Coastal Climbing

Having never climbed before, I felt instantly welcomed to the community here. The owners and staff have been nothing but helpful and informative, and I quickly went from occasionally climbing to a full member. I’d suggest this place to anyone, not only is it a great workout but a great place to go in general.

What Coastal lacks in size, it makes up for in a well-​run gym, friendly staff, cleanliness, and well-​set problems. As a long time member of Earth Treks in Rockville, MD, I find Coastal’s setting to be a bit harder than what I’m used to but a welcome challenge. Having been to other high quality gyms in the country, Coastal Climbing is on par and every time I visit Charleston I make a visit (or six) to Coastal. I should probably just get a 10-​visit pass at this point…

Pretty great place. Awesome size for bouldering, the routes are taken seriously and are very entertaining. Everyone there is cool and social. It’s relieving after a long week, to come there and blow some steam for a few hours. Family friendly too!

Great climbing gym in Charleston! Owners are real friendly but the friendliest of them all is their dog. :) Everybody there, for the most part, is friendly. If you’re going for your first time, don’t be afraid to ask people for help. They’ll definitely show you the ropes.

Mediocre facilities and horrible customer service. I felt like my money was welcome but I wasn’t. I was a long time customer and my concerns were at first treated like an annoyance and ignored then later taken personally and met with yelling and insults. There’s also terrible routesetting, set by inexperienced people who «earn» the «privilege» of setting by first doing volunteer work. It’s a shame that this place doesn’t have any competition and the customers have to suffer. Support local businesses, but don’t support local businesses that see you as a walking dollar sign who should be grateful for their existence.
They have a huge habit of taking any concern you may have and making it your fault that you have that concern. Literally never paper towels in the bathroom? WE CAN’T AFFORD THEM CAUSE WE WORK SO HARD! Meanwhile they decide to buy a new van decked out with rims and crap so they can lead group trips where they get to be in charge even outside the gym, which gets use like twice a year. And they upcharge you for gas money if you need a ride.
They routinely ask for help with physical labor tasks. