very helpful in knowing what you’re climbing and deciding what to jump on. Also having jump rope at the gym would also be good. It’s one of the best cardio warmups.

Fantastic experience: This place is absolutely amazing! I celebrated my birthday here, and it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable experiences ever. I love how they offer a variety of levels to choose from, ranging from effortless to insane, accommodating everyone’s skill levels and preferences. Personally, I found the "Harvest" experience to be particularly exciting. Am I the only one who thinks it's an absolute blast? I tried it out, and it was incredibly entertaining, filled with unexpected twists and challenges that kept me engaged the whole time. Overall, it was a fantastic adventure, and I can't wait to return for more fun!

Fantastic experience: Great variety of climbs, holds & styles, fairly regular new sets, great training - amazing spray wall (excluding srpis), moonboard, kilterboard, & hangboards. Only caveats: some glassy holds, no feet washing (used to have it), and awkward distributed cubbies for personal belongings

Fantastic experience: One of my favorite climbing gyms in the DMV.

Fantastic experience: Visited once, world class facility, world class setting, great hold selection, 10/10 spray wall, kilter, moonboard— gym has everything, easily the best gym I’ve been to

Fantastic experience: Attentive, respectful staff, great routing

Fantastic experience: I absolutely adore SR. I’ve been climbing at the Alexandria and Sterling locations since high school when I would drive over an hour after school each day to climb. I’ve always felt welcomed into the community even when I return for the holidays. Most everyone is friendly, and the community events organized by the gym are such a great resource. I have been more and more impressed with the gym management and setting quality throughout the years, and I’m so grateful to have such an amazing gym for when I visit my family. SR is just the best.

Fantastic experience: Great climbing facility, great community. I’ve been a member here for a few years and I can’t imagine climbing anywhere else.

Fantastic experience: Great rock climbing/bouldering! I appreciated how helpful and friendly the staff were, loved the variety of routes available, and was very happy with the quality of the equipment. Can't wait to come back soon!

Fantastic experience: We visited in November as part of a birthday celebration. Zach is a fantastic instructor! Most of our group was new to indoor climbing (me included) and he made us feel safe, strong and confident. We had a great time.

Positive experience: Nice gym, it’s large and clean. The routes are boring, just kind of thrown up on the wall

Fantastic experience: Incredible climbing centre. Friendly staff. The place is enormous, and it has all the indoor bouldering, top roping and lead climbing you could wish for. They also do a military discount. I'll be signing up for monthly membership soon. Thank you!

Fantastic experience: Sportrock is a great rock climbing gym. Tons of bouldering, top rope, and lead options. The building is clean (mind the chalk dust, of course) and the staff is friendly and helpful. Excellent weight gym included with membership too!

Fantastic experience: Great gym, popular place for groups to rent gear and hang out, so it can get pretty busy on some nights. Three auto-belays and a ton of bouldering as well as great top rope and lead areas. Grading can be a bit inconsistent but overall a good time.

Fantastic experience: Super dope gym. If you can't get strong here, you can't get strong.

Fantastic experience: Great climbs for any level I feel up for and friendly helpful staff.

Fantastic experience: Great stuff Workspace where you can work/study seeing the people climb, is amazing Clean showers Some many routes to climb Additional classes The best place to climb

Fantastic experience: Among the best climbing gyms I have visited, offering top rope, lead, and bouldering. Exceptional training facilities, including a Moonboard (2024), massive spray wall (40°), and full Kilter board. Spacious fitness area, with squat racks, benches, free weights, and cable machines, and a separate cardio deck. Highly qualified setters. A great spread of grades, with a decent upper limit (V10-11) and good mix of resistance and commercially acceptable comp-like movement. Accessible boxes for the boulders, with very few moves being overly height/reach dependent, while still maintaining difficulty. The bathrooms also have showers!

Fantastic experience: Went to Sportrock for the first time this Saturday and had a blast! Our first impression was meeting Rey who was super helpful. She greeted us with a lot of enthusiasm and showed up around the gym, and told us all about the different class options and gave us her card. They had a craft fair going on that day which was super cool and unique. The facility itself was HUGE!!!! So many climbs! Excited to come again.

