Island Rock Gym

The staff truly make this place one of the most solid climbing venues around. Their experience and expertise are things that regularly benefit me. They are extra good to kids (my nephew threw his 10^th birthday at IRG and their party room is a huge plus). The conversations I have with fellow climbers are often the highlight of my week. This gym is clean and never over populated. Free coffee, 2 auto-​belays, and a good spread of problems. Beyond anything, I appreciate the encouraging culture at IRG rather than the competitive/​chauvinistic attitude in too many gyms.

Very over priced. Paid almost $ 65 for two adult climbers and shoe rentals and straps. Only two auto belay devices. Both bathrooms REEKED like they had a severe sewage problem, they were VERY dirty and ice cold. I won’t add the details on that very much as it was disgusting. My husband and I both came across loose rocks on the walls, one causing me to fall and hurt myself because I was not expecting a loose rock! We will not be returning here. We will drive to Seattle next time for a much cleaner, safer environment for under half the price as here.

I gave myself a climbing birthday present this year! I am nervous about heights and definitely not entirely sure I could do this even though I’m strong and fit. Just wasn’t sure if anyone older than five could scoot up the wall. I have to say it was super fun and I motored right up confidently knowing I was in the hands of my belayer below. Great place, very friendly staff and awesome experience. Go try it out!

The island really needed a rock gym and island rock gym filled the place wonderfully! It has snacks and drinks, an exercise bar a finger strengthener and lots of exercise equipment, if you are the type of person who enjoys a risk, go to the bouldering room in the back and try climbing without a harness!

This place is the best! Awesome staff is first thing to put a smile in your face. Good music and every kind of person is here rock climbing. A route for every level of climber. The space is clean and light.
We brought some family from out of town who had never climbed and they were hooked. Came back another time during their stay and were looking for a climbing gym back at home.
Can’t say enough great things about this place.

Love this place. The routes are fun and the staff is awesome. Very kid friendly and did I mention the free coffee?
Great place to top rope, lead or boulder. Go there.

I went to Island Rock while visiting family in Bainbridge. I’m not an enthusiast but more of a 1−2x p/​yr (or less) climber. The staff was friendly and the climbs were good, with a nice bouldering area at one end. My disappointment came when they wouldn’t let me or other in my party belay members in our group. My father is a mountaineer, my brother-​in-​law a climber, and I go less frequently but have belayed at 3 – 4 other gyms with no issues. At this gym you have to pass a test to belay (which is good practice) but they offer absolutely no refresher and if you do not pass there is no way to take the test again that day. That last part is what doesn’t make sense and it appears they wanted to up-​sell us on using one (or more) of their trained belayers. This was extremely inconvenient for our group of 10 and frankly the skillset of those who came was far greater than many of the other customers we saw belaying. I expressed my concern to the owner, and he seemed open to other options in the future but kept saying that we could come back tomorrow and re-​test (why on earth is waiting 24 hours required? I don’t know)… which wasn’t an option given we were there for just a short period of time. Probably a great place for locals, but I would not recommend it to visitors.

Brand-​new climbing gym on Bainbridge Island! It fills the gaping hole left by the now-​gone Kitsap Vertical World gym in Bremerton. Membership rates are competitive, facilities and equipment are brand-​new and high-​end, and the staff is friendly and highly knowledgeable. They play good music, have some comfy Ikea couches, and there’s always plenty of parking. I love this place.