Touchstone gym located in downtown Oakland…read more This is a more small and intimate gym in comparison to Pacific Pipe. There is a small Boulder section, top roping, work area, weights, and workout area. The staff here is super friendly. My friends took the intro to climbing class here and they really enjoyed it. The staff was really helpful in teaching them the ins and outs

One of the better Touchstone gyms (I've been to most of them). The staff have always been polite to…read moreme here, and the boulder setting somehow feels more consistent than other gyms even though it's just down the street from Pac Pipe. Things feel a little older/more run down, but I kinda don't mind. Parking is a hassle during pay to park hours of course, otherwise a good enough gym to check out. I really love the Kilter Board area that's away from the noise and hustle of the rest of the gym. You can board climb for hours there!

This is the only climbing gym in the east South Bay and the closest to Pleasanton…read more Pros: -Friendly staff -Not too expensive for a membership Cons: -Way too many kids at 5-6pm, feels like a daycare. -Routing setting is okay, but routes are not changed very often. -The gym is very lacking (no treadmills)

Reach another level of personal growth with a visit to The Peak of Fremont, the biggest indoor…read moreclimbing facility in the area. Remember those days in the playground and their climbing structures? Well, as an adult, The Peak is the place to reignite that hobby and enjoy the sport with a rich community of professionals and enthusiasts. This huge facility is shared among The Peak's climbing structures, an indoor volleyball court, a casual restaurant, and a small arcade. There aren't many parking spots up front but around the back of the building, you'll see plentiful spots. Once you enter the building, head to the left through the glass doors where you'll see the many climbing walls speckled with multiple colored protrusions. The pricing is transparent and it's all available upfront. They do have day passes, multi-visit passes as well as memberships that will waive your entrance fee. In addition to the entrance fee, you may also be required to pay for the harness and shoe rentals (members get a discounted price). They also have chalk for the more advanced climbers. If it's your first time, consider completing the waiver online ahead of time. You may be asked to go through a quick orientation regarding the use of their auto-belay system, however if you already know how to belay traditionally, they may ask you to go through additional training just to be sure. Each wall seemed to feature a variety of colors to distinguish the different difficulty levels for more advanced climbers. Aside from the walls, they also have a huge structure designed for bouldering with a thick padded floor underneath. The boulder and auto-belay walls seemed the most popular but it didn't seem there was much waiting given the ample space in the facility. There was certainly enough climbing space for everyone. As a novice, the activity was fun and tiring; there's definitely a balance between technique and strength! Despite having entry for the whole day, we definitely were tired out within an hour of constant climbing and by hour two, it was just about time to leave and refuel. Fortunately, the location of this space is quite convenient due to having a restaurant right on site as well as its proximity to the highway and other eateries just a few minutes away. The staff were friendly and informative. Besides the initial onboarding, there wasn't much interaction with them. They seem to keep things organized, cleaned and well-maintained. Overall, The Peak does a fantastic job introducing the sport of climbing to the local community and providing a clean and safe environment for newbies and experts alike. The price is reasonable for an all day activity and even more so if you become a member. For kids, they also have camps to build a new passion and train them up as climbers. For the more serious climbers, you may want to consider investing in the equipment to further save on the rentals. If this is a new challenge for you, take the opportunity to get in on this sport! The Peak makes it relatively easy to pick this up and continue leveling up with each visit!

I haven't rock climbed in over 10 years, but I'm on a quest to get more active. I was invited by a…read morefriend who love it and comes regularly. This place was busy, but there was still plenty of space for everyone. The facilities were clean and the staff were very friendly. Overall, I'd be back

This gym is really great in terms of the scale and options you have to choose from. The gym is big…read moreand the facilities are well kept. Points deducted because although some of the staff are super sweet, the others are literally the worst touchstone staff I have ever had to interact with. The catty tone that a majority of the staff have at this location is insane. You can walk in with a smile on your face and be as polite as possible and 2/3 I have been treated like I just walked into the DMV. It's especially demoralizing when me as a calfresh user has to do this interaction each time and can't just walk in. What other reviewers have stated about the customer service here is exactly on par with what I've experienced. Obligatory complaining about touchstone in general that isn't specific to Pac Pipe: touchstone sucks. The performative compassion and wokeness that the company has for both its employees and their visitors is ironic when they charge insane monthly memberships and day pass prices ($30 for a day pass plus additional if you need gear). They'll claim these prices are to pay their staff (it's not - their setters are still underpaid for their work). The student monthly discount is also so laughable compared to their normal fee. They're greedy and heavily corporatized, which is really reflected in a lot of their gyms and can lead to some locations' sets feeling stale and uninspired.