Fantastic experience: If you're into rock climbing or want to learn, Sportrock is one of the most affordable options in the D.C. area. They have three locations, but this one is closest to Washington, D.C. My wife, seven-year-old daughter, her friend, and I went for open gym at 2:45pm on a Sunday. Here's our experience. 1) Check-In: It's super easy and staff are friendly and helpful. You can rent shoes and equipment. 2) Walls: There are three rooms full of climbing walls that rotate their course every few weeks. There are courses for beginners all the way to advanced. The back room has the tallest walls. 3) Space: There's free parking out front near one of the outer murals. There are restrooms, sitting areas, and drinking fountains. My daughter LOVED this place. It's the best we've been to in the area. She's already asking to do summer camp here, which they do offer. Shoutout to A.J. He's so friendly, helpful, and my daughter and her friend loved him. He's great with kids and even gently nudges them to face their fears.

Fantastic experience: I climbed at Sportrock in Alexandria on my Birthday yesterday and had a fantastic time. One thing that really sets a great climbing gym apart from others is the community that it has. I was only here one day and I could feel the inclusiveness and love of the community in this gym.The staff were all super friendly and talkative. I had the great fortune of getting on rope with the Director of the gym, a woman named Molly, a complete rock vixen. She crushes rock with grace and in so doing gave me a great lesson in humility. In addition the routes I got on had fun, challenging, and interesting moves that make you think. I definitely recommend stopping in and getting your climb on.

Fantastic experience: Amazing place but I do have a small problem with the partys of kids running under me and other climbers when we are climbing other than that I love climbing there the staff are amazing and so are the other climbers

Fantastic experience: Amazing! Fun open climb experience. It's tougher than it looks but Matthieu was just perfect. We enjoyed ourselves!

Fantastic experience: I’ve been a member of Sportrock Alexandria for 3 months now and I’ve only ever had incredibly positive experiences at this gym. I’ve finally had the opportunity to use every amenity this facility has to offer 3 months in: auto-belay walls/top rope walls, climbing/belaying classes, standard gym equipment, and fitness classes… every experience has been outstanding (equipment, staff, cleanliness, organization, etc.). I absolutely love this facility and the awesome staff who keep it running. My wife and I (mid 30s) are new to climbing - we visited several climbing gyms in the Midwest earlier this year (shoutout to First Ascent Chicago) and joined Sportrock to more seriously try out climbing as a hobby/workout outlet closer to home. 3 months in I 1) can’t imagine life without it, and 2) finally appreciate/realize how lucky we are to have a top tier climbing gym like Sportrock in our backyard. Ill be the first to admit that I was nervous as a new climber joining a gym (especially starting this sport in our 30s, haha… I’m old) but Sportrock makes the intro/trial period really easy with free gear rentals and climbing classes (intro and belaying) for the first month of your membership. That gave us a long opportunity to learn the basics and try out climbing to make sure we enjoyed it before we invested in our own gear. Throughout our intro period I really appreciated the staff spending a lot of extra time helping us get geared up and oriented to the facility/walls every time we visited - even if things were busy that day, the staff never rushed us. World class customer service. 3 months in we’re absolutely addicted to the community/culture here (it’s so easy to make new friends and find climbing partners), and the incredible variety of routes/activities: from bouldering, auto-belay, shorter top rope walls… to 60ft top rope walls. Routes are reset every few months to keep the challenges new and fresh. You get one free guest pass a month to bring friends to this awesome place and let them experience it as well. The gym is SUPER attentive to fixing issues and keeping an open line of communication with members. For example the AC was having issues for a few days once, and I think I got an email update every day on their progress fixing it… I don’t get that level of proactive and transparent communication anywhere else. Same story with the new bouldering wall they recently built… we got a weekly update on progress and opening timeline. Membership fees are monthly with no penalty to stop/restart if you’re leaving town for a while… a huge difference from other gyms that try to trap you and make it impossible to cancel or pause your membership. I can only assume that 99% of the negative reviews on here are from nasty locals who don’t value a community-oriented culture and/or don’t appreciate Sportrock’s safety-first approach to new users. Lots of the negative reviews appear to take issue with the safety protocols (which I really appreciate) or are impatient with the time and attention the staff give to every user need (can’t handle waiting a few extra minutes). As a newer climber I really value this gym’s focus on safety (e.g., users must certify on an ATC to master belay technique before graduating to a mindless Grigri), and the staff’s willingness to spend extra time helping new users get oriented/setup… even if it means the next person waiting needs to hang tight another 3-5 minutes for assistance. I love this place and the awesome staff that keep it running until 11pm every night - don’t ever change.

