Petra Cliffs Climbing Center

Burlington, United States

4.1

Closed now

9 reviews

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 802-657-3872
Website:
petracliffs.com
Address:
105 Briggs St, Burlington, VT, 05401
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Bussiness info

Good for Kids
Yes

Today

Today 10:00 am – 10:00 pm
Closed now
Local time (Burlington) 07:50 Wednesday, 11 June 2025

Business hours

Monday 10:00 am – 10:00 pm
Tuesday 10:00 am – 10:00 pm
Wednesday 10:00 am – 10:00 pm
Thursday 10:00 am – 10:00 pm
Friday 10:00 am – 10:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Sunday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

Description

Specialties

Petra Cliffs is where you come to climb! The climbing gym features indoor rock climbing for all ages and abilities, private instruction and memberships, and education for climbers. Climbing provides a way to stay in shape while using your body and mind, spending time with friends, and engaging in the Greater Burlington community.

Petra Cliffs also features a summer day camp, overnight expeditions for teens, and a full Mountaineering School to learn, improve and train in Ice Climbing, Mountaineering, Avalanche Education, Backckountry Skiing and Ski Mountaineering.

History

Established in 2000.

Petra Cliffs began as the creation of Chip Schlegel, who integrated a Southwest theme of Kokopelli and other petroglyphs into the center’s motif. When Schlegel opened Petra Cliffs in 2000, the Greater Burlington climbing community was still growing, and the introduction of a space to climb indoors helped to grow the awareness and enthusiasm for climbing even faster. Petra Cliffs’ outdoor programs were managed from a trailer in the parking lot in the winter of 1999 before the indoor facility was completed!

In 2005, Mike Anderson purchased Petra Cliffs and made improvements to the business through his fresh vision. Anderson, a professional teambuilding facilitator, promoted the growth of team work and team play, and grew the brand nationally as The Petra Cliffs Group.

In 2012, Steve and Andrea Charest purchased Petra Cliffs from Anderson. Steve and Andrea met at Petra Cliffs when they began working as interns/​part-​time employees in 2001, and got married in 2006.

Meet the Business Owner

Andrea C.

Business Owner

Andrea Charest is Petra Cliffs’ co-​owner along with her husband Steve. Andrea is a climbing instructor, rock and ice climbing guide, and has a new-​found love for small business management. Andrea is an American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Certified SPI and has taken several other courses with the AMGA, allowing her to deliver professional and high-​quality instruction and guiding.

The people, places, and the shared passion for climbing at Petra Cliffs and in the greater worldwide climbing community are what keep Andrea going. Every day brings a new successful moment for someone, a new feeling of joy, a breakthrough, an overcome challenge, or a new friendship.

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9 reviews of Petra Cliffs Climbing Center

