Hub Climbing

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just the tiniest bit apprehensive the first time I came here, especially because it was my first (and so far only time) bouldering. It didn’t help that I knew a friend of mine had sprained her toe here when she fell off a wall. My concerns dissipated pretty quickly, however. Before they let you run free and wild here, you have to go through a mini tour/​orientation/​lesson/​test thing, where they basically explain some key ground rules and most importantly, teach you how to properly fall. They actually make you practice falling a bit, which is kind of awkward and makes you kind of feel stupid while you’re like purposely falling off the wall and rolling onto your back, but you know what, for me it eased my apprehensions.
Since you’re not harnessed in, for the most part the bouldering walls are not that high, with the exception of the dragon. There’s a big foam pit under that one though, so falling in (as I did several times) is not that scary beyond the initial time.
I don’t have anything else to compare it to, but the walls at the Hub are doable (I would say for any fitness level), but still challenging, and definitely a lot of fun. For a first time boulderer, I was comfortable with V0 walls, but struggled a bit with V1. I heard that they change up the placement of the hand/​foot grips from time to time, which is awesome because you can come again and again and have a totally novel experience and never get bored.
It’s one of the pricier fitness activities I’ve tried — I think I paid around $ 30 for my first visit, which included a day pass, shoe rental, and one time fall assessment fee. You get a discount if you’re a full-​time student, teacher, police, fire, ambulance, or military personnel (none of which I am.) I went on a Tuesday night, and it was decently busy (I assume most people there were regulars, they stayed around the more advanced walls), but at least the easier walls were pretty empty for the most part. What I like about the environment is that everyone there is super respectful and nice, people will wait their turn if you’re on a wall that they want, no one hogs the walls, people are not pushy, and no one is judgy or rude. I had a really good time here overall and stayed for about two hours, after which point my arms felt like they were going to fall off. I will say it was definitely an incredible workout though — the next morning I could barely move because my entire body hurt. If it wasn’t so far for me, I’d come more often, but I definitely want to come again!

I’ve come back to this place regularly and each time I’ve brought new people with me and they all loved. The staff is amazing. Not only are they knowledgeable and skilled at climbing but they’re very friendly and helpful too. The place is easy to find, no need to worry about traffic and there are a lotta places around it where you can eat or have coffee after. Great to bring friends and family. Kids will have an amazing time too.

I’m 52 and went twice with my 19-​year old son. He’s obviously MUCH better than me but I could do about 75% of the walls he climbed and about 25% slower. But, who cares? We had a blast and a great workout, as well.

I was pretty nervous about coming here with my slight fear of heights and all but I actually thoroughly enjoyed my time here! They have a free orientation for beginners which includes a tour of the facilities and basic instructions on how to fall properly to avoid injury.
I spent the day getting the hang of bouldering, which I think means rock climbing without ropes/​harnesses. There are different levels of difficulty for bouldering, indicated by the different colours of rocks. I only got up to V1 but even those were tricky — you have to think strategically about foot/​hand placement and the order of your movements.
I can see this being a great place for birthday parties or small groups of friends to just hang.

The front desk and staff are very polite and friendly. The area is pretty spacious and there are a lot of problems for people of various skill levels which is awesome. They even have beginner level problems before the v0. The problems also have clear divides from other problems where the colour of the rocks are used to differentiate the problems instead of tape. But sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between problems that are close in colour, like pink and red, or dark red and red — I think those colours shouldn’t be placed right beside each other.
They even have a wall of just beginner problems which is pretty awesome, and it helps beginners ease into bouldering. They also have a belayed rock climbing section for those interested in trying it out.
There are decent amount of lockers in and outside of the change room and even has a pretty spacious area when you first walk into the Hub.
I recommend if it’s your first time to try out the intro to bouldering package (because you can only use this package if it’s your first time bouldering) it’s like a trial membership which is $ 40 for 2 weeks. A regular day is like $ 20 — which seems like the standard price everywhere. Also the membership is slightly cheaper than other places I’ve been to, so that’s a bonus.

I just wanted to write this review to counter some of the stupid negative ones from whiny people. some friends took me here and said this place was great. turns out it’s really great. everyone is friendly. it’s clean. staff is very helpful and friendly. yeah it can get kinda crowded sometimes and its annying. so what?! just be polite wait your turn and watch someone climb youll learn something. they even make an effort to remember your name. they remember your name!!! that’s so nice!!! five stars. I bought a monthly pass.