Fantastic experience: We love climbing here. The drop in classes and camps for my grandson are great options when they are in town. I love the group exercise classes here, too.

Positive experience: Good climbs however I can't understand their rating system. They had 5.7s that were harder than 5.9s, and they were all massively overinflated compared to outdoor rock climbing and other gyms. I've climbed 5.5 rocks that were more difficult than the 5.9s at Sportrock. Good place and nice people and is pretty clean.

Negative experience: If you’re a new member here be careful. They don’t have the best staff up front who will make sure you understand all the rules and then will kick you out for not “knowing them”. We showed up and told them it was our first time here. The girl at the front desk was really nice and asked us to sign the waivers in the QR code. We signed the waiver and when the waiver prompted us to watch a video and we asked about it, we were ignored and went on to tell us how much we owed. We explained one of us is a newbie and my partner said he would feel more comfortable if he got a belay refresher before climbing since it’s been a while. She said that she could watch him belay and if he needed correction she’d give it, so a test rather than a refresher. In fact, she didn’t even ask if I’d be belaying him, and we were planning on having him show me how to. It seemed pretty casual. No rules explained about the test or anything . We were told to set up and get ready for her, which we did. I got into my harness to climb, and my partner was fixing up his own rig to belay me and we were looking around for the girl when the manager, Max, came up to us and told us we weren’t allowed to “practice” before a test. We said ok, we’re not practicing, he was explaining to me how belaying works, and I had done my own knot for my harness which I know to do, and we figured if he was going to be tested on belaying, he’d need a climber (me). The manager rudely said we were now disqualified from taking the belay test or even climbing. We asked where that was posted at and if that was the rule, what constituted practicing and why weren’t we told that before being told to go to the walk and “set up”. He vaguely pointed at another wall that was behind us when we came in and said it “was posted somewhere”. We asked again where because this was our first time and we wanted to follow the rules. He said by the waiver station (which we were not pointed out to, instead we were asked to use the QR codes at the front desk). We said if we had been told the rules for the test wouldn’t have set up, but the front desk girl told us to “get ready and set up”. So how are we supposed to know exactly what that means and that it doesn’t allow us to hook up our harness or for my partner to give me a tip and explain what he was doing? The manager was very adamant that we were disqualified despite us saying that if you’re going to enforce a rule, you should make sure the person is aware of the rule (I.e point them out to the rules or make sure they read them). We asked if we could retest and after “how long” after practicing could we retest and how do they monitor that someone isn’t practicing 5 min prior in the parking lot or at another gym or basically what is the rational timeframe between a “practice” and a test? And what constitutes practicing (in our case doing a knot and hooking up to the ropes). He said he didn’t know but we were disqualified. The older woman and the desk seemed equally rude and dismissive. They didn’t let us climb, and offered us a refund, nice- but this was a gift and so they had no way to give us back the value of our gift except to come back at some arbitrary time and perhaps have better luck. Maybe next time we don’t touch a harness or even sit on a bench, lest that be equivalent to practicing how to sit before climbing a wall. It’s obvious they have no customer service training for employees, they don’t understand how to run a business, or have set expectations for customers to follow processes without training their staff in how to properly onboard a new client. If your own manager doesn’t understand what is practice, what’s a timeframe, or how to work with a customer who was given different instructions by other staff and try to retain their business, then I’m going to question everything else about how you operate. It seemed like a lot of people were happy, and our first interaction was wonderful with the you er staff member (didn’t catch her name), so perhaps this was a management issue. We will be taking our business elsewhere.

Negative experience: Not secure. My shoes were stolen from a cubby right in front of the front desk camera. The camera was not working and the staff were not helpful. DO NOT VISIT.

Fantastic experience: This place is varied in training application, it has great route setting and good terrain choices to prepare you for the outdoors! The staff was friendly and welcoming.

Fantastic experience: Great place for kids and adults. Huge climbing walls both for top roping and bouldering. Small shop with gear and protein bars. Nice work out zone. No snack bar or cardio equipment.

