Central Rock Climbing Gym

One of the best gyms in the northeast. The Central Rock family of gyms is by far one of the best places to train, learn, and have a good time with rock climbing. Staff is friendly and always willing to help. Since the gym is so popular, parking is a little tough, but there is parking on and across the street. Newly renovated with a new look to the walls and great route setting. Boulder problems are legit but i will say that I am more a route climber than boulderer. Price is comparable to others in the state and significantly cheaper than other gyms I have seen in different states. Overall, definitely recommend to all! ⁵⁄₅

Great community of climbers! Routes are always changing and a new overhaul of the place is just finishing up this week! Anxious to go check out the new climbs!

Central Rock Climbing Gym is located in the Greendale section of Worcester, behind the Greendale Mall. Admission is reasonably priced — $ 20 for all day use of the rock walls and gym equipment, including shoe and harness rentals. There are over 60 rock walls and they change the course regularly.

I went rock climbing with my brother and his family recently. We picked the Central Rock Gym in Worcester because it was centrally locatted and they boast 14,000 sqft of climbing terrain with walls of 15 — 40ft and 3,500 sqft of bouldering walls. I would recommend this facility because it is large with more then enough climbing options for the novice to the professional with the simple to the crazy wall configurations. My 4yo niece and my 35yo brother both had equally great times. While we were there they were hosting a birthday party for kids aged 6 – 10 and the instructors handled the little ones with ease and professionalism. This isn’t my first time here and certainly won’t be my last.

Not that there are any other choices for rock climbing in the area, but this place is pretty cool. The initial investment is a little steep, but once you start going, you’ll be hooked.
Pro-​tip: there’s lotion and hand sanitizer at the front desk!

Everyone here is super nice (even though the median age of their employees is 19). One person even told me a great place to buy my own climbing accessories (even THEY thought the prices were too expensive and selection too limited to spend money on).
Courses are plentiful and constantly changing. And I LOVE that there are some legitimately intermediate courses. Some times when I climb the courses are either too hard or too easy.
Well-​lit and great atmosphere. I recently moved to Boston and forgo The Rock Spot because Central Rock is really worth the drive.
Love love love this place…

Of the rock gyms in the area, this is by far the largest.
The staff are friendly, the price of rentals is average, and the belaying class is the cheapest around. Trust me, I’ve looked.
The only downside is they rate their climbs a bit harder than they really are. Subtract half a grade from whatever it says for a more accurate description.

We spent five great hours here on New Year’s Day. Got here at 11 to take their belaying class, despite the fact that the older kids already had a bunch of rock climbing experience behind them. The 30 – 45 minute class was a worthy refresher. There was a good variety of routes, and the bouldering area was more challenging than another rock gym we’ve been to. My husband’s karate instructor works out at this gym sometimes and was the one who recommended it. There were perhaps 20 people there tops that day, so we pretty much had our pick of the routes. What a great workout.

