My 8-year old son and I took a friend to the Circuit Bouldering Gym in Northeast Portland today. It was a great way to start off the New Year. I learned to climb while on a backpacking trip when I was 16 years old. I kept up with it for a while, but honestly haven’t done much over the past two decades. Those of you that are parents know that kids are natural climbers, so I’ve made an effort to take my son now and then over the last couple of years. This, however, was the first climbing experience for our friend.
We arrived right at opening time on New Year’s Day along with several other folks. We checked in at the front desk with the helpful, cheerful staff. My son and I already had waivers on file, so we checked in while our friend filled out his paperwork. We all decided to rent shoes today. They have a full ranges of sizes from about a child’s size 1, to the full range of adult sizes. I actually decided to rent today to try out some new shoes in a different size – I’ve been unsatisfied with my own shoes lately. After getting our shoes on, we stashed our shoes and coats in one of the several cubby holes that The Circuit provides while climbing.
I showed our friend around the 14,000 square foot gym a bit, explaining some basic etiquette, safety precautions and how things are set up. I explained how routes were set and what to look for. The walls and routes range in height from about 8 feet up to 17 feet. Some routes you need to down climb once reaching the top, while others you can “top out” on then walk down a ramp. I also explained the bouldering rating system, with “VB” (Beginner or Basic) being the easiest climbs, then V0 up through V10 or sometimes higher. While climbing, you can choose to stay on a marked route, or you can just climb using any available hold – whatever works!
My son was anxious to show off the dedicated kids area. I don’t know exactly how many square feet, but there are two dedicated walls and an overhang just for kids to play on, where they can top out then take a slide back down to earth. It was quite the popular item today!
We all got to climbing then cheering each other on, getting some great exercise and enjoying the social nature of the climbing gym – one of the best parts of bouldering, in my opinion. There was a fairly good crowd at the gym today, probably due it being New Year’s Day. But there was still plenty of room to move about – we didn’t have any problem getting on the wall.
There are three slack lines setup in the gym for people to try – two long ones (20-30’) and about 3-4 feet off the ground for the adults and one shorter one for the kids. A slack line is nylon webbing stretched between two fixed points that one tries to walk across, practicing one’s balance and strength – kind of like a tight rope…but slack! We all gave it a try and managed to get a few steps before falling of! We watched in amazement as some fellow climbers were able to walk the entire line – some even bouncing and playing on it. One more thing to aspire to!
And speaking of falling off, I should mention that the entire gym floor is one giant cushioned mat. Although jumping off some of the higher problems still gives me hesitation, it’s nice to know there is still a soft landing down below.
The Circuit Bouldering Gym is very kid friendly – I would say about a third of the people at the gym today were under 12 years old. They provide lessons for all ages, and special camps for kids – some tailored to school holidays and others for weekends and after school events. I did notice two rooms off the side for birthday parties, but didn’t get a good look inside.
We ended up spending almost three hours there – the time flew. Now my hands and arms are tired and sore and both of us can’t wait to go back.
The Circuit is located at:
http://thecircuitgym.com/
Northeast location:
410 NE 17th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97232
503 719 7041
Southwest Location:
6050 SW Macadam Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97239
503 246 5111
Meandering Family: Beyond the Nest 