Fantastic experience: Best climbing facility I’ve ever seen. Love coming here 3 days every week! Whole gym is open to anybody.

Negative experience: The employee, Holden, was extra rude! I wouldn’t ever recommend a place who employees such rude people!

Fantastic experience: Stopped by once during my short visit and in summary, great staff, great vibes, great climbs! There is a workstation upstairs, parking, water fountain, 60ft tall walls, restroom (a little funky smelly and hot water was down, but toilet works as it should) :)

Positive experience: Very large climbing facility with a variety of routes up to 55ft and bouldering areas. I appreciate the freedom to use a belay device of your choosing. Sport routes are graded as expected, but the boulders feel sandbagged as all get out by gym standards. You can make the argument that it's more in line with board benchmarks or outdoor grades, but it really feels like a disservice as ppl I've talked to are discouraged to boulder by it, and lose the benefit of creative problem solving and adopting new movement vocabulary into their climbing.

Fantastic experience: One of the best indoor climbing gyms in the country! Well maintained, but sometimes the route ratings are a bit random.

Fantastic experience: Always have a good time here when I'm in town with friends or work associates.

Fantastic experience: Rock star place…. This place is for beginners and pros and the ambience is great..

Fantastic experience: I've been a member for 20 plus years. I've climbed in gyms, other than those at Sportrock, many times, and so can make a reliable comparison. The directors and staff are conscientious, dedicated to the sport, and in providing a wonderful experience. Our setters are by far the best, and actually set for national competitions. There are a variety of programs and classes for children on up, and for beginners on up. The fitness centers are very well equipped, and would make serious fitness buffs happy. Plus yoga classes. These later two are included in membership. There is a special program for folks diagnosed with Parkinson's, where they can maintain and improve their flexibility, balance, and strength. Not to mention, just to have fun and join with others. I can go on and on, but just go and I know you'll enjoy the experience.

Fantastic experience: Went in for an intro class. Our instructor Alan(?) was very helpful and knowledgeable, and patient with us. Had a great fun and hella workout. Definitely coming back for basic skills class. They also have a small gym. Great fun for the whole family.

Fantastic experience: The breakfast club is great for kids to experience the sport. Low pressure and a fun environment

Fantastic experience: This is a really great climbing gym as far as the size and variety goes. Plenty of bouldering, awesome big wall, open late, and permanent cracks in the smaller crags which I like and have never seen before. I'll be here for 3 months and will absolutely take advantage of this resource!

Fantastic experience: Daily delivery

Fantastic experience: I’m a casual climber and have been to Sportrock a handful of times now.

Fantastic experience: I’ve climbed in gyms all over the world. This is still the best one.

Fantastic experience: Great gym with lots of climbing options, whether bouldering, top rope, or lead climbing. Friendly community of climbers

Fantastic experience: Love this gym. Love the Alexandria routes. Always fresh always fun

Fantastic experience: Massive facility with bouldering, top-rope, and auto belay. Plus a fitness area, classes, and yoga, not to mention best prices in the area... Why go anywhere else?

Fantastic experience: Great experience, I had so much fun with my friends. We had a great coach Allan, who show us and guide us every step of the way. Clean place, great environment vibe.

Negative experience: The staff are horrible at their job and the facility is filled with negligence and disregard for safety I went in today to sign up for a class so I could get some more tips on repelling and the staff were condescending and rude I waited 10 minutes at the front desk till the guy running the line would stop ignoring me so I could ask for help. On top of that there is a huge lack of safety with non of the staff being marked or wearing any type of high vis or orange staff shirts. Non of the walls are clearly marked so there’s no way of telling what lane or area your in and there was no markings that told you what you could or couldn’t do. The place looks like it’s never cleaned and on top of that everyone on there staff team don’t even know what events are coming up I spoke to someone to sign up for a class and she didn’t even know what it was for which later area would be in.

Fantastic experience: Awesome facility with great staff. I came with a group of 8, mostly beginners, and they got us setup and stayed on belay to let everyone in the group have fun, and also challenge us to ensure we'd have a feeling of accomplishment. Thanks, we'll be back!