This is my first time writing a review after switching over from Citysearch, so bear with me: P. To start off, I’m a climber originally from CA and moved to Boston earlier this year, so this review is for new people and for the somewhat experienced climber. I climb on mostly ropes, but I also love bouldering. Yesterday was my first time at Central Rock Gym with some friends and from just stepping in, the walls absolutely overwhelm and cascade over you. I love heights, so I was very anxious to climb their overhanging walls.
As soon as you step in, the spacious check-​in is conveniently to your right, where you’re greeted by very friendly staff. They explained what’s involved, what I needed to do get climbing, et cetera et cetera. Unfortunately, belay certifications doesn’t carry over from gym to gym (for insurance and assurance reasons), so my friends and I had to take a belay test before hopping on the ropes, which was free. They have a second floor that has short walls, I guess for kids, beginners, and their classes, which they did explain to me that they offer a variety of classes as an option to all customers. They also have an exercise area with treadmills and weights as well as a yoga area too. Very cool!
After the test, we warmed up in the bouldering area and I was immediately attracted to their giant cave. I hopped on a V2 (relatively easy boulder route in layman’s terms) and climbed up the super-​overhanging cave and I was hooked! My friends followed suit and we just ended up bouldering the entire time we were there!
I have to give a special thanks to I think his name was Steve for showing my friends and I around the boulder problems, talking to us and teaching us how to do certain moves (climbers call that «beta», and very patiently I might add because it takes me forever to figure out moves sometimes haha), and being just a wonderful host. We had to bug him several times with questions on how to do certain boulder problems and he never hesitated in stopping whatever he was doing to help us out. He apparently put up a lot of the boulder problems there too.
Later two of my other friends showed up to join us who’s been climbing for many years and they said that the «boulder problems at CRG are some of the best they’ve climbed indoors, especially the harder problems.» I don’t climb anywhere near as hard as they do, but I have to agree. I’ve been to quite a few gyms while living in CA and have visited a couple gyms since I came to Boston and the boulder problems here are much friendlier — they aren’t as reachy (I’m 5’4″) and flows better. I also dislike gyms with boulder problems that require you to jump and throw your hands all the time, so it’s a nice to climb well-​thought out boulder problems that are technical and makes you think, not how high you can jump.
I have to make a separate paragraph for this because it’s that incredible. The gym has NO «spinners» (a hold that is usually marked with tape all over it to tell climbers that it can’t be used because the bolt that screws the hold to the wall is broken), not a single one! Of all the gyms I’ve ever been to, I have never seen such well-​maintained climbing walls. Even the stickers on the bouldering walls aren’t all ripped and mangled up, which is very common in bouldering areas. They must have a dedicated wall maintenance team or something. Very professional!
Overall Central Rock Gym is a great gym, very clean (the bathroom is some of the cleanest I’ve seen in a climbing gym anywhere), very friendly and professional staff, and really good boulder problems. The atmosphere is also much more comfortable — even the regulars are much friendlier, even though they can be a little loud ;). I’m definitely coming back to climb their rope routes next time. Thank you CRG for a wonderful first-​time experience!

Central Rock is spacious with lots of different difficulties and bouldering options, but like many other indoor rock climbing gyms, its better to go with a group than by yourself, especially if you’re a newbie. There isn’t much instruction beyond the simple belay training that is required for the gym to make some extra money.
They have 6.12’s as well as half of 6.6’s if you’re a beginner and extremely tired. Its basically the kids’ wall, but no one uses it so you can sneak in for a quickie ;). They also have yoga classes, which seemed PACKED, so I guess it must be a good deal. However, there’s still some problem with pricing.
Even if you have a belay certification somewhere else, they’ll expect you to pay for the initial training and membership card. However, the plus is they do provide a picture ID, which adds some legitimacy to the whole thing, but in the end you’re just paying to learn what you already know and wasting precious time on a weekday.
Like the previous posts, the biggest problem I have is the lack of parking. The gym is spacious and can definitely fit a ton of people, but the parking lot can probably fit half of their cars. I ended up parking on next to the shady nonexistent sidewalk, aka the grassy area. Don’t know how safe it was there, but there weren’t any cops in the vicinity.
Overall, it’s a fun time with co-​workers or a group of friends, if you’re into doing something new. One of the more e exciting things to do in Worcester.

When you go rock climbing, what are you looking for:
A. A fun time with friends or kids, where a professional climber will assist you and make sure everything is being done safely?
B. A place where you can get trained to climb and use ropes etc by yourself/​with a friend – with no ongoing professional help?
If you are a serious climber, you will probably say option B. That’s great – this place is for you.
But I was expecting option A, and was stunned to spend $ 130 for 3 adults and 2 teens to be left on our own after a 15 minute «class.»

A good overall climbing gym, especially for newer climbers. The gym is new and large (clean bathroom and a thankfully separate party area) and the equipment is in great shape. Plenty of routes for beginners and intermediates. Fewer sport routes than other gyms I’ve seen. Would’ve liked the walls to have more faux natural holds. Great bouldering wall with plenty of routes/​range of difficulty. Biggest issues are limited parking and limited cubby holes. Rates ($ 15 prime or $ 12 before 4pm) are good for Boston metro and the service is good. This has been my home gym and I’ve been very satisfied.