Steven, one of the owners of the Hub, got back to me super quickly regarding my pricing issue (see previous review). Honestly, I was not even expecting a response (let alone such a quick one). He graciously offered my 15% refund, and stated that a «promise is a promise», which is one of the main tenets of excellent customer service.

When I found out there was a Unilocal Elite event for this place — I was bummed I missed out, but luckily I had another opportunity to go on my own time :)
This place is great, especially for first timers. I brought a friend who has never gone wall climbing /​bouldering before and she had a great experience. If its your first time going, they’ll make you sign a waiver for safety reason. I didn’t know much about the place before going so I emailed ahead of time with a series of questions and they were quick to respond!
If you are a student, teacher, firefighter, paramedic, police or active miltary there is a discount of $ 15 as suppose to paying the regular price of $ 17.65. Shoe rental is $ 4.87, and harness rental is $ 4.87 (which we didn’t pay for as we went for bouldering). I paid about $ 22 for the whole day with the discount for the entire day. They’ll ask for ID. The person who I dealt with at the cash was very friendly and approachable, and low and behold she was the lovely lady who trained us. Unfortunately I didn’t catch her name.
Training for very straightforward which I like. Straight to the point. They made us do some climbs to make sure we know how to fall properly when bouldering such as landing on our feet and then falling on or back. I must say this was my first bouldering experience so it was quite useful. They say if it’s your first time climbing they recommend bouldering first and this place is mainly known for bouldering. Not many walls for belaying I must say.
My favourite part about the place was getting to top off and going down on the slide if you’re up for the challenge! When you get there, you’ll notice there’s a huge wall called ‘The Dragon’ and when you fall, you fall into a foam pit. For safety reasons, only one person can climb there at a time.
I know I will definitely come back here and hopefully try to conquer the dragon. If you plan to go out to eat after, make sure you don’t go to a place that requires you to cook your own food ;)

Great climbing gym. Checked a few other places out and none were as great as this place. Came a few times on a day pass, upgraded to a Intro to Bouldering two week pass, and now doing monthly.
Lots of walls and climbs to choose from for any level. The climbs are all color coded by rocks (compared to stickers beside the rocks as some places do) which makes even beginners feel comfortable that they know where to go and what to do. They change the climbs around periodically so you always have a new one to project.
There’s been a few bad reviews that have been posted about the Unilocal Elite event, but that was mainly due to a clerical error. While that is annoying, shit happens. Their regular prices are listed clearly all over the sheets on the counter, bulletin board, TV above the counter, et al therefore you’ll know exactly how much you will be charged. You can’t judge the gym on a one-​time human mix-​up when it’s phenomenal in all other aspects.
The staff are simply amazing. We’ve been there for less than two months at this point and we know all of their names as well as them knowing ours when we walk through the door. It’s like one big family. We had never climbed before and everyone there –staff, climbers, climb setters– have all been extremely friendly and helpful with anything you need. Shout out to Jason for being exceptionally awesome; dude knows his stuff and is always upbeat about everything. He is definitely one of the influences that makes us come back to this place again and again.

A long overdue review from a visit I paid this place late last year. I got to spend an afternoon scaling walls, conquering dragons (not really) and rappelling down walls following both successful and not so successful runs.
I made a smart decision and visited during a week day so as to avoid crowds and really take advantage of all this place has to offer. It was just before lunch when I arrived and surprisingly there was still a moderate crowd of avid climbers here despite the time of day.
Since it was my first visit, and the place wasn’t busy, I was fortunate enough to basically have a guide/​staff member all to myself. They were great at explaining all the important «need to know» essentials of bouldering and rock climbing such as; how to fall properly, how to put on a harness, how to climb overall, etc. If there’s one thing I gotta give this place over the fact that their set up is the biggest and best out there, it’s that their staff are always smiling and seem almost MORE excited that you’re climbing than you are. They’re great guides and very patient, providing great customer service throughout your experience.
Every course, including the ominous dragon bouldering course, has a variety of levels depending on how easy or difficult you’d like the make your experience. What most people don’t realize is that each climb isn’t merely about the physical exertion needed to climb, but every level is mental puzzle as well, challenging your reasoning and problem solving skills to work in tandem with your body at lightning-​fast speeds in order to help you accomplish your goals.
There is also a fair sized exercise facility equipped with various free weights and machines, so if one was so inclined paying for a monthly membership here could double as or replace your existing gym membership (and would be frankly more fun).
Lastly, I’m fairly certain that they currently offer Yoga a few times a week and in the near future will have a dedicated space above the climbing facility for Yoga practice (I think I’ll need it after an hour of climbing — you’re pretty sore after that).
Hub Climbing is one of two indoor facilities in the GTA, three if you include Toronto proper, but as I’ve heard from other rock climbing enthusiasts, this one is the best.

