Urban Climb Blackburn

Good fun with wide range of climbs to suit all levels of ability. Staff are friendly and helpful. They also keep a good lookout for any safety issues.

Although I couldn't climb today because of my injuries, I'm still gonna give this place 5 stars. It looks amazing on the inside, very expansive with multiple things to challenge you to be a better climber. The customer service is awesome, especially the guy doing the demo, very observant, clearly intelligent, he's patient and safety is his priority which is a amazing thing to see! The staff seem helpful and friendly which is awesome so I look forward to climbing here lots after i have recovered from my surgery!

Soft pads, good staff, steep price but well maintained gym.

This gym and cliffhanger are my Melbourne musts.

Shame about the autobelays

Fantastic facility. Really high quality routesetting, sauna, yoga room, and lounge space to spend the day. Great for new and experienced climbers.

My name is Joaquin, I'm from Argentina and I had a terrible experience with this place. First, they do not receive cash, only credit card, so I spoke with who said he was the "manager" of the place, to which he replied that there is no way to pay in cash, which seems discriminatory to people who do not have a card. So I was forced to pay with my country's card which withholds 30% more taxes from me. When I started climbing, the instructors harassed me all the time because of my security method, telling me that it is not safe according to their rules, until a second person came, in this case a woman, who also claimed to be the "manager" of the place and told me that if I didn't do it the way they want I would have to withdraw from the gym. Never in my 20 years of climbing around the world has something like this happened to me. Which is why I canceled my membership and I hope they continue to lose customers because of their way of harassing those who don't strictly escalate under their rules.

OMG this place was amazing. I love the UC gyms in Brisbane and this place is just like West End but with a huge free carpark, bigger walls.and a sauna? I can't wait to go back

Good gym, lots of facilities. Lead walls are the best, the bouldering needs to be reset far more often otherwise it's good aswell. However the aircon needs to be on or fixed as there is no airflow in the building. Incredibly muggy, makes you want to pass out.

Huge climbing facility that you can spend days in. Has a speed wall. Many many lead and top rope and auto belay routes, as well as a big boulder section. Well equipped with amenities. Staff was friendly too

This is my favourite climbing gym to go to. I highly recommend getting a membership as you will save big on entree fees and gear hire. It is great to have a free +1 once a month. Bring your buddy!

There is a lovely cafe that serves the most amazing coffee and an upstairs chill out area when you need some time to relax or hang. There are board games galore up there.

There is a sauna and Yoga room for recovery and Urban Climb is inclusive of all genders and identities meaning a communal bathroom!

I'm more of a boulderer and the bouldering area is great. I would like to see more projects on the wall as some walls are bare, empty, or old. I think that a denser wall would help with the traffic of boulderers.

The Top Rope climb is the best in Melbourne. I recommend trying to speed wall and auto belay.

Best climbing gym hands down. Staff are friendly, bathrooms clean and bouldering and climbing area is spacious. The climbs are good and changed often, and to top it off they offer yoga and have a sauna! Worth the 30min drive it takes me to get there.

Climb rock fun but sometime scary but fun scary hehe funny rock don't fall or YOULL DIE hehe

Without doubt the best facilities around however hindered by polices and interactions that make me feel like they are actively trying to discourage me from coming back.

A great environment for anyone who wants to get into climbing, friendly staff and community. Dog friendly so you’re bound to see a cute doggo.

It's a great gym for lead climbing, the route setting is amazing in lead section and the lead walls are fabulous!
However, it gets unbearably hot in summer as there is not a proper air conditioning system! It feels like as though you are climbing in a sauna and surprisingly, after talking to one of the staff about it, apparently she believed that climbers choose to climb in heat so it is ok and quite normal for a gym to be this hot and because sustainability matters, they do not bother to install an AC as this is not good for the environment!
You know that I love you UC but please install a proper AC system both in Blackburn and Collingwood!
I know so many climbers that are not happy about it and are actually suffering when climbing there in summer!

