FAQs

Yes, you need a waiver! Climbing is an inherently dangerous sport. We go to great lengths to make our facilities as safe as possible to ensure that patrons of the facility encounter as little risk as possible. That being said,we require a waiver from every visitor to the gym in order to stay in operation and for insurance purposes.

All customers under the age of 18 MUST have a waiver signed by a parent or legal guardian. Grandparents, siblings, and teachers do not count.

To fill out a waiver follow this LINK.

You have a number of options!

Option 1:

You can take a beginner class to learn all the safety requirements for using the facility. This Intro Belay Class typically takes a little over 1 hour and can be registered online. Once completed you’ll have full access to the gym and have the skills to allow you to belay anywhere in the country!

Option 2:

You can climb on our bouldering walls.  Bouldering does not require ropes, instead it focuses on shorter walls (10 – 14 feet tall) with significantly more padding on the ground. Partners are not required for this style of climbing. Check out our First Time Boulderer video for more information. A short bouldering orientation from a CRG staff member is required for this type of climbing.

Option 3:

If you come on weekend days we have “Staff Belay” which is a program where our staff provide all the assistance to let you climb on ropes without taking classes.  Space is limited to 4 climbers per group so pre-registration is recommended. We will pair multiple groups together until we get to the maximum size of 4 participants.

We have bouldering, top-rope climbing, and lead-climbing at our facilities.

• Bouldering is climbing on a low wall (10-14 feet) that uses large mats to fall on for protection instead of ropes and a belay system. A short bouldering orientation from a CRG staff member is required for this type of climbing. Both the form and a short orientation and educational video can be found HERE.

• Top-roping involves climbing while wearing a harness attached to a rope, which is wrapped around an anchor at the top of the rope wall, with a belayer attached on the other end of the rope at ground level. This belay process, when done properly, prevents the climber from coming back to the ground when a fall occurs. Being the climber in this partnership does not require any specific safety skills, but a participant must be belay certified by a gym staff member in order to be the belayer at ground level.

Anyone planning to belay needs to prove their proficiency with the proper belay method as soon as they arrive at the facility, which can be done at any time of day if the person has already learned how to belay in the past. Anyone who has not belayed before must take the Intro Belay Class first, the schedule can be found HERE. For the belay test you must be able to show competency in making the proper climbing knot and belay procedure without assistance from the staff or climbing partner.

• Auto-Belay is a form of rope climbing that does not require participants to be belay certified, and it does not require a partner. Instead, once participants have been oriented by a staff member, they will be allowed to clip themselves into the auto-belay unit to climb up the wall. When the climber lets go, the auto-belay will catch and lower the climber back to the group. Auto-belays are a great way to get introduced to climbing, but are limited to only 7-8 stations (out of 140+) at the Watertown location.

• Lead climbing is a more advanced style of climbing that involves clipping your rope into gear on the wall, and in essence, placing your own protection as you climb up the wall. This type of climbing requires more advanced knowledge of the sport and that each climber be certified by the facility staff. Climbers hoping to learn to lead climb must be proficient at top rope belaying and at climbing at a 5.9 level, before considering taking our Introductory Lead Climbing Course, which can be found HERE.

Belaying is the process of managing the rope so that the person climbing does not fall to the ground when coming off the climbing wall. Belayers are also responsible for lowering the climber safely to the ground. We provide an approximately 1-hour instructional class on belaying throughout the week.Watch our teaser video for the Intro to Belay class for more information. For more information on this program see our belay class schedule.  Please be aware that you must be 13 years of age or older to belay at CRG facilities.

We have a limited number of auto-belays. An auto-belay orientation from a CRG staff member is required before using an auto-belay. Though they are convenient when climbers do not have a rope partner for the evening we believe in the need for partnered climbing. This ensures two sets off eyes for all safety checks and helps maintain a very socially engaging environment.

If you are a member and don’t have a partner in the evening we have our No Partner? No Problem” program running Monday through Thursdays from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. For this program we have a staff member out on the floor to help get you up on the ropes and potentially pair you up with other climbing partners.

You do not need to take the belay class before climbing at CRG Watertown. However, you would need a partner who is belay certified in order for you to have access to climb our rope walls. If you are an experienced climber and know the PLUS or PBUS belay method then we have a simple test you can do to show you are competent with the process. If you do not know how to belay you will need to take our Intro to Belay class. Alternatively we can give you an orientation to use the Auto-belay systesm in the gym.

