New Jersey Rock Gym

Always a great experience climbing here. Great staff. Good walls and free climbing. Competitive pricing and it’s not usually over crowded. I’ve been coming here for about 6 years now and will continue climbing.

Maybe because I’m a first timer, I was disappointed with this place. I guess my perception of «rock climbing» was to climb up the walls with the rope around your waist (?) when planning to go rock climbing but my bf and I found out that reservations had to be made beforehand :/​. Instead, we were introduced to bouldering where the walls were acute to the floor and literally had to hang off the walls (with no rope, no nothing) to even make this challenge possible. Unless you’re a monkey or a professional climber, it seemed impossible to get yourself up. I was extremely disappointed and bummed that I wasn’t able to truly experience rocking climbing and got stuck with trying to be a monkey for 30 mins considering our 40 min drive here :[ now I know to make a reservation if I ever even wanna attempt rock climbing anymore.

Tucked away in an unassuming office park, NJ Rock Gym is easy to miss but well worth seeking for the average jane looking to indulge her inner spidey. An hour of private instruction for 4 rang in at 19.50 a person, including harness and shoe rental. The facility includes loads of vertical and sloped climbing terrain, bouldering, and even a ninja warrior style cliff hanger wall to develop hand and forearm strength. Each wall is color coded with routes ranging from easy breezy (5.0) to tighten up that harness and hang on for dear life (5.12). Beware the red walls — their craggy faces are unforgiving. This could become a habit.

I went here on a Sunday with my boyfriend and I really liked it! I never realized how much of a work out rock climbing was. I thought I was pretty strong before I came here haha. We took an hour session with an instructor and it wore me out! The place is pretty cool, it has multiple areas where you can climb. The colors on the rocks are the different paths you can take according to difficulty. You’ll also get all the gear and shoes so you don’t have to worry about that. As for the staff, they are really friendly and helpful. We had two instructors, for the first part we had a girl who’s rank is really good — she was really nice and patient! The other instructor was nice too!
Tip: Try the easy colors first and then move up from there. TRUST ME you’ll get tired. At one point I couldn’t even get up just inches off the floor haha.

We had our daughter’s birthday party at the New Jersey Rock Gym. The ages ranged from 5 – 9. The staff was friendly and helpful planning the entire event. They followed up by email and phone to confirm the reservation and details. The price was very reasonable. I recommend to have a small group of children. The smaller group ensured less waiting and more climbing. Scott was our instructor and was terrific with the children. Barbara helped us coordinate food, goody bags, and cake in the party room. It went smoothly and the children had a wonderful time. I could not have been happier. I would highly recommend having a birthday party at the New Jersey Rock Gym.

Prices here are good and they have great specials during the weekdays (e.g. Ladies night or 2-​for-​1). Gear is reasonably priced and in good condition. They also give you a punch card so that after you bring in 6 new people, you get a free day pass.
This is a much better place for wall climbing than bouldering. I say this as a fairly low level boulder-​er (V0-​V1, occasionally V2). A lot of the walls come out, so that you have to fight gravity, so for people who don’t have a lot of skill, you don’t have a lot of options. For more skilled people (V4-​V5), there are good options. Most of the space is dedicated to wall climbing though.
I’ve been here about 4 times now, but I think I might go back to Gravity Vault, which seems to have more paths for V0-​V2 boulder-​ers.

Nice obstacles to climb for all ages with encouraging and helpful staff. The location is a little hard to find but once your in the parking lot you’ll see it. Perfect for bday parties and to have a little fun. Overall it’s a great place to go and do rock climbing

The community here i really friendly, and relative to other rock gyms in NYC, this is pretty well priced. The monthly memberships are worth the price, but a one-​time visit is very expensive. Make sure you bring a student ID if you’re a student for the student discount.
My friends climb at this gym at least 4 times a week and really like the music as well.
Saturdays and Sundays tend to have more younger audiences, and there is more top roping during the day. At nights, most people are found at the bouldering walls.
I’m not sure exactly how clean the mats are. I know that they vacuum, but I’m not sure if they disinfect the mats. The tempature is usually pretty cool, but once you start climbing, you warm up pretty quickly.
Advice: Don’t climb everything really quickly because you will burn out. I always burn out and have to leave after an hour because my forearms hurt so much.
Once you come often enough, you will start to get to know other people, and overall, people are very helpful when you’re stuck on a problem.
When there are new routes put up on a certain wall, people tend to swarm it.

I LOVE this gym! It’s awesome. The routes are challenging and there’s a lot of them for a small gym. The bouldering is also fun and challenging. It’s also a great place to learn and gain insight on climbing technique bc everyone is friendly and helpful. I often see climbing teams practice here, which is pretty neat. It’s great to see them climb and observe them in order to learn.
The prices here are great and so is the service. I also like how they use traditional ATCs instead of Grigris (I don’t know why I like that, but I do?). All-​in-​all it’s a great environment to climb if you’re experienced and learn if you’re not. Climb here!

