Climb the Walls at Marin's NEW Indoor Climbing Gym, The Gravity Vault

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Finally, a Climbing Gym in Marin!

The Gravity Vault, located off Smith Ranch Road in San Rafael, is officially opening their doors on August 21st and have a Grand Opening Weekend to kick it off. We were fortunate enough to get a sneak peek a few days before the Grand Opening thanks to Ronnie and her Awesome List! 

The Facility is Amazing

Once you enter and sign waivers, you are asked what you want to do and then given a tour of the climbing areas.. with specific attention to the rules around the free bouldering area. One of the great featured of The Gravity Vault is that you can show up solo and ask staff members to belay you on the Top Rope portions. Not only is that an option, but they also have ten auto belays.. further eliminating the need to drag reluctant climbing partners off to the gym. There is a belay test area… note to the old school climbers out there such as myself, they use a different belay mechanism and it takes some practice to reverse the less dominant hand’s job. Sadly I did not pass my belay test, but now understand what they need me to do, and will happily try again and succeed. It’s actually really nice to know that they take safety seriously. Speaking of safety, they were very solid with their Covid policies and requested confirmation of vaccination as well as required everyone to wear masks throughout their visit. 

Our group of two families had children in the 11-15 age range.

The kids were climbing courses up to 7.10d. I was thrilled to have successfully made it up a 7.10a… after not climbing in ages, but the kids were much more impressive in their climbing abilities. They were even tearing it up a speed wall.. bottom to top in under 22 seconds in one case. Children can start rock climbing at The Gravity Vault as young as five years old. There are some wonderful beginner courses that the kids can top rope up to whatever height they are comfortable with.  As only a couple of our group passed the belay test, we did take the very kind staff members up on their offer to belay the kids as they climbed. The staff were really encouraging and supportive when needed… there were definitely moments where encouragement was needed as the kids were not afraid to try out some challenging courses. 

The bouldering area was fun, with lots of tricky sections.

Everything is of course color coded between the routes and the ratings. The kids had a much easier time on the boulders than the adults did. There is also a repel section that was not open yet, but looks like so much fun and a great way to develop repelling skills. My 13 year old loved that there were tough routes throughout the gym, but also routes for beginners and every skill level. He felt both challenged and accomplished... which is the ideal combo. 

The Gravity Vault wants to be more than a climbing gym, they want to create community.

We are already signed up for a teen birthday party next month, are hoping to get our son on the climbing team, and are speaking to them about the Scout merit badge offering. In addition, they have weight rooms, yoga classes, technique classes, kids classes, and will have summer camps next year. Fridays after school will be a half price day pass for students, with the goal of creating a fun community gathering as well and a safe place for teens to hang out on a Friday night. The hours will go until 10 pm Monday through Friday. We are thrilled with all of these plans! I also gather that the facility is being further built out and there will be a restaurant and other sports based enterprises in the building. 

The day after climbing, we felt sore and could not fully extend our arms, but are so eager to get back there and improve our skills.

 

Article by Cara Guyot and Kristine Erving. Photography by Skye Guyot.