Surprisingly extra large gym, coming from other boulder specific gyms, this place feels more.community encouraged and driven.
I'm more of a bouldering person at this time, and the area was quite busy. Lead climbs really good as well and I make good use of the yoga space to stretch out.
Spacious and chill, really good if you'd spend a few hours around there. Bathrooms are clean as well and spacious, unlike some other gyms.

Great fun as a beginner. Went in there with no experience and quickly got use to it on the beginner climbs before moving onto the intermediate ones. Highly recommend, couldn’t believe how big the place was.

After attending this gym every 1-2 weeks since it first opened, I’m finally writing my (hopefully measured) perspective. I think that this is a gym with a great variety of climbs from beginner to advanced routes, and I do enjoy some of the routes. There are a few things, however, that could definitely be improved and I hope that the owners can take these comments on board.

1) Early closure of facilities and constant closure announcements:
This has been particularly frustrating. If you say you are open till 10PM, ALL services need to remain open till 10PM and staff should be compensated appropriately for any time required to clean up. It is standard that most facilities and stores pay staff an extra half hour to properly look after the place once all patrons are gone. The sauna has been switched off at 9: 30PM because staff want to go home early. Top ropes have been slackened off at 9: 30PM and staff have told us to stop lead climbing because they “won’t be able to rescue us”, yet people are still lead climbing on the big wall? If this is the case, then it would be best to say that the gym closes at 9: 30PM.

The announcements are also really off putting. No other gym does this. You’re there to enjoy climbing, not be rushed and feel hurried! Put more clocks up around the gym that are bigger and remind people when they check in, not a huge announcement where staff want you out because they have been there all day. That doesn’t create a very welcoming environment.

2) Air Con/Cooling – The gym is a complete sauna in the summer which makes climbing difficult and often just too hot. There are definitely ways to make this work (shopping centres are a clear example), and if environmental concerns are an issue, then it’s worth looking at solar panels, or windows that actually open up for ventilation. There is zero ventilation in the gym and it’s built like a greenhouse. Fans are placed in very unhelpful corners (such as near the speed wall), rather than in the middle floor (which is a complete waste of energy).

3) Route Setting – the grading is inconsistent across the whole gym with both ropes and bouldering. I’m not sure how the grading works here, but it would be worth getting several experienced climbers on the grade to reach consensus and keep this consistent across the whole gym. Many climbs from 20 up on lead are much easier than compared with other gyms and outdoors. With the bouldering section, the climb down holds are not positioned well, particularly at the cruxes. The route setting has little flow compared with other bouldering gyms.

4) Staff education and consistency:
- Staff are mostly friendly, however there have been instances where staff have short and made inappropriate comments. When we enquired about fans and why these weren’t on, we were told that “this is Australia” and that we “chose to climb in this heat”. We love climbing, but 100% I would rather be comfortable and not falling off, and there are limited “choices” when you work full-time.
- Lead assessments – unfortunately having seen a number of them there is often way too much slack in the system and the assessor is busy looking at the climber rather than the belayer. Better education and consistency needs to be provided to staff (yes GriGris can be used left-handed) and staff need to have a better understanding of how lead belaying works.
- There is inconsistency with what the staff tell patrons. I have been told earlier that I was not allowed to use my own bucket as they wanted me to use the UC buckets to “determine who is lead climbing”. Other times it’s been fine. Personally though, invest in better buckets with sturdy handles.

5) Lack of pass entry options. Most other gyms allow a value 10-pass option, yet UC has shifted to a membership option. I'm already a member at another local climbing gym. I do enjoy UC, but with pricing not being very competitive and limited options for passes, I now only climb really 1x every 2 weeks down in Blackburn. Realistically I would climb more if there were better options.

The place has many good points: lots of space, lots of routes, nice and clean.
However, the lack of air conditioning just makes it horrible to climb in summer, I now take time to reschedule my days of climbing based on the weather forecast. I'll even have to suspend my membership if the weather shows to be too hot for a whole week.

Really cool that you get 2 free weeks of climbing when you first visit! The staff members are lovely and I felt welcomed. Special mention to the guy with the big earrings, he was super helpful!

Huge climbing gym for the South East area, mainly good for lead climbing but not so great for bouldering. It is what is eez.