Came here again after the Unilocal elite event and it totally crashed my great view of it. Now, the hub is not a bad place. Nor will it ever be. It is huge, with many walls that have changing routes every week or so. There are supervised harnessed rock climbing stations and also bouldering stations, where you are unharnessed and taught how to fall correctly so you don’t break yourself. There’s also the dragon, the most impressive part of the hub. The dragon is truly a monster and difficult to reach the top (for me anyway). I love the dragon just because of the huge foam pit at the bottom because it makes me not scared to fall, knowing I won’t plummet to my death.
Whenever I come, there’s never a large group of people so that’s good. I hate crowds. And people. And children screaming. Come during the day and avoid weekends if you are also like me.
The thing that made the hub lose stars is the customer service– now, they are still pretty nice but the service is NOTHING compared to the extraordinary service we’ve received during the Unilocal event. It’s like they played up their niceness just for the Unilocal elites, because they know they’re going to be under some critical eyes. However, when they DON’T know who you are, it’s like the shits they’ve previously given are completely gone. Like, lost. The girl that helped us was nice but when we tried to use the coupon we got during the event (for 50% off a supervised climb), she told us we can use it for bouldering and it’s not limited to just the supervised climb. but we had to pay first and come back later for a refund (for the 50% off difference). After we were done, we came back and she said «oh nevermind, our boss said he can’t.» UMMMM. ok?! You really shouldn’t promise something if you can’t keep your word. If you’ve said something, you should deliver it instead of going back on it and potentially losing loyal customers. That really rubbed me the wrong way and I didn’t leave completely satisfied– it’s not about the money, but the way you treat people.
This place is good to go to, just because it’s unique in markham. It’s a fun recreational activity, but you need to go with the right people (aka Unilocal event again, anyone?) to have an amazing time.

I was so excited & looking forward to coming back to the hub after an amazing experience at a recent Unilocal event. The climbing & facilities has always been a ⁵⁄₅. Staff on site during the supervision were also very encouraging & helpful ⁵⁄₅. However, one was likely new & had little experience with putting on the harness & had to fix mine a couple times. I was a little skeptical in the beginning as the girl supervising us was quite tiny. I was worried there’d be a problem if we accidentally let go while climbing to the top, and that she might have gone flying. But all was well & there was nothing to worry about! :)
However, it was the customer service experience at the end that left much to be desired ¹⁄₅. Never mind that half of the ppl in our group were charged different amounts, but after discovering the error, the staff asked another friend to come back & pay a few dollars more due to their calculation mistake. It just seemed very unprofessional. Frankly, I would have let that go if I were the hub employee. Instead of losing a few dollars, they could have lost potential memberships, etc. Nothing was really explained to us how it worked esp w/​the coupon & it was just confusing & chaotic. Tip for hub — next time to avoid making mistakes with a group, perhaps you should have them all submit their payment at the same time so there is no confusion. It was a bit unfortunate cuz the experience last time was absolutely wonderful!
In terms of the climbing, they had changed some of the ‘climbing holds’ (not sure what it’s called) so that it will constantly be fresh, challenging and different. That was very nice to see. We noticed immediately the dragon was not like how it was last month. Even though we only got to try it once as our climb for the dragon got cut short by a staff doing the demo w/​a group of kids. Would def. recommend it to anyone who wants a challenge and fun with friends. The hub (as I’ve heard from regular climbers) is the best in the city.

We came back here to try our luck at rock climbing again, since our first visit was SO much fun! The staff here are super nice, very educated in rock climbing and accommodating. They have shoe rentals, chalk pouch rentals and offer yoga/​gym memberships to those that are already members with HUB. Prices are reasonable and there is no time limit on their day passes with is great to go with friends and spend hours climbing. It is very open and a lot of freedom to climb without interrupting anyone else’s climb. Space is definitely not an issue, everyone is respectful of one another. The gym is very clean, as well as the change rooms/​washrooms. The gym offers bouldering, supervised climb and yoga/​mini gym. Great for birthday parties/​large groups. If you don’t know how to climb, don’t stress they offer orientation and training for those that need it/​first timers.
Things you should consider bringing:
–bringing your own lock for your belongings to put in the lockers inside the change rooms
–bring a water bottle (you will get thirsty)
–bring another pair of socks or flipflops (if you need them)
–bring chalk or rent a chalk pouch
–wear clothes that are comfortable and flexible
–do not wear clothes you are afraid to get dirty
The only negative is finding parking, there is not enough parking in this lot. May have to park across the street.
Overall, we will come back! The overall experience and the friendliness of the staff keep it enjoyable that I will be recommending the HUB to my friends!

