What is a bouldering gym?

A bouldering gym is a climbing gym with walls up to 4 or 5 meters high. The walls are equipped with special thick crash mats. You can climb a bouldering gym without a rope. Special grips are screwed into the walls that you can climb on. The handles are often sorted by color. Each color represents a certain difficulty level. In a bouldering gym you can often look up how difficult a certain color is. Levels can go from 3 to 7C.

Because bouldering gyms do not have to be as high as climbing gyms, they can often be built in existing business premises. Boulder halls are therefore often found on industrial sites. A bouldering hall can vary in size, from 700 square meters to as much as 2300 square meters.
Bouldering is a (social) sport for many people. They often take out a monthly subscription. For other people, visiting a bouldering gym is more of a day out or it is used for a team outing. A catering area with lounge can often also be found in a bouldering gym. Some bouldering halls regularly organize social events from game night to special training courses.

It can be very busy in a bouldering gym. It is therefore important for safety that visitors adhere to the boulder gym rules. These are a number of simple rules to ensure that people do not endanger each other, such as standing under someone's fall zone.

The grips in the climbing walls are regularly removed and cleaned. New routes are then put in the climbing walls. This is done by route setters. These are specialized in building climbing and bouldering routes. New routes challenge boulderers to solve new boulder problems. This is important so that subscription holders and visitors come back.

You can simply visit a bouldering gym as a newcomer. No special degree or certificate is required. You can start bouldering immediately after you have paid the entrance fee. Often you can also rent climbing shoes. If you have any questions, you can always contact an employee.