Hey folks, new climber here.

Thinking about getting a membership to an indoor gym somewhere in Orange County. I live in Orange, but wouldn't mind driving up as far as Long Beach if they gym there is better. Only one I've actually checked out myself is the Anaheim Hills one (Rock City Climbing Center) and it seems decent to me, maybe a little small but it seems like there's a lot of stuff packed into that place.

Planning on checking out Rockreation, ClimbX, Solid Rock Gym and The Rock Gym in Signal Hill.

Any of you guys currently go to any of those and wouldn't mind recommending which one is better? I don't want a gym that I can outgrow in a month, but I don't want one that's super packed all the time either. Also if one of those has more 'professional climbers' than others that might be a plus if someone is willing to do some mentoring. :)

Thanks in advance.

It depends on where exactly in the OC you live. If you are in south county Solid Rock in lake forest is the way to go. It is a smaller gym but it is very welcoming. The staff is very nice and always willing to answer questions. If you are really serious about climbing the community college offers a class in rock climbing. If you are a bit further north rockreation is really nice but the atmosphere always struck me as a bit pompus and exclusive. If i was you i would go to solid rock. I climb there and it isn't bad at all, the lead routes are allot better than the top rope routes, so if you can do those. There are also many local climbing spots in the area. Ortega falls off of highway 74 is a popular one for top roping. You could climb there with a very small ammount of gear

Live in Orange (near 55 and Chapman), work in Long Beach and have a couple friends in Mission Viejo, so I'm all over the place.

I'd love to join a class but I work full time and don't get home until 6pm usually. With the afternoon traffic I don't think I'd be able to get to Solid Rock until 7ish, which doesn't leave a lot of time to climb if they close at 9.

Saturdays are pretty much free but I'd like to work my way up to climbing 2-3 days a week if my muscles hold up on me.

Thanks for the reply though, going to check out Solid Rock tonight.

Checked out Solid Rock tonight, seems like a very nice place. Gotta say I was more impressed with it than the one I saw yesterday (Rock City). It's a bit smaller but the people seemed nice and friendly, and it wasn't too crowded (although I was there around 8pm). There was even a couple cute girls which is a big plus. :)

It's a bit more expensive and further out, but I might try it out for a month and see what happens. Still want to check out Rockreation this weekend though.

hey man let me know how that goes, looking for an indoor gym and all. I've checked out Rock City and Rockreation but am always looking for something else, mainly for price comparison and it takes me so long to truck to Costa Mesa on the bus (2 hours). Keep me posted and happy climbing!

The Rock Gym in Signal Hill is pretty good - good mix of lead, TR and bouldering - I don't remember it ever being crowded but I haven't been there for a while.

Here's a couple of gyms a long way from OC:

If you like lead routes where moves tend to feel like real rock moves then I can recommend Boulderdash in Westlake Village - it's got some good stuff including a couple of great rock featured aretes. I'm not a huge fan of the bouldering there however. Accurate grades.

Arcadia Rock Climbing is a large mainly bouldering gym which has a lot of problems - V0 - V2 is pretty soft though.

Hanger 18 has some looong routes, and extensive bouldering. Stiff grades.

Rock Gym I've tried and I agree with you, not to bad busy-wise. When I was there they were adding on an entire large room for more bouldering. Seemd a little smaller than what I'm used to tho. Hanger 18 looks GREAT though!! I can't wait to head over, the prices are so much cheaper than Rockreation too