Negative experience: We are from the West Coast where climbing is more prevalent (and friendly) . My wife and I were scouting this gym for membership, and the front was too busy to give us a tour. They gave is permission to look around ourselves. That was fine. However, a climber took it upon themself to scold us, and claim this was “a professional gym “ as we were scouting around. Couple things to note, the climbers here are self-proclaimed “professionals”, but have no idea on how to mitigate turns, or even courteous route sharing. Laughable operation due to not setting/ enforcing rules…and even more laughable considering the self-proclaimed “professionals” who are taking it upon themselves to scold newcomers looking for a community. It’s worth mentioning, we are better climbers than the self-proclaimed “professional”, but do not feel the need to title ourselves in such a normally open and accepting community. Hopefully this will give you an idea on why we decided not to open up a membership account here. In short, the routes are hectic due to no organized system of turns, and the gym lacks community, as the climbers put too much emphasis on who better.

Negative experience: This gym requires you to test out with an ATC, even if you'll be using a grigri to belay. I'm unsure what the benefit of using an ATC to demonstrate belay skills for top roping is, especially when you'll be using a completely different device a couple minutes later. I know people that only know how to use an ATC (or grigri) and not both or prefer one over the other. What matters most is what the belayer feels comfortable with. This is an indoor gym, ATCs are not necessary if you don't want to use them. Weird practice and is enough of a red flag to not want to climb here.

Fantastic experience: I had a terrific experience working with a private climbing guide at SportRock (not the gym). I was traveling in the area for work and stayed over for a 2 day trip focused on trad climbing training. I’ve worked with guides at a several top climbing destinations in the US and would say the experience working with SportRock was first class. Great attention to detail and logistical planning, deep local route planning knowledge, AMGA certified guides, and excellent technical training. I would highly recommend working with SportRock.

Fantastic experience: I have had 5 recent experiences where they could either be ‘corporate’ or ‘kind’ and they picked kind every time. Tonight my daughter went to SP a few hours after a youth competition had finished, to try a climb again. The head coach Taylor - who was already there for 14 hours! Stuck around to watch her and give a tip. About a year ago we went to SP after a comp, but the area of the gym with the climbs my daughter wanted to try was closed. When they learned we have traveled they opened that area - just for us. I have multiple other examples like this. And we are not even members. The leadership of SR has created an excellent culture that is part of every interaction.

Fantastic experience: If you're coming here just once I get how it might be frustrating to do the certifications but if you're a regular and you get the certifications out of the way its a great place to climb, with a good range of boulders and top rope challenges, although I mainly stick with bouldering. They got a new routsetter recently who may have sandbagged one boulder but thats hardly an issue. Great place, love coming here.

Negative experience: I have been bouldering at SportRock Alexandria on and off for a few years, however I had a disappointing experience recently: I recently started top roping a few months ago at my current gym. I wanted a change of scenery so I took my gear over to SportRock Alexandria. I got there expecting to have to take the Belay Test as you do at any new gym. I was all strapped in and had my GriGri and locking carabiner because I knew at SportRock they don't provide belay devices to use and are expected to use your own. SportRock does not allow you to take the belay test using your own device despite being expected to bring and use you own device while climbing in the gym. I use the GriGri device and was trained on this device a few months ago as I just started top roping, but was asked to take the belay test using and ATC device, which I won't be using while climbing at the SportRock facility. Why wouldn't they want to ensure I am using my belay device safely? The owner offered me a free 2 hour intro class to learn how to use the ATC... The Alexandria gym is big and well kept, however the staff is not very welcoming or helpful to new climbers.

Fantastic experience: Amazing place with an amazing staff!! Wish this place was closer but this is an awesome treat to go to!

Fantastic experience: This place is crazy cool. If you don't know much about the sport of rock climbing then this is the place you need to check out. I know you might have seen rock climbing at your local gym but it's likely nothing like this place. This place is an experience. Just stepping through the doors and you will feel how many get hooked on the sport. Just amazing eye opening experience for us.

Fantastic experience: Extremely friendly staff! We went for our first time last week and felt so welcome by all of the staff members who helped set us up. The atmosphere is very friendly overall and the whole place is kept clean. I brought my 5-year-old and others were very kind and encouraging to him every time he climbed. Will definitely be back!

