Yeah Beez is one of the closest area from where I live as well although for me it is about 240k's. There's stuff a bit closer but nothing good. I'll usually keep driving when we pass Beez though, I'm not to keen on the climbing there. But I'm just not a big fan of the whole polished lime thing so that kind of means belgium is not high on my fav places to climb anyway. Love the beer and cities though (Gent, Antwerp, Brugge)

Freyr is quite nice. And 'only' 4 hours driving away, you've got Fontainebleau, .. which obviously is awesome when you like bouldering (sandstone!).

Still, .. 4 hours is a lot to do for just a single day of climbing, .. it's possible, but i prefer a (long) weekend.

Spreek jij trouwens ook nederlands?

ok, how bout my situation, closet gym is 4 hours away and there are no crags or climbing areas inside and hour, what should i do?

I guess this really breaks down into three questions.

1) Whats the maximum driving distance, where you would still become a full time member of a gym.

2) What is the maximum distance you drive for an occasional indoor day climb.

3) Lets say your local gym was 20 minutes away. Would you drive 20 mins further to go to a significantly nicer gym over a close low quality gym.

If you feel inclined give details, explain your answers. I'd love to hear exactly how you feel about this.

I guess this really breaks down into three questions.

1) Whats the maximum driving distance, where you would still become a full time member of a gym.

Probably about 30 min. away, but I drive slowly.

2) What is the maximum distance you drive for an occasional indoor day climb.

Hmm...if it is not regular and offers something more interesting than usual, I guess an hour would be the absolute max driving time for indoor. 2 hours for outdoor.

3) Lets say your local gym was 20 minutes away. Would you drive 20 mins further to go to a significantly nicer gym over a close low quality gym.

Well the 40 minutes fits into my hour window, so I guess it would be a good chance I may frequent such a gym when outdoor climbing is not a possibility.

If you feel inclined give details, explain your answers. I'd love to hear exactly how you feel about this.

I guess this really breaks down into three questions.

1) Whats the maximum driving distance, where you would still become a full time member of a gym.

2) What is the maximum distance you drive for an occasional indoor day climb.

3) Lets say your local gym was 20 minutes away. Would you drive 20 mins further to go to a significantly nicer gym over a close low quality gym.

If you feel inclined give details, explain your answers. I'd love to hear exactly how you feel about this.

+1 b/c everyone lives around half an hour from climbable rock and can get there before it gets dark and cold(er) after work.

It's really rather convenient actually.

15-20 minutes, probably. any more than that is a drag.

see above.


this is actually my current situation. once a week, we carpool to the nicer gym for a more intense training session, but the rest of the time its the closer one for us.


i should note that i'm also somewhat spoiled and have an interesting geographic setup that dictates my climbing gym behavior- the closest gym to me is within 15-20 minutes, which is nice. the other gym is about 40, which isnt all that bad in the grand scheme of things, but considering Red Rock is also 40 minutes, if i'm going to drive that far, it might as well be for real rock most of the time!

i think, though, that in all honesty, your question isnt really specific enough- and you're going to get a really wide variety of answers. different parts of the country are going to answer differently- i would say that folks inclination to drive to a gym will be somewhat related to the distance they have to drive to real rock (and how often they can get on real rock)- folks who are, say, 4+ hours from good rock and can only go twice a month would be much more likely to be willing to drive more than an hour to a good gym if necessary (i know i would be), whereas folks like myself who live within an hour of good rock thats accessible nearly 50 weeks out of the year, are much less inclined to travel more than 20-30 minutes to a gym, if they would go at all!

Whew! Where do you live? Out in Boulder? ;)

Living near Green Valley and 215, RR was 30 minutes away and the less nicer gym was 5 minutes.

Then again, why go to a gym when you can be in the Black Corridor or the Gallery in no time flat ;) (except for during the summer, of course.....)

i think, though, that in all honesty, your question isnt really specific enough- and you're going to get a really wide variety of answers. different parts of the country are going to answer differently- i would say that folks inclination to drive to a gym will be somewhat related to the distance they have to drive to real rock (and how often they can get on real rock)- folks who are, say, 4+ hours from good rock and can only go twice a month would be much more likely to be willing to drive more than an hour to a good gym if necessary (i know i would be), whereas folks like myself who live within an hour of good rock thats accessible nearly 50 weeks out of the year, are much less inclined to travel more than 20-30 minutes to a gym, if they would go at all!

Isn't the Black Corridor the same as the gym? Well except that it's cheaper and you can't climb after dark.

All answers will depend on what VTG has said. Where you live in relation to climbing.

For me right now the nearest crags are 3hrs, 3.5hrs, 5hrs and 6hrs.
Nearest climbing gym is either 4hrs or 4.5hrs in different directions.
So at the moment I will always choose crag over gym.

If I lived in a town/city with a gym I'd probably become a member if it was closer than 45min and if the closest crag was further than 3hrs. If the closest climbing was 1hr or less I wouldn't become a member except if it was in a place that was horrible in winter.

I live about three hours from the closest decent crag and four hours from the closest I like. Also being a student I don't have a car, nor do I have tons of friends who do. I can travel for free by train though. So am a full member at a gym an hour by train away, because I really like it and they have a training group going. I'm also a member at a gym 5 min from my house but needed a new impulse for my climbing which is why I joined the other gym.

Do you climb at the Ith? That's not too far from Holland, right?

ok, how bout my situation, closet gym is 4 hours away and there are no crags or climbing areas inside and hour, what should i do?