There aren’t too many places that get 5 star reviews on Unilocal and also smell like feet, but now there is at least one and fortunately, this is not a food review. New Jersey Rock Gym is all you could ask for in an indoor rock climbing facility. There are plenty of walls with varying difficulty levels, free climb areas and a staff that completely knows their rock climbing and how to help you know yours.
I had my son’s birthday here and have been to two other kids’ parties here, each time the kids were brimming with pride after conquering wall after wall with the help of supportive staff members who know when to try to push you (or your child) to the next level. I have also come as a family and had a guide help us for an hour and this is invaluable fun for the whole family as you work together to help each other get to the top of every climb. The camp here in the summer is great for kids as well, especially since you can sign up for a certain amount of days for each week to work camp around your schedule and so your kid doesn’t fatigue from climbing every day.
Although most of my experience has been with my kids here, I have enjoyed climbing plenty of times for myself. As a non-​thrill seeking adult, I find this to be excellent exercise, both mentally and physically. It’s not a race and the harder the walls get, the more you have to combine tetris-​like puzzle solving skills with your Cliffhanger Stallone climbing ability.
I would highly recommend NJ Rock Gym for a kids party, a family fun outing or a day of tough exercise with some friends. The prices are excellent for what you get and this is how you get 5 stars and the aroma of feet, which should be expected in a rock gym.

This place is legit! It’s one of the biggest rock gym I’ve been to. I got the livingsocial deal $ 39 for 2 hrs belay certificate class, 1 week access (gears included) and 3 additional one day pass (no gears). It was a really good deal! To take the belay certificate class, you have to call in ahead of time since their classes have limited space. Our instructor, Joe, was very patient and thorough with everything. He made us repeat the knots and proper set up many times until we got it right. Two hours was a long time, but I feel pretty confident about it now. After the initial 2 hrs belay class, I still had to pass 2 more additional belay tests. (My friend told me that this is one of the strictest rock gym around the area) I am now finally belay certified! :D
The gym itself is pretty big and has lots of routes that are marked by their difficulty levels and the dates they were created. The people who work there are generally nice, but sometimes they can sound mean because they do care about safety. The gym has different discounts on different nights like Monday is good for people under 22, Tuesday is ladies night, and Wednesday is buy one get one free! Overall, this is a great place. Can’t wait to come back to try some more routes!

Great rock climbing gym. The people that work here are super nice! There is a good mix of various difficulty top roping setups with a few having both 5.6÷7 and 5.8÷9 route combinations. So if you are climbing with someone less experienced, it works out well. Another benefit at NJ Rock Gym, is that all of the routes have (a) route setter, (b) date, and © difficulty marked. Not all rock gyms do this and its nice to have some sort of reference. Finally, really good bouldering scene here if that is your thing and lead climbing opportunities.

Fun and challenging!

I absolutely loved this place when I went with a group of friends.
It wasnt crowded at all, which was awesome because we were able to stay in one spot for however long we wanted without having to worry about moving on for others to use.
If you dont know what Belaying is or how to do it, you arent allowed on the larger walls with the ropes. Despite that slight set back there are still plenty of walls you are able to climb freely. They also provide you with climbing shoes if you dont already have your own.
They have it set up perfectly with the different colors of the rocks for your hands and feet displaying different difficulty levels. It was honestly hysterical watching our meathead guys think it was going to be so easy, boy were they decieved. Its was more difficult then I thought, but one of the more advanced climbers explained some techniques to me which resulted in myself being the first out of our group to reach the top of one of the walls :) Go me!
I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to try something different or anyone looking for a way to entertain a group of people. You might get addicted. :)
I do have to warn you though, that you ARE going to be sore the next day. No matter how fit you believe you are.
Oh & the cave is SOOOOO cool. I was obsessed with this part, insanely hard yet amazingly fun.
Appropriate for all ages :)

Went here once, it was a good experience. It wasn’t crowded when we went in, so didn’t need an appointment. There are different walls with varying degrees of toughness. It would have been nice if the staff had given us a quick intro/​tips for indoor rock climbing. The belayer we had wasn’t really helpful and was a little discouraging when we couldn’t get up far.

Fun time, use your college ID (only Mondays) and only pay $ 7 bucks! And to climb you must make an appointment before hand or else you can only boulder.