Fantastic experience: Sportrock is an amazing facility. They have a ton of space for bouldering, top roping, and lead climbing. The route setters are constantly changing out the walls with fresh, exciting, and challenging routes. They also have a weight training area that includes multiple power racks, heavy dumb bells, and various other pieces of equipment needed to get a great workout. Last but not least, the people are all very friendly.

Fantastic experience: Great place in Alexandria West End. Large space for plenty of climbing walls of all degrees of difficulty. Helpful staff, and you can even look inside for free, to check it out. Also two floors of weights and they have kids climbing camps too.

Fantastic experience: My two teens, my wife and I had a great time. Staff was friendly and helped us successfully complete our climbs. The tallest walls are 60 feet and supposedly the tallest on the East Coast.

Fantastic experience: I’m a casual climber and have been to Sportrock a handful of times now. Got belay certified on my first visit and enjoy the very tall top roping routes. The staff have been helpful and friendly every time. Actually, most times I’ve been, they’ve given me the discounted rate, even though I’m not a student or military or anything! Great gym with clean and well maintained facilities.

Fantastic experience: Amazing experience! Staff is knowledgeable, helpful and completely friendly- we took the intro to rock climbing class and learned a bunch while getting worn out! Fun times! This was a really great start for something that will be a new sport for the family. If you’re thinking about trying climbing- don’t hesitate! Sign up for something and get in there! Big recommendations!!!!!

Fantastic experience: Several bouldering options with standard levels to choose from. No wait even on weekends. Auto belaying available, weight rooms, party rooms and small store. Great crowd and only downside is it's a bit dull with all the dark grey walls and only a few skylights. Some brighter colors would help.

Fantastic experience: We signed up for a rock climbing session in Great Falls on my friend's birthday. It was overall great experience. Two instructors, Emma and Erin, were very friendly and helpful. None of us had rock climbing experience, and the instructors were very patient and provided great service.

Fantastic experience: My son wanted to climb for his birthday. He had gone one time before at another location, and had a good experience. When we arrived we were assisted with every part of the process. My son and his friends had a great time. All were first time climbers. The facility is a large open space which allowed all adults to watch the children climb. The staff were friendly, accommodating, and knowledgeable. We will definitely be back. Thank you.

Fantastic experience: We had our first climbing session today with Bia! She did an amazing job and we felt like pros by the end of the session. We had a blast, 10/10, we'll be back soon and often.

Fantastic experience: Great place, friendly staff, and a really supportive community of climbers of all levels. Three large bays to climb, whether you like top roping or bouldering. They also have a moon board and a pretty good size workout space! Also have SRPI if you are looking to skill up. Go give it a shot!

Fantastic experience: I'm updating my review from 6 years ago. Sportrock has evolved immensely since then. They've expanded their space, have a great community, friendly/helpful staff, and plenty of routes (frequently updated) to keep climbing fun and challenging.

Fantastic experience: If you're coming here just once I get how it might be frustrating to do the certifications but if you're a regular and you get the certifications out of the way its a great place to climb, with a good range of boulders and top rope challenges, although I mainly stick with bouldering. They got a new routsetter recently who may have sandbagged one boulder but thats hardly an issue. Great place, love coming here.

Fantastic experience: I am very impressed with how well they have adapted to the COVID situation. The staff has gone above and beyond to help us have a clean and safe environment. The gym is up and running and doing well. The setters are at full steam putting up new routes.

Positive experience: Good clean place .. good route setting ..

Fantastic experience: Love Bay3 high walls!

Fantastic experience: Fun time :)

Fantastic experience: Cool atmosphere. Very fun and challenging. Will be coming back to get better. Gym was nice as well

Positive experience: I like the fact that Sportrock has 4 autobelays. Downside is clueless parents who take up half of them with children they could belay anywhere else in the facility. Some of us come here because we don't have someone to belay us and want the time efficiency of doing laps on them.

Positive experience: Thank-you Evan for making our experience great. Although there was a young girl there today, (staff member) that was belaying someone beside us. She had a very nasty attitude, was very unprofessional, and really had little communication skills. My friend hooked up her auto-belay wrong. She never talk or advised to correct her, she just yelled. Evan, came over and assisted her. I talked to Evan and advised she was not very nice and my friend was going to contact the owner. Maybe she needs a class on professionalism . I love sport-rock, never had a problem.