Rock-Climbing Summer Camps for Kids: Ascending We Will Go!

One of the most remarkable sports and fitness trends of recent years has been the rise of rock climbing, and that includes rock-climbing summer camps. Parents can hardly be surprised, as kids naturally climb anything and everything before them: snow piles, fences, walls, slides, ladders, ropes, monkey bars, animal sculptures, abandoned cars, jungle gyms, mulch piles, you-name-it.

If they lived in Taiwan, they might try to climb the Taipei 101 skyscraper like Alex Honnold recently did, free solo—look Ma, no ropes! Thankfully, here in Manhattan, we have indoor rock-climbing gyms, and those gyms have camps to channel your kids’ yen for ascension more safely: padding for sure, and rope, harness, helmets where necessary.

Oh sure, kids do some outdoor rock climbing in the city. Some playgrounds and jungle gyms have very basic climbing walls (with kid-sized handholds and footholds) and even the occasional artificial rock. Central Park and Inwood Hill Park are natural options but limited by the number of rocks, weather, and other safety concerns. As for wags who say kids can go climb the fire escape, remember the waifs of StuyTown—they don’t even have fire escapes!

Enter the democratizing influence of the indoor climbing gym, of which Manhattan actually has a pretty decent selection. If you add parts of nearby Brooklyn and Queens, then letting your kid climb can be just as easy as having them play baseball, softball, soccer, even easier. Granted it’s team sports versus individual, but in the camp setting, and climbing gyms generally, the setting is a social one.

On the Upper East Side, the place to be is Vital Climbing Gym, at 1506 Lexington Ave., near 96th Street, conveniently located near the 96th Street branch of the New York Public Library. If, like many who take an interest in climbing, your kid can’t wait until summer, Vital offers numerous weekday climbing programs, with experienced coaches, year-round. If your kid has the interest, these are well worth checking out and provide a great complement to more traditional ball-sport activities.

Come summer, Vital offers two levels of summer camp that run in one-week sessions from mid-July to mid-August. Rec Camp, for ages 5 through 10, includes not just ample time on the climbing walls, but arts and crafts, games, and outside time. Advanced Camp for ages 11 through 17, is similar but more physically challenging, and includes concentrated work on climbing technique.

Vital also has a West Harlem location at 3225 Broadway, at 129th Street, which has youth programs but no summer camps, and while its Lower East Side spot at Delancey and Broome streets has no organized children’s programs, it is open to kids ages 5-plus and their parents or “chaperones” (which are required for the younger ages).

On the Upper West Side, the name to remember is Central Rock Gym at 21 West End Ave., near 60th Street. When it comes to kids, Central Rock speaks our language, declaring “send your kids to us so they can get all the constructive (and sometimes destructive) energy out in the gym instead of your apartment!”

If you need to “do the math” before accepting such an invitation, these are the numbers: 12,000-square-foot facility with 10,000 square feet of climbing—including 400 linear feet of bouldering— plus 2,000 feet of other fitness and training space (yoga, weights, calisthenics, hang boards).

Central Rock offers excellent February mid-winter and April spring-break programs for kids 7 through 12—including the blessed option of a full-day extension to 5:30 p.m. Come summer, there’s seven weeks of camp programs for the same age group. Open to all climbing levels, days here include learning such skills as bouldering and top-rope climbing, in addition to Ninja-like obstacle-course challenges, team-building games and more.

Central Rock also has a Chelsea location at 537 W. 27th St.; though it lacks camp options, it does have two ongoing afternoon team programs for youths aged 8 through 12 and 12 through 18.

Chelsea Piers is a funny one, because though it features an 11,000-square-foot climbing gym, it doesn’t offer an all-day summer climbing camp. What it does have are numerous youth climbing programs throughout the year and a summer Ninja / Parkour camp that does have some rock-climbing components.

Depending on where one lives downtown and how ardent your kid is about climbing, a reverse commute might be worth considering. If so, camp programs at. The Bouldering Project in Gowanus is strongly recommended, likewise Brooklyn Boulders which, despite its name, is actually in Long Island City, Queens.