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Warrenville, IL Vertical Endeavors

Vertical Endeavors is a chain of rock gyms, as much as three locations is a chain, and from what we have heard is also owned by the people who own Nikros.  If you go to the Nikros website you quickly realize that if it has anything to do with climbing or setting up a rock gym, Nikros can supply it.  The only reason to mention these facts is to point out that The VE we climbed in Warrenville, Illinois was the closest to outdoor rock without going outside.  I don’t know the process they use when the make/mold/hang the walls sans holds, but they are fantastic.  Like any gym there are holds and the sequence of these determines the route you climb, but at VE (like outdoor climbing) there are feature-only routes.  Also, one of the bothersome things about climbing in a larger rock gym is the probable presence of a mid to large sized group of children running about heedless of the danger they are creating or how annoying they can get.  The VE we went did a great job of corralling and segregating them from people who just wanted to climb.

Vertical Endeavors is an excellent gym.  It would easily be the best rock gym yet if not for three failings.  The first one is purely personal.  They didn’t have a slack-line.  There wasn’t one hung, nor were there the fixtures to hang one up.  If I’m wrong, I apologize and message me and I will retract my prior statement.  I do think that a top-notch gym needs to have a line up if they want to be in the class of elite gyms.  The second detraction is the lack of bouldering.  There is a bouldering cave and some space on the adjoining walls, but there isn’t much there.  Specifically, there isn’t much for the beginning boulderer.  We counted six routes V1 or lower.  This might not effect you because you are so rad, but it makes a difference.  Not everyone is a burly climber.  The last, and by our opinion, the worst thing about the VE we visited is the floor surface.

Any floor a climber could potentially take a fall on consists of shredded rubber.  The floors are shredded rubber.  It may sound like a small thing but believe me, it is annoying to no end.  I am not doubting the safety of the material as a way to absorb an impact but in every other way it is a distraction.  When you get sweaty it sticks to your skin, it gets into your shoes, you can’t clean it so there is no telling how sanitary it is, and like sand it forms an uneven surface.  The worst part about using shredded rubber in a climbing gym is it adds another level of safety check to your gear.  After being there just over 30 minutes we found little pieces in our carabiners and grigri.  The shredded rubber floor was like a bag of dicks: curious and useful to some extent, but not something you want to deal with.

-Staff: excellent.  Before we went we were warned the staff might not be the friendliest people.  That was false.  We had an excellent experience while at VE.  They had multiple kid’s birthday parties but still had the staffing required to get us belay checked and on the wall quickly and were friendly and jovial the whole time.  We even got to talk to some of the route-setters and they helped us out as well.

-Cost/rental equipment: good.  Day passes are about fifteen dollars and the rental packages are reasonable too.  Depending on how much gear you bring, a day of climbing costs around 20 bucks.  Considering how much climbing you can do, that is a bargain.

-# of routes/space usage: good/excellent.  We were going to rate VE “good” here because of the lack of bouldering, but because the wall features essentially double the number of routes to climb we had to rate them “excellent.”  In addition, they have 21 auto-belay devices and the most inventiver kids wall we have ever seen.

-Route markings: excellent.  The holds are clearly taped and the starts have small sheets hanging telling you the rating, the date it went up and who hung it.  Even the bouldering routes are easy to spy.

-Merch: excellent.  They have too much gear to list, but if you need something related to climbing (shoes, belay devices, ropes, harnesses, etc.) you can get it at VE.

-Extras: excellent.  This was a bit difficult to rate simply because VE is in one corner of a massive sporting complex that hoses multiple basketball courts, swimming pools, saunas, hot tubs, and workout equipment, in addition to an eatery and salon.  The place has everything.  The catch is, I don’t think the climbers are supposed to have access to it but once you get into the complex they can’t keep track of who is climber and who isn’t.  We climbed there in the summer and took a break out by the pool.  It was sweet.