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Burlington, VT
I had my first experience with Rock Climbing two weeks ago at Petra Cliffs. I showed up on a Monday afternoon and asked for the super basic info session that they have listed on their website for $ 25. I couldn’t believe how patient Andrea was with me (a not very athletic 43 year old woman with WAY too many questions) and how much I learned in such a short time. It was AMAZING to climb up my first wall and terrifying to let go and trust the equipment to bring me back to earth safely.
I enjoyed it so much that I booked a group climb for my son and his friends the next week. He is just as hooked and I am looking forward to going with him and getting to belay him on the rock walls — it seems like a really great way to bond with an insanely active little boy.
I’ll be back many times.
Thank you Andrea for helping me do something that scared the bejesus out of me and that will make my life just a little more interesting and fun.
Place rating: 4
Boston, MA
Ice climbing. Check.
Had a great time learning to ice climb this past winter with Petra Cliffs. The instructor was so knowledgeable and shared his experiences/​stories with us, felt like a buddy and we fully trusted him.
As for the ice climbing itself, it’s terrifying, challenging and fun at the same time. What a rush. You definitely need some core muscles and strength for this activity, just to kick your crampons into the ice was a huge challenge. I knew I had no forearm muscles, but this experience confirmed it. Towards the end of the day, I couldn’t even lift up the axe to drive it into the ice.
Remember to wear goggles/​sunglasses to protect your eyes because the ice chips off and splatters everywhere!
Loved the one time experience and am in awe of those who do this professionally and recreationally.
Thanks Petra Cliffs.
Place rating: 3
Burlington, VT
Not sure why this review was filtered last time:
Great atmosphere, very friendly crowd of climbers, staff is helpful and nice, but the climbing is well… okay. It’s a fairly small gym (8500 sq/​ft) with a couple cool features and a long traversing roof (with usually only one route on it). Most of the routes are sub5.11, it’s definitely targeted to more of a beginner crowd. Really the biggest turnoff is the price of a membership ($ 73/​month) which makes it the most expensive commercial gym I have ever been too (and the smallest). So why is it popular, why do I go there? Well simply because the only other gym in Vermont is over an hour away, so chances are you are going to have to go here anyway.
Place rating: 5
Brooklyn, NY
Petra Cliffs is great. I go here several times a week. It’s one of the larger climbing gyms I’ve seen with lots of space for top-​roping and a separate boulder area.
Routes are changed pretty frequently, so even if you climb here a lot it stays interesting.
Day passes are slightly pricey, but if you get a 10-​punch card it’s a decent amount cheaper. They have student discounts too. And they offer monthly, semi-​annual and annual memberships, which make it even cheaper.
When to go: Avoid coming between 5 and 8 on weekdays. That’s the most crowded it gets. Other than that pretty much any time is good.
Happy Climbing!
Place rating: 4
Fairfield, CT
Took the family for a few hours of fun out of the cold. Was really surprised that you do all of the climbing on your own! Don’t get me wrong, we received a good amount of instruction prior to our starting to climb, but didn’t think they would have so much faith in a bunch of rank amateurs like us. Needless to say everything went fine,. This place is fun for all ages. Whatever you wear, make sure it’s comfortable and don’t mind it getting dirty as the place really is very dusty, gritty, etc. Don’t think the floors ever get washed. I would go back.
Place rating: 4
Norwich, CT
Petra clliffa is a pretty good climbing gym. Great prices quite a few walls and big bouldering cave. It’s good for groups and kids. The only complaint I have isthat they don’t have manual belay device, just confusing auto ones which are hard to control
Place rating: 5
Dedham, MA
Took Ice Climbing I & II this past weekend. I signed up alone and they only had one other climber but Petra Cliffs still took us up and we had a great weekend. Saturday was more focused on learning technique and climbing 2 basic walls (30ft and 60ft).
Sunday was a much more rewarding climb (~250 or 300ft I was told).
As a beginner I always felt safe and comfortable while at the same time being pushed to max of my ability. Andrea was our guide and she was both extremely professional and a pleasure to hangout with over the weekend.
I will be calling them next winter when I hope to try Ice Climbing again.
Place rating: 3
Burlington, VT
This is only a review of the indoor climbing facilities at Petra Cliffs — I’ve never used any of their other services. It’s a solidly 3-​star place: it’s quite big and has a lot of routes, some more fun than others. However, my climbing partner noticed that some of the routes are really height un-​agnostic — I’m 5’2″, and moves that should have been reasonable for typically taller Vermont locals were far trickier for me.
The features of this place’s walls are kinda blah, though — only a couple of straight overhangs and a few more interesting set-​ups. I’ve been really into practicing my chimney-​ing skills lately (I’ve been climbing for a year but only JUST did a bunch of fun chimney-​ing routes at MetroRock in Boston!!!), but there wasn’t really a place for me to do that on the wall that I noticed.
Note that there’s also a fairly large bouldering cave here. I’m not into bouldering, though, so I can’t review it.
I suspect this place would be more awesome if it weren’t in Burlington — but HELLO, it’s Vermont, there’s a ton of mountains to climb. So the indoors place probably pales in comparison to the real thing because people who are really demanding are probably climbing outside. I know, however, that this place would DEFINITELY be more awesome if they opened up the challenge course that’s suspended from the ceiling to adults instead of limiting it to under-​12s. It would be so fun!
Oh yeah, this place is really kid-​friendly, so go ahead and bring your kids. It’s set up to be very accessible for beginners — they use Gri-​Gris as belay devices, and you can just hook the climbing knots into your belay loop.
Place rating: 4
Somerville, MA
Petra Cliffs was my first home gym. I loved climbing there. The air filtration system is a big negative (it’s super chalky– especially during the winter when all the windows are closed). But it’s a great first place to climb. The staff is helpful and not snobby.
The women’s climbing class is great. Not only did I learn to climb there but I met a great core group of 20-​something women who became not only a great climbing support team, but also some of my best post-​collegiate friends.
Ara, if she’s still there, is the best instructor I’ve had. She knows when to push and when to be lenient. Through her instruction I accomplished much more than I thought I was capable of.