Coming from the DFW area, very excited when I discovered there was a Movement in Harlem during my visit to NYC. It's a small gym but a lot of routes to try. Came midday on a Saturday and was expecting it to be packed. It was somewhat busy but I never had to wait long to try a route. Lots of options for beginner level climbers. This day there were a lot of transverse routes; I was very happy about that! Decent sized gym area. Loved the local art on display and for sale. read more

Movement Harlem - Rock Climbing Near Me - New York, New York

Great bouldering routes and friendly staff. A great environment to climb in. They have a good variety of routes for beginners to advanced climbers. There is also a solid training area with three Standard Interactive Climbing Boards (tension climbing, moon board) and a variety of campus ladders and hangboards. I hardly use the weights and treadmills area, but I know they do have them! I've also heard great things about their Wednesday morning yoga class, something along the lines of "best yoga class I've ever taken." The one minus star is their affordability and relationship to the community. They keep raising prices and making new Cliffs gyms. It's not the best, making themselves less accessible for people in their neighborhoods. Sure, they had a free trial for anyone in Harlem, but if the person wanted to continue? There aren't any financial aid packages or any community programs. They don't have discounted prices for kids/students, which is a huge miss. Climbing can be a great way to engage youth and be a confidence building activity. My old gym in Oakland had a Black Girls Who Climb club for local Black girl youth. What a miss that the Cliffs is not being attentive to the role they could play in our neighborhood. read more

Movement Harlem - Great setters! - Rock Climbing Near Me - New York, New York

Nice, clean, and big gym for workout and climbing. Friendly staff and crowd. It is conveniently located in Harlem. But it was very hard to locate it because there is not lighted and/or big sign on the top to easily locate the entrance. I would recommend to place a sign for easier locator Overall, it is a nice place to hang out, work out, and have fun read more

See all

In a quest to try out new "stuff", I decided to stop by The Cliffs just to see what it was all about. Honestly, I assumed it was a rock climbing place; however, I am so glad that I randomly stopped by. During my first visit, the staff member (I think her name is Maci) was very helpful in answering all of my questions about the facility and gave me a decent tour. Since this was my first time bouldering, I cannot comment much about the facility because I do not have anything to compare it to. However, the other members seem pretty content with the facility so I guess that the facility is A-OK. Overall, I think the facility is pretty nice and clean. In addition to the bouldering walls, The Cliffs have a very small gym area and some cardio machines (3 treadmills and 2 elliptical machines). Currently (Apr. 2021), The Cliffs has a pretty nice promotional deal for Harlem residents. For $49, new members can receive 30 days of unlimited bouldering, free shoe rental, and two bouldering lessons. Also, if you decide to continue with the yearly membership for $89/month, the $99 initiation fee will be waived. Looking forward to hanging (no pun) out at The Cliffs and improving (technically developing) my climbing skills. read more

See all

I was going to be in the neighborhood, so it was a perfect time for me to check out this location of The Cliffs. The mats are thinner than I'm used to, so I didn't feel as comfortable with taking risks to reach the next hold. I also didn't feel as comfortable jumping down from taller heights. Facilities seem to be maintained well. The gym is smaller than other ones in the city, but there is still a good amount of variation. I wouldn't make the trek all the way here just for climbing as I think the LIC and Gowanus locations have more to offer in terms of climbing and safety comfort for me. read more

Small store front but it's a surprisingly large space. Friendly staff, very nice facilities, great route setting. Bonus pluses are the nice weight equipment, variety of different degrees of overhung walls, and campus boards, and moon board available. Bathrooms and locker rooms are very well maintained. Not a gym to go to if you want to lead climb or top rope, as it's exclusively bouldering. Hope to see this place continue to thrive in the community. read more

This is a great bouldering gym! They've got a ton of different walls and routes, with plenty of lower graded routes for a newbie like me. The staff are all very low-key and relaxed and helpful. I'm currently trying out their $49 offer that includes an intro to bouldering class, intro to technique class, a whole month of unlimited bouldering and gear rental, which is such a great deal. The intro to bouldering class was okay but the technique class was much more helpful since the instructor gave targeted advice and direction on climbing certain routes. Locker room is small and clean with plenty of showers and toilets. There's a weights room and upstairs is a space with elliptical machines and treadmills. I also felt pretty safe, COVID-wise, since everyone is pretty good about wearing masks correctly. For Harlem residents, they're offering a free day pass for your first time, which is pretty great. I'd say their normal, non-promo pricing is a bit too high though, at $30 for a one-day pass and $150 for a month. Wish they had more offers or discounted ten-packs! read more

One of the newest gyms to grace the streets of Harlem. Right across the Apollo and a block from the station. A super convenient place to get buff if you live in upper Manhattan. Great things about the place: 1) The crew at cliffs are excellent route setters. Like a good restaurant, you need great menu options but more importantly excellent chefs to craft them 2) Tension board and a spray wall to warm up This place would be my second home if I lived nearby. Cheers! read more

After 2-3 years this much anticipated climbing gym has finally opened in my Harlem neighborhood. I was previously climbing at Steep Rock West which is a great gym, but proximity is super important to me due to my schedule. The Cliffs Harlem is a 3 minute walk from my place so it's hard to beat from a proximity standpoint. So, I switched my membership to this gym. This climbing gym is bouldering only and there is tons of it. They have a variety of walls and features to keep things interesting. I wish they had an arch - this is something that Steep Rock West has that makes for an amazing climbing experience. The great thing about this gym is that they re-set problems somewhere in the gym every week. So there's always fresh problems to try for regular members. I go three times a week and the gym doesn't ever feel stale to me. They also have two moonboards which has seemingly infinite problems to try. I love their full-sized gym that has dumbells, squat racks, bench, pull-up/tricep stands and more. I think the setting at this gym is still developing since it's relatively new. There are some cool problems, but also some really strange ones. They'll work out the kinks in time. They're also just started expanding their class offerings for members including yoga, setting clinics, etc. I'm looking forward to seeing how this gym matures because there is a ton of potential! read more

It really doesn't look like much from the outside, but inside, the Cliffs at Harlem is a totally new world. As an intermediate climber, the Cliffs was the perfect opportunity to master skills like flagging and dyno-jumps without risking being injured. I always had room to improve with the massive amounts of boulders and ever-changing routes. Super helpful staff as well! read more

Great Bouldering gym to compete with the other upper Manhattan bouldering gyms. I was a little disappointed when I heard there wasn't going to be roped climbing at this location. Then when I went and saw those high ceilings they were screaming for some 20'+ toprope/lead routes. 5 Stars because the set made me feel weak (but in a good way), but at the same time plenty for everyone at any level. read more

Nice facility and nice staff --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- read more

I love this gym!! I enjoy doing all my workouts and climbing drills here vs other gyms since it is way less congested and more space. The staff is always very friendly and helpful! read more

I'm so annoyed that I went out of my way to come here. I love the LIC and Gowanus locations and was looking forward to bouldering and taking a yoga class. It's July and hot and humid in NYC. There was no AC. I thought it might be ok if I had water, so I filled up my water bottle. Nothing like drinking hot water. Disgusting! I can't believe there wasn't even cold water. When I asked the staff if it was always like this, they just shrugged their shoulders and mumbled something about an HVAC system. I can't believe people are paying $100 a month to use this facility. read more