A couple Unilocalers and I decided to come back again and had invited a couple friends along as well. I had made the booking online initially for 10 and there was no problems with that. When I got there that day I mentioned to the front desk staff that we were down to 8 people and she charged me what I thought was the right amount. It wasn’t until a couple of my friends asked how much I was charged for did I realized that they were potentially overcharged and paid for the day pass instead of the supervised climb which was what we booked for. We didn’t want to interrupt the climb so we decided to sort this out in the end.
The climb itself was a lot of fun and challenging. But I’m guessing because it was a Saturday afternoon, there were also 3 large groups there as well doing orientation, so we all only got to climb the Dragon once. I personally enjoyed the rock climbing side more since there was less people climbing.
When we were sorting out the amounts in the end, everyone was actually charged the wrong price. So they needed to redo the entire bill and recharge everyone again. Some of my friends who thought they paid the right amount had already left and was told that they needed to come back and pay the difference. Now I understand the difference is only couple dollars, but it’s the fact that they were told to come back really left a bad taste in our mouths.
The activity itself is wonderful and a lot of fun, but this incident definitely makes me hesitant to come back or recommend friends to try it out as I don’t want them to run into the same situation.

I couldn’t make it to the Unilocal event that was held early this month, so I was so excited to come here again with the other Unilocalers as they were raving about the place. We had a coupon for the 2 hours supervised climb. So it was worth to try, the initial experience was great, staffs were friendly — they were very knowledgeable and the climb itself, I had a fantastic time.
However, I don’t think I’ll be coming back here again. We must had came at a bad time — there were THREE large group on kids, we were doing the «dragon climb» and one of the staff just cut front of us with 20+ kids doing the «demo fall». Given that it was only a 2 hour climb with only 15 minutes left on the clock — so basically… our last 15 minutes was left to waiting for the large group to finish their demo fall. It was very unprofessional of the staff to not even have the courtesy to ASK if it’s ok to cut in front of us. So we ended up having maybe 30 seconds with the dragon climb before we were pushed out.
Another thing that left a bad taste in my month was the customer service we had at the end. They ended up over charging two of our friends, so they tried to correct the problem by calling 5 OTHER of my friends to come back and pay more. It wasn’t the amount that I’m concerned about it’s the poor customer service! Imagine you were shopping and the cashier made a mistake and under charged you by X amount, after you’re done your shopping and as you are leaving for the door, the cashier called you back and explain to you that you now owe HER money because she made a mistake on your purchase! What a good company/​customer service should had done is out of courtesy of THEIR error, they will explain to you about the error of the amount, but because they that made the error — they will make that owing amount complementary.
The place/​climb it self is good. But it’s really the staff that makes/​breaks the place. Given the poor treatment we’ve had. I will not recommend this place.

So I came back here after having a grand time at recent Unilocal event. It was of course a bit different not having sections of this place blocked off for our use, which meant that we had to share a lot of the space with the hordes of middle school (high school?) kids that were climbing and receiving instruction. We didn’t get to climb «The Dragon» more than one try, as we had to wait a while for 2 large groups of these kids to finish, after the staff member leading them essentially cut in front of us to do his orientation.
While the climbing itself was as fun and challenging as last time, I can’t rate this place as high as I would have given the poor-​ish customer service we received to end the night. The discount coupon we used was apparently not calculated properly by one of their staff, which meant that some of our group had to pay more for our entry then expected (and suggested). After realizing their mistake, and deciding to ‘fix’ this, they required other members of our group to come back and actually pay MORE. The whole thing left a bit of a bad taste in our mouths to be honest, especially since the error was made on their own part, and the coupon was also somewhat misleading.
I would still recommend trying hub-​climbing sometime, as it is a lot of fun, physically-​challenging, and a great activity for a group of friends… but it’s not the kind of activity I expect to try too often given the somewhat pricey fee.