Please keep in mind that watching a YouTube video about belaying is an extremely unsafe substitute to taking a class and will likely result in failing a belay test. If you only want to boulder or use auto-belays there is no class or belay test is required, just a safety orientation when you arrive at the gym.

There are several options for you to choose from and each one has a different price.

Please visit our Day Use section for pricing on a drop-in at the gym.

Interested in a recurring membership? Check out our Membership page for details. When looking at pricing keep in mind that 4 visits per month is all it takes for the membership to make sense financially.

All Central Rock Gym facilities offer monthly memberships to the gym and are priced such that 4 or more trips to the gym on a monthly basis makes it beneficial to sign up.  Our membership policies are the best in the business too! There are no start-up fees, the only commitment is pro-rated dues for the remainder of the month plus 1 full month of dues. And there are no cancellation fees.

Check out the Membership page to see everything our memberships have to offer.

Absolutely! We have a section of our gym dedicated to child friendly climbing. These walls are shorter in height, making it easier to communicate between the climber and belayer, and makes the climber feel more comfortable in a unique environment.

We also have numerous programs that are geared toward children including Climbing Camps, Youth Climbing Teams. For additional information about other youth programs we offer click on “Kids” dropdown menu on the navigation bar.

The short answer is they are never too young!  However, it is a case by case basis as to whether they are physically mature enough to climb. There are many visitors who frequently climb at our facilities as early as 3 years old but it is all dependent on if they are big enough to fit in our smallest young harnesses. If it fits then we’d be happy to get them climbing!

Pre-registration is HIGHLY recommended for all classes: Fitness, Intro Belay, Progression Program, Intro to Lead Climbing. Due to class size restrictions and popularity, classes will likely be completely full if you show up at the gym without a reservation for these activities. If that is the case, we will happily get you set-up to boulder or use auto-belays for the day.

We have an entire series of classes geared toward both novice and experienced climbers, including technique classes, instructional clinics, and fitness classes. For more information about our classes click on the “Climbing Instruction” for more information. Our most popular class offerings are the Intro to Belay course, Climbing Progression Series, and Private Instruction.

Private sessions can be scheduled on a case by case basis with one of our instructors.  However, we prefer first getting climbers placed into one of our many regularly scheduled technique classes that are offered for climbers of all skill levels.  If the provided times do not work for you or you feel you’ll get more value from a private class you can go to our Private Instruction page. Please note that private class pricing is per climber per hour, and are generally meant as a 1-on-1 lesson, not as a group event.

We have a full complement of cardio machines (6 ellipticals, 6 treadmills, 1 row machine, 2 upright bikes, 2 stair masters, and an arc trainer) on the 2nd floor of our facility, and a wide range of free weights available at the facility for members and day pass users. You must be 16 years old to use the equipment unless under the direct supervision of a staff member. We also offer other types of classes that you can participate in without ever climbing such as Yoga and Pilates, strength condition, and spinning. Classes offerings do vary by month so check the “Fitness” page for full details.

Wear something that you are comfortable moving around in. We suggest flexible pants and something that is not too baggy. It is recommended that you wear shorts or pants that do not need a belt. Think: Phys. Ed Class. We have all of the gear you need for climbing, so no need to worry about that part unless you already have gear of your own! Just make sure you bring socks to wear with our rental shoes.

If you are joining us for a birthday party please wear laced sneakers as we do not give out rental shoes for parties.

For directions to our gym just put 74 Acton St. Watertown MA 02472 into a mapping program like Google or Maps. Or click this LINK to bring it up directly on your phone. Please note that we have two separate buildings at the Watertown location. Our primary gym is at 74 Acton Street. Our yoga studio is just south and across the street, about 100 yards down the road at 5 Waltham Street. The yoga studio is only open during scheduled classes. If you are not signed up specifically for a fitness class, please go to the main facility. Thanks!

We have FREE WiFi at our facility and a nice comfy lounge on the 2nd floor for chilling out and surfing the web. Please ask the staff at the front desk for the WiFi password.

We provide lockers at our facility for your convenience, but we DO NOT provide locks. Please bring your own lock when you come or simply use the open cubbies we provide any many different areas of our gym. We take no liability for lost/stolen items so it is recommended that all valuables (wallets/keys/computers) are either locked up or left in the car.