I love coming here. Staff is friendly, the routes lots of fun. As a member, I really appreciate the…read moremembers only hour on the weekend. I also find the kids area to be a lot of fun, seeing kids experience the joys of climbing.

We went here on a Sunday Morning and it was pretty empty surprisingly!…read more This is a great spot for bouldering, they have a lot of routes and walls for rock climbers. The boulders here were quite tall some of them were! It was nice being to mantle over the top of the climbs and climb back down. Overall, a lot of routes here and a fun place to boulder!

Plenty of problems to work on at this climbing gym. The routes are also decently rated. Staff at…read moreIronworks are helpful. Overall, I enjoyed the atmosphere and set up here.

Amazing gym, went with our old neighbors for climbing, been a hot minute almost 20 years for me and…read moreit was a good plunge back into climbing. really friendly people both employees and patrons, parkings a bit of a fight if you don't know where to go, but membership gets you into other gyms.

I have two issues with Oaktown Boulders: communication and organization. It was impossible to get a…read morehold of them by email or phone to sign my daughter up, so we drove there and showed up to talk to someone. I signed my daughter up for a class, and after she attended one session (and after getting her excited about climbing), they emailed me to say they messed up, and the class was full. So they cancelled her enrollment and gave me a partial refund. Totally unacceptable! My daughter was so disappointed. After that experience, we joined another climbing gym and asked Oaktown Boulders to take us off their email list. They have literally emailed me half a dozen times, promoting new classes and letting me know about openings. EVERY SINGLE TIME, I ask them to remove me from their email list! No response. Also, unacceptable! Get your sh*t together, Oaktown Boulders!

Part of loving Oaktown Boulders is loving that they are aiming to make climbing something that ALL…read morekids have access to. And doing so by providing quality and fun instruction - there's no compromising in what they offer. It is exciting to see the growth that they have achieved over the past couple of years and moving locations, hiring/training new staff is never easy. If I wanted big box climbing lessons for my kid I'd go elsewhere. Yet, in addition to wanting this confidence boosting and camaraderie building experience for my kid it matters to me to give my money to a place also working to do good in our community. Have you read the Mission?

Sent my boyfriend to buy a chalk bag as a gift for a family member of mine who climbs all the time…read more Upon his arrival, he was rudely welcomed by a petite dark haired girl (possibly Asian or latina). Considering it was his first time there, you'd think he'd be greeted properly. He felt veryyy uncomfortable and unwanted upon entering. She answered his questions very sarcastically, rude, and monotone. He also mentioned that other people who entered (possibly regulars who come to the gym all the time), were greeted with fist bumps and big smiles by this girl. Definitely not a good look for the gym. Especially for newcomers.

I bought a day pass for a visit here for some bouldering. The day pass is 25 before 3pm and rental…read moreis included for the first time. The process was easy and we filled out our forms rapidly. The shoes are self serve and i noticed that they also provide rental chalk. The bouldering area is quite minimal, but they had a number of interesting problems and the boulders are all on Kaya, my preferred app for logging my climbs. They also provided 0 training or onboarding for us so if you are new to the sport, I would recommend coming here with a friend who knows the ropes haha. The grades made sense, I wish there was a bit more slab type climbing though, and the overhang area is also fairly minimal. This is obviously a much more top rope oriented gym. There is little AC but they do have fans, and there's a small strength training area and some treadmills. The bathrooms are quite well appointed with hair dryer, tampons, and nail clippers. Enjoyed the trip for sure!

I had my son's 13th birthday party here & it turned out to be such an awesome experience. It wasn't…read moreyour conventional party, which was perfectly cool with me. 2 hours was perfect for the kids as climbing takes a lot out of you. The staff was patient & worked really well with everyone. It was a lot of the kids first time climbing & I was nervous they weren't going to like it, turns out they had an amazing experience. Thank you Movement! S/o to Ben for being so kind to all of us, I didn't get the other guy but you were amazing as well. Thank you for being patient with us, I know teenage boys could be tough to reign in but you toughed it out! I appreciate it! I'm considering a membership after this.

