Indoor rock climbing is a great way to get some exercise as well as getting the blood pumping and the adrenaline flowing. Unlike other indoor hobbies, indoor rock climbing is relatively inexpensive, here’s what you’ll need:
Every time you go climbing, especially if you’re doing top rope, you’ll need a pair of rock climbing shoes, a harness, a carabiner, and a belay device. Simple right? In fact, you don’t even need rock climbing shoes, you can climb with tennis shoes if you want. Chalk bags, like rock climbing shoes are optional, it will help you climb better, but is not necessary.
And don’t be discourage from going to the rock gym just because some other sites told you that you need a $150 pair of La Sportiva. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have a pair of rock climbing shoes, I own a pair of La Sportiva myself and I love it, but I just don’t want you to think it’s an expensive hobby.
So, what are all the cost associated with indoor rock climbing?
The Price of Entry
Like I’ve mentioned before, you’ll only need a harness, a pair of shoes, a carabiner, and a belay device if you’re doing top rope. If you are doing bouldering, you don’t need anything, except maybe a chalk bag and shoes.
A day pass at one of the rock gym will probably run you about $20~ dollars and usually the first climb is free. So, what do you have to lose?
You don’t need to buy anything that I’ve mentioned above, you can rent it all at the gym.
Here is how much the rentals will cost you:
- A harness – ($5)
- A pair of rock climbing shoes – ($5)
- A chalk bag – ($5)
- A carabiner – ($2)
- A belay device – ($5)
In total, the rentals for the day will cost you a little over $20. Pair that with a day pass, you can expect to pay under $50 for a day of intense fun and keep in mind that a day pass is typically good for the entire day; so that means you can climb in the morning, go out and grab lunch, go home and shower, nap up and go climb again at night.
For $20 some dollars, that’s a really good deal!
Now if you’re considering to go more frequently, you might want to consider getting a membership which will probably cost about $70-$90 and if you are a student, you can get discounted membership that cost around $50.
Many gym will also offer reduce price on night climbs on certain week days, maybe a few dollars off. They do this to entice climbers to come during off peak hours.
Now that you’ve gone on your first climb, you might be thinking if I want a set of gears of my own, which ones do I pick?
Every Top Rope Climber’s Essential
Since, you’ve just started climbing, I wouldn’t worry about doing lead climbing or free climb, those require a bit more training and a bit more money for that matter.
The two most accessible type of climbs is bouldering and top-rope.
You can cheap out a bit on your harness, your chalk bag, your carabiner, and your belay device, but the one thing you should never cheap out on are your shoes.
Some of the good brands of rock climbing shoes are La Sportiva, Scarpa, Evolv, and Butora. These brands of shoes starts at $50 to upwards of $200, but it is well worth the money.
Not having proper rock climbing shoes is like dragging two useless limbs while you climb. It sounds blunt, but it’s true, there are a lot foot holes and pieces that you simply would have a harder time standing and balancing on if you don’t have the right footwear.
A harness is also as expensive as your shoes. The top 3 brands that makes the best harness are: Petzl, Arc’teryx, and Black Diamond. These harnesses will cost you anywhere from $70 to $200.
A belay device is the most critical part to your gear especially when it comes to safety. I know I said that you can cheapen out on the belay device, because just about all the belay device out there are relatively safe. What separates the good belay device from the average ones is its ergonomics and design.
A belay device like this is common:
You’ll see these at the gym all the time, but you might want to consider to upgrade to one of these if you want something of a bit more quality.
One of the cool features of this belay device is that it only goes in one direction unless you release the lever; which means if you got distracted for a moment and the person you are belaying falls, the belay device automatically brake and catch the person and suspend them mid-air.
A belay device like this will run you up around the $60-$100 ballpark.
Your carabiner is just as important as your belay device, but like the belay device, most of them are relatively safe and you can get a good one for under $20.
The cheapest gear that you’ll need is a chalk bag and you can snatch one of these up for $15 on Amazon all day long. A bag of chalk will cost between $5-$10.
All in all, a proper top rope gear will cost you under $500 if you aren’t buying all the high priced ones on the list. Every time you do a rental it will run you up maybe $25 per day, which means after 20 climbs you will start losing money, because with that same amount of money you can climb forever and never have to pay for rentals again.
The Costs of Bouldering
A chalk bag filled with chalk and a good pair of rock climbing shoes is all you’ll need for bouldering, so that means a perfect set of gears will cost you about $150.
The least expensive climbing of them all, but you might burn through the chalk a little bit faster comparing to the other types of climbing. But really it’s chalk we are talking about here. It’s cheap, so you really can’t complain about the cost of bouldering, it really is as bare minimum as it gets.
For Serious Climbers Only
Lead climbing is no joke, it not only requires a bunch of stamina like bouldering, but the height you climb is just as tall as top rope.
Lead climbing costs the most out of all of the climbs mentioned previously. You’ll pay $100 to $200 just for the ropes and that’s not including the all the gears that you’ll need like top rope. If your gym hasn’t got all the quickdraws mapped out, you’ll can expect to buy a set of them for $55-$150.
If you are doing lead climbing outdoors, you’ll need a helmet that’ll will run you up $40-$50 and that’s not including other additional gears.
With the numbers all calculated, you can expect to pay around $800-$1,000 for a quality set of lead climbing gears.
Are you Insane?! Free Climbing
Free Climbing is just like bouldering, but you climb the side of the mountain without any protective gears, no ropes, and no harness. Just chalk, chalk, chalk and brute strength.
It is more expensive than bouldering because you might want to consider buying a very expensive life insurance policy should things go wrong, but don’t worry, they won’t let you do that at the gym.
About 20 ft is as far as you will generally climb to in bouldering and about 6ft is as tall as you’re allowed to go for top-roping without any safety gears.
I won’t discuss how much a life insurance policy like this would cost, but you can expect it’s a bit more than what your average Joe would pay.
Pay What You Want to Pay
A busy guy like myself don’t go the rock climbing gym enough to get a membership, once a week is all I can do for now and that’s why I buy a 10-punch pass for about $180.
I can use it whenever I want and it doesn’t expire, it’s cheaper than getting a day pass every time I go. I can even use it on other people, so the pass is not only for just me.
One of the perks to getting a membership though is that some memberships will give you one free pass per month for you to bring along a friend to climb with you and that is well worth the money if you have other people that you are planning to climb with.
Every gym’s pricing and policies will vary, but at my local gym this is the deal they offer. So, if you aren’t a frequent climber like myself then you’ll want to consider alternative options to optimize the amount of time you climb without paying more than necessary.
No matter what you plan or membership you decide to get, just know that indoor rock climbing is worth every penny you pay and it’s a stupid amount of fun, so it’s time to do some stretches and climb on!