LA Boulders

Love this gym. Good climbs that are challenging and fun! Used to be easier but lately they have step up the difficulty. Good for beginners and for advanced levels.

Went to LA Boulder on the recommendation of a friend, and it's located in the art district of LA. The day pass is 30 dollars, which is about the same as other large climbing gyms in southern California. After checking in, you'll notice that the place is pretty spacious. I went on a Saturday morning, and it was not packed at all. They do the v-system rating here, but depending on who set the route, it can be a fairly soft grade or about right. The facility has a gym as well as the bouldering side. They have a few free weights, campus board, and pull up bar as well as cardio machines on their second floor. About half of the climbs you're able to top out on, so if you're looking for a place to be able to top out, this one has you covered. The cave that they have support long routes with a lead/top rope rating system without the ropes since it's not extremely high off the mats. However, they do have halfway points that are considered finished routes for the bouldering side. The community is friendly here as with most climbing gyms I go to, and if you're in the area, check it out. I plan to visit the other touchstone gyms and will compare it to this one.

Really great place, even if you have never done climbing before. Since I have no idea what I’m doing, I love to just take long breaks and watch professionals do crazy crazy stuff! Everyone is friendly and chill. Whenever you are coming with a big group or by yourself you’ll have fun. Note: LA Boulders website provides some useful safety and etiquette information 😊. Street parking is quite challenging, but there’s a paid parking structure close by.

A very nice and well maintained bouldering gym. The staff were super friendly and the sets here were extremely fun to climb on. The training area (there is one upstairs and downstairs) is well-equipped with weights, hangboard, anything you can think of except for a moonboard. The change room is where the washrooms are, you can also find showers in this area which is very nice, not a lot of gyms have this amenity. From showers to lockers to toilets, everything was spotless. Snacks and drinks are available for purchase at the front of the store. Grading (V grades) is a little soft. I know for a fact that I am not a V4 climber and I flashed a couple of them. However, I love the fact that there were many problems that require a dyno move, those were challenging but super fun for me!

My recent gripe is with Touchstone’s membership management, which I find to be unfriendly to consumers. I was effectively charged a hidden fee for freezing and unfreezing my membership. The front desk told me I could unfreeze at any time after the first month and that my membership fee would be prorated. What they failed to mention is that if you unfreeze after the 1st of the month, you are still charged a $10 freeze fee for that month. Any reasonable person would assume that this fee would be refunded or deducted from the prorated membership charge, but that is not the case. When I unfroze my membership on March 1st, I was charged the full membership fee plus the freeze fee. I had to email membership services to get the fee refunded—something I shouldn’t have had to do in the first place. On top of that, they have so far refused to refund the freeze fee from a previous freeze. I unfroze my membership on January 5th and was charged a prorated amount, but the freeze fee remained, effectively canceling out the proration. Furthermore, the 10 day pass Touchstone offers has a one year expiration date. I had a friend who bought this and wasn't warned about the expiration and couldn't use half of the passes because it expired. Why does it have an expiration? No other climbing gym I know of does this. This is just another example of the unfriendly practices I've seen. Billing issues aside, the route turnover feels too slow. Each section of the wall stays up for up to two months—before being updated. Personally, I find this to be really slow compared to the other gyms I've frequented. Additionally, the route setters installed a spray wall on what used to be a regular section for months, which I think takes away from normal route setting. Back in January, we had the spray wall and also a set of partner climbs that together took away two good sections of the wall. I can’t be the only one who feels that this way. Also, the extendable brushes are mostly in bad shape and when things break, they are not quickly fixed. I don’t like leaving a bad review on my home gym like this. I want to love this gym like I did at my previous climbing gym. Despite these issues, I’ll continue going because touchstone gyms are the ones I have nearby in LA. I just hope the gym—and especially its membership practices—can do better