MPHC Climbing Gym

MPHC was my first introduction to climbing, and will always have a special place in my heart. Since I started climbing regularly in November of 2014, I fell in love with it, and began to casually date MPHC, BKB, and the Cliffs. I became a member of MPHC after finding myself here at least two to three times a week.
Bouldering has exploded it seems in popularity recently — BKB has been around for a while, and with the Cliffs opening a couple of years ago, there are more options now than ever to climb in the city.
The appeal of climbing/​bouldering is strong.
— Great workout. It’s a fantastic way to get measurably stronger in a highly functional way. You never know when you need to pull your own body weight up!
— It provides a mental challenge. You’ll hear people say this a lot. The routes are puzzles to decipher, especially as you start working some of the more difficult problems. As a relative beginner, I haven’t even touched some of the more challenging routes, but even at a V2 level, especially here, you start to find that the best way to complete a route is not always obvious.
— Social. It’s a great way to spend time with friends and meet new people. Bouldering much moreso than top-​roping. With bouldering the routes are short, and you’re generally not on the wall for a very long time. A lot of time is spent looking at the routes together, giving tips, laughing over failure (which will happen repeatedly) and cheering each other on when you do succeed, finally, after the umpteenth time.
— Failure. It is an inevitable part of climbing; you learn to deal with it.
For those interested in an actual review instead of my waxing poetic on why climbing is awesome, here are some key points on the MPHC Climbing Gym:
1. It’s true, this place is small. Tiny, compared to BKB and The Cliffs. There is one section for top-​roping, nothing nearly as high as the 50-​foot lead climbing walls at the Cliffs, and one room for bouldering.
However, new and experienced climbers will find plenty to keep them occupied here. The bouldering room is two slab walls, a cave section, with the entryway into the room serving as another mini-​cave section. Route settings change the routes fairly frequently, and they start with one wall at a time and rotate through the room.
There are usually some decent V0s to warm up on, but the difficulty level between their V1 and V2 routes (and even between V0 and V1) can be rather daunting. The skill and strength gap between the V0, V1, and V2 levels are quite large here. As a beginner, (moving from V1 to V2 level especially), I find that sometimes there aren’t too many routes to try for honing to the next level.
My more experienced climber friends tell me that MPHC’s ratings are more difficult than the ones at the Cliffs and BKB. In my relatively short time as a climber, I find this to be true. The routes are also creative here, they force you to learn and use techniques rather than relying on pure strength (if you have it) to get up the wall. They use different types of holds in the same route, which adds the challenge of variety to the route. At Steep Rock and sometimes LIC, they use the same type of hold throughout route.
2. Cost: $ 75/​mo, $ 15 and change if visiting as a member’s guest at the guest rate. shoe rentals included. This is the least expensive option among the three gyms (Steep Rock up on Lexington and 97^th is comparable believe, and also rather small.), but decidedly worth it because of the quality of the routes.
3. Location/​logistics.
Manhattanites should check this gym out. It’s a part of Manhattan Plaza Health Club on 43^rd and 10^th, and the $ 75/​mo membership is for the climbing gym only.
4. Crowd
Weeknights can be very crowded especially after 7pm, and it’s noticeably cramped since it’s such a small space. If you get there before 6:30pm, it’s usually fine. Weekday mornings and when they open at 12pm on weekends are pretty empty.
A huge improvement for MPHC Climbing Gym in my books would be to open earlier on the weekends. I’ve expressed this to them a number of times — yes, $ 75 a month for membership is significantly less than $ 105 at The Cliffs or $ 115 at BKB.
However, MPHC also a lot smaller, and all the other gyms in New York (including the even-​smaller Steep Rock on the Upper East Side) open in the mornings on weekends. This is significant. This is the difference between being able to get a climb in on a Sunday morning before lunch plans, or none at all for the day. They don’t have to open super early — even 10am would be fine.
5. Staff. No complaints, generally solid, nice, experienced people who love to climb.
6. Clinics. Haven’t taken any here so I can’t comment — they offer them at least three to four times a week (women’s bouldering, co-​ed movement, beginner and advanced), free to members. There is also a yoga for climbers clas