Rock Climbing for Elementary Kids

Anyone know of a rock climbing course or rock gym that would accept a minor child (with parent)?  Our soon-to-be-3rd-grader is interested in trying rock climbing, but we'd like to start in a more structured/ safe indoor manner.  Yelp failed me.  RedTri too.  Go, BPN!  TYIA.  

Parent Replies

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Diablo rock gym in concord has programs for kids 

All the touchstone gyms (Ironworks, Great Western, Dog Patch, etc) allow minor kids with parents - or at least the did pre-covid. Ironworks is probably the best of those, and the adult will have to pass a belay test to belay the kid. 

Check out touchstone climbing. They have gyms all over the bay. Plenty of young kids there. I think they even have a youth competitive group as well. 

Bladium in Alameda is awesome, very kid friendly. They have a Kids Climb session as well as Rock Climbing Camp.

Our kids loved the climbing gym in downtown Oakland -Great Western Power Company. They have terrific camps, lessons and birthday parties for kids. We also love the Bladium, over in Alameda. Full name: Bladium Sports & Fitness Club. Good luck & keep climbing!

~Mailisha 

The Touchstone gyms are great and I highly recommend them! I started taking my stepson when he was 4 years old (he's 13 now), and I've seen kids as young as 2 climbing, plus they have climbing teams and camps. They also have a "kids belay" (where you don't have to know what you're doing, staff wrangle the ropes and keep the kids safe) or "parents belay" where they teach you how to handle the ropes yourself so your child climbs with you. I'm not sure what's going on right now with Covid, but I'd definitely check. There are quite a few Touchstone gyms in the area- here's info for Berkeley (https://touchstoneclimbing.com/ironworks/climbing-with-kids/) and Concord (https://touchstoneclimbing.com/diablorock/climbing-with-kids/)

Hi! Try one of the touchstone gyms (Berkeley Ironworks, SF mission cliffs, Pacific Pipes in Oakland, etc)

Bridges Rock Gym in El Cerrito! Our 12 year old son has been going to camps here for the past couple of years, and loves it.  They have excellent youth programs. www.bridgesrockgym.com

I have to disagree with the recommendation for Bridges for kids, although my kids' experience is from 2017, when we tried two different camps. From my notes at the time: "Climbing is an activity that kids tend to love or hate, according to mom friends. Both my kids (ages 6 & 8) did the half-day camp all week in April 2017 at a cost of $249/each. They really loved the climbing (had not done it before other than at the playground), and liked the leader _____. Unfortunately Bridges started setting up for a big contest on Wednesday of their week, limiting the number of walls the kids could use, to the point of no walls available on Friday. Bridges even ran camp through a power outage on Friday, which I consider a safety foul. I am not a climber and had never set foot in the place before, and found it loud and bro-y. [Daughter] was the only girl camper one day, and in fact was the only female in the place I saw at pickup that day. (She said she hated being the only girl.) Parking tough at pickup time.

Update for July 2017: I’m just not sure it’s worth the money, and they remain disorganized & bro-y."

I will never forgot how my 6 year old daughter was sent to the women's locker room by herself in the dark to use the bathroom. She was terrified. The male counselor didn't even have a clue why that would be a problem.