I’ve moved away from the area and miss the gym so much!
What I liked about it:
— it was never too crowded, even on weekends. I used to come sometimes during the week day and many times me and my friends were the only ones there
–The staff were great. They’d always joke, share food, talk about routes with us
–good variety of routes. Its not like you’ll find a dragon to climb anywhere else!
–when you get to the top of the boulder there’s a slide that brings you back down
–the holds and walls are all very sandpapery so I didn’t have to worry about slipping
–competition wall has a unique set of routes you don’t usually find elsewhere

I’ve been going to this gym for about three weeks now, as a total beginner. So far, I am LOVING IT.
The staff is super enthusiastic and helpful, and the other climbers seem quite nice as well. Actually, they mostly stick to themselves, which works for me. There is a good variety of easy to difficult problems, and it’s easy to go again and again without getting bored or frustrated (or maybe it’s just a beginner’s high?) Apparently, they also change things every 6 weeks, so you get the chance to really work on a problem, hopefully complete it, and a new one will pop up. One of the walls tops out into a slide, which is great if you are super tired by the time you get to the top.
The change room is small, but that hasn’t been an issue yet. They just started yoga classes, which are a great thing to have when climbing.
Prices are good for people just trying it out, especially the beginner deal that includes 2 weeks of unlimited visits, an orientation, a lesson and shoe rental for one day ($ 5.50, normally) at $ 39. After that, the membership costs are like those of a very nice gym, roughly $ 50 per month.
So far, my cousin and I have been hitting this place about twice a week and we’re loving the challenge and great atmosphere.

FINALLY a good bouldering gym in the GTA region!
*Disclaimer: As a beginner, I worry about different things than a more seasoned climber may worry about so this review will be written in the perspective of a beginner.
The first thing you notice when you walk into The Hub is how incredibly large and CLEAN it is. Obviously, since it has just opened. but also clean because The Hub arranges it’s problems based on colour and doesn’t use the conventional taping method that True North and most other gyms use. The OCD side of me really enjoys seeing the nice thematic look of it all :). My only concern is that I don’t get to try different holds with certain colours. You have to pretty much commit to a certain hold for an entire problem.
There were tons of problems for any level so getting engaged is not an issue for a boulderer at any level. What’s fantastic about The Hub is they will have beginner puzzles for each different type of surface. Want to learn to scale an arch? There’s a V0 for that. Want to learn how to climb uneven surfaces? There’s a V0 for that! There is even a wall that simulates the wall used for world bouldering competition!
There are two areas where you can top out — one which includes a slide while the other features a down climb. If you’re interested in actual belay rock climbing, there are several walls for that but they are much shorter than other facilities. If you’re coming for belayed rock climbing, go else where because The Hub’s strong suit is bouldering.
The ultimate challenge of The Hub however, is the dragon — a huge overhang structure that looms over you. As it is so tall, a huge foam pit is placed at the bottom rather than a pad. Anyone can (attempt to) conquer the dragon and it has become the main challenge for most people.
In terms of safety, The Hub has covered all its bases — thick double lined pads layer the floor which (based on many experiences) don’t have a problem padding all my falls haha!
Run, don’t walk to The Hub. It’s a great activity for a large group of friends and really switches up your work out. Trust me, you’ll be sore the next day and your palms will be burning.

It’s been a while since there’s been a climbing gym up north. I was a little bit surprised when I heard that The Hub was Canada’s biggest bouldering gym, so I had to give it a visit.
This gym is huge. If it had racks and groceries it may as well be a Costco. The gym wraps around the whole building with a giant boulder for topping out in the middle. Almost all the boulders on the edges also top out. It’s pretty nice that almost all the floor is completely covered in seamless padding. It’s a bit stiff right now, but it’ll break in =).
The holds are still really new, so expect to lose skin on your first visit in the next month or so. I’m really impressed with all the angles in this place and how much space there is.
They have this giant feature called «the dragon» which is pretty much a giant leaning spire over a big foam pit. At first I thought it was really gimmicky and that it was just a weird part of the gym, but after climbing it, it feels more like deep water soloing. It’s super cool to land in the pit cause it’s really soft and bouncy. I can’t wait till crazier problems get set on it.
Being Canada’s biggest bouldering gym has a lot to live up to, but I think the Hub did it right. It’s still in phase 1 so the yoga and fitness studios aren’t built yet, but that won’t really hold anyone back cause the place is awesome as it is right now.