For the climbers, they routinely switch out the routes around 2-3 weeks throughout the gym. They…read morehave a good spread of levels ranging from 5.8 and up. They have bouldering, top roping, and lead climbing walls. There is a good challenge for every level. I did have a bad experience leaving my bag in the locker room - on my fault I did not lock the locker. But the management team did not do much to help me identify the thief - even though they have cameras throughout the gym. The theft occurred early on a Sunday morning when there was only a handful of people in the gym, so it would have been easy to identify. The thief stole everything, bag, purse, car keys. So I no longer leave things unattended in the locker room. Which also makes me question leaving my things around the gym. I haven't had anything stolen from the cubbies yet though.

I'm a regular here. Climbing is such a fun sport and this gym has great options for bouldering and…read moretop roping. They also have a lot of events as well, which provides a strong community feeling. It gets very busy in the afternoon when the kiddos are there but I'm always able to find an open route. I'm not a huge fan using a grigri, but that's what they provide. Check it out!

Did not have a great experience here. I'd give it maybe 3 stars until I went to cancel my…read moremembership. First, the place smells like a bad combo of feet and climbing chalk. All climbing gyms have something of a funk, but this place is the worst. I joined to take the yoga classes mostly, but that's a hard pass. Classes start on time, but the gym allows members to show up late. When they do, they move the curtain, light up the whole room, and the noise of 100 climbers floods the room. Right in the time when you're settling in and trying to focus. Then the weight room is above the yoga room, so you get to hear weights slamming down during class, which is also disruptive. I found the classes super uneven, some being great (Bronwyn) and others being a weird combo of loud music over soft voices so you can't hear the instructor, or instructors borderline shouting at folks to expel breath as loud as possible. Not what I'm looking for. So, no problem, it's not for me. It's close to home, price is reasonable, and they have good climbing facilities. Boulder area isn't the best, but the rest of it is quite good with interesting routes changed often...enough. When I went to cancel, I was hit with a "policy" that you have to cancel on or before the 25th of a month or they will charge you for another month. I reached out on the 26th, 5 days before the next charge cycle. Seemed like plenty. Complained, go zero response. So basically I consider they robbed me of $110, because of course the cancellation policy is not visible..until you go to cancel. Hope it was worth the money, Movement. Cannot recommend.

Some of the most fun climbs I've had in my entire climbing journey so far. I had the chance to…read morecheck this place out very early into getting started with climbing so many of the climbs back then were out of reach as I was climbing fairly low grades at the time but they really do have a lot of fun climbs that incorporate a variety of skills/techniques My main reason for the high grade despite a fairly large lack of amenities that my primary gym has is they just create a welcoming third space that overshadows their lack of space and feature rich gym equipment. The climbs are some of the more unique ones I've encountered with many of them challenging your sense of body positioning/tension with a good range of beginner styled climbs that allow for a friendly atmosphere. This has been my second time come and the community here seemed quite close knit as many were cheering for each other wrt their "projects" As for some nitpick downsides, the seem to only have one shower area for men's bathroom with a fairly small open changing area that is tucked into a corner. Given the space is nearly quarter to half the size of comparable SF climbing gyms I guess I could see the reasons behind it. Their sets were also a bit inflated imo but my reference points are Movement, Touchstone, and Mesa Rim gyms so it's not quite fair to say it's a universal truth but it felt like their climbs were a tad too easy for the higher grades. Maybe it's a reason people find it more welcoming but regardless the way the climbs are setup it felt exciting which is rare after climbing for nearly two years now They also have beer on tap (for members) which was surprising but seemed to really emphasize on the community focused aspect and their smaller membership size One other drawback as I think back is this location is honestly terrible for parking as it's on a busy corridor of Van Ness St so parking is really only good after 6 PM since meters stop charging then. If I take all these into consideration this place would be a 4.5 stars. I really like their sets, they have a two-week membership that is $50 / two-week period with discounts for students and Medi-cal You can probably try most of their problems within the two week period given how small the gym is but for now I see this as a slept on gym primarily because it doesn't have the same presence that larger corporate gyms in the Bay have

This place is sick, they have a 2024 set moonboard. I think what stands out for benchmark is their…read moresetting. Really stiff. Really easy to get to from union square. I just took a bus from union square to van ness then walked a few blocks. There is plenty of restaurants/bars down the hill.