I got bigger, or this gym got smaller.
It all started here for me. well, if you don’t count climbing in the woods with no equipment. I remember forging the parent signature on the waiver so many times to get friends into here, because we never thought to have to have a parent sign something before hand. I think they are more strict now than they used to be, so REMEMBER THAT SIGNATURE MINORS. This place was not close to my hometown. It may have been, and may still be, the only climbing gym in North Jersey. It required dedication to make it out here and a job to support the, at the time, incredibly expensive monthly fee. It required even more dedication to drive all the way back, struggling the whole way to keep my sore arms on the steering wheel.
I remember bouldering most of my time here, and even competing in the competitions (as a beginner — and it was a ton of fun). The cave section was — and still is – a ton of fun. Occasionally, I would top-​rope here, and this is where I remember the walls being larger than they actually are. I was a little disappointed with the top-​roping here, most of the walls were pretty flat, and felt really short. The grading didn’t seem to use the 5.10a, 5.10b, etc. scale and instead uses 5.10-, 5.10, 5.10+, which seemed odd and inconsistent to boot (I could flash a 5.11, but couldn’t complete a move on a 5.11-). To make up for it all though, there is a really huge lead climbing wall, which I doubt I could make it even half the way up. I would have loved to have tried, but no one I was with could lead belay. Most the people here seem to boulder (understandably so – it is incredibly social and the people are really nice).
Oh! I was a bit upset to see that the bouldering section has changed a bit. Still very interesting problems to work on (and difficult), they no longer have top-​outs (nothing like the adrenaline that pumps through you when you are totally pumped and still have to top-​out with a potential 10+ ft fall). I’m assuming for legal reasons. Same reason why they also require you to use their ATCs at each of the belay stations (and always anchor in). I suppose safety should always come first, but it was damn fun trying to top-​out.
One last thing. This place is super hard to find, I missed it my most recent visit, and I knew exactly what I was looking for. Fairfield Business Park, and its in the back right, entrance facing Rt 46.

Best Rock gym. Friendly, helpful staff, most of them experienced climbers. Tons of good bouldering for the intermediate and advanced including slabs, vertical walls, overhangs, a few topouts, and a 40′ cave ending in another upstairs bouldering section. All the problems are well designed, make sense, and have a physical goal. V0-​V8 feels similar to outdoors.
If you are new to climbing, go for the belay certification class… it comes with a week of membership, making it basically free if you visit 2 times, plus the best beginner climbs are on the high walls, not in the bouldering areas. Otherwise, I’ve been so busy bouldering, I can’t speak for the top-​roping, but I trust that it is similarly awesome. You can sign up for a variety of outdoor climbing trips including an intro to ice climbing. NJRG also hosts kiddie birthday parties at a reasonable rate.
Is the gym brand new? No. Is it clean? Yes. Is it a good place to find a guy (or gal) with a smoking hot body? Probably. Should you check the website before going and take advantage of weekly admission and membership deals? Definitely!!!

Lots of eye candy, big muscles, kinda smelly, people grinding up against walls. My friend is convinced that I went to a brothel instead of a gym. She now wants to join me the next time I go. Yes, she’s paralyzed from the waist down but it’s all about upper body strength anyway.
…
I’m no rock climbing expert but I have to say my first experience was rather pleasant and left me giddy anticipating my next climb.
This gym in particular offers various specials through out the week. I love specials… special discounts, special people and special brownies.
Top Special Picks:
Tuesdays — Ladies Night ½ Off
Wednesdays — BOGO *Gear not included
**Adult Day Pass $ 17 /​/​Adult Day Pass w/​Gear $ 23
You can either top rope climb (climber ties in, while a person called the belayer controls the other end of the rope) or go bouldering (climb to a moderate height protected by padding instead of ropes).
I started off bouldering because top rope climbing requires you to make a reservation for a belayer unless you’re certified. If not, they offer belayer certification classes for $ 40.
The equipment is bit old and weathered but that didn’t stop enthusiasts from coming in on a rainy, Wednesday night. The gym is a decent size with enough room to top rope climb as well as boulder. There’s a «cave» section where you’re basically climbing up a wall on an incline, which is pretty fun if you stay on the beginner/​intermediate levels. Expert level? Good luck and have fun rolling down the hill when you fall off… unless of course you’re an expert.
I would say there are more expert levels than beginner levels but I personally think it’s motivation to learn, get better and start rock climbing out in the real world.
Tips:
If you fancy this sport and see yourself investing your time and money going to gyms, etc., buy your own gear and bring it with you. Most people don’t wear socks when they climb so let me break it down for you…
Multiple sweaty feet + community shoes = NASTY.
The gym is located in a random office complex and is VERY easy to miss if it’s your first time. Did I miss it and show up 30 minutes late? Perhaps.
Remember to stretch before climbing! You would think this one is understood but you would be surprised.
Last but not least, don’t be alarmed if your hands feel like they’ve been dipped in battery acid and have melted off at the end of your climb. It’s totally normal… I think. Well, mine felt like that.
See ya on the rocks!

With great angst I came up with this rating. It is the best climbing gym around so part of me feels like I should give it a 4 star rating but I just can’t. It is a far drive from my parents home but whenever i am home I usually make a trip over to this place. The staff is very friendly and have always been happy to help or give advice on climbing. The gym is big but not huge (I have seen bigger like Metro Rock where I climb in Boston). The routes are definitely diverse and challenging though and when I have been there it hasn’t been overly crowded. A 5.9 here is like a 5.10 at my home gym and other outdoor routes I have climbed. Who knows which is the correct rating.
I took my first belay course here about a year ago with Pam who was really friendly. There was only one other person in the class too. The course was great while still learning what was needed to be safe.
The prices are a drawback. $ 17 is kinda high given the location. And they cut off the student price to 22 years old and younger. Its a little more than I think it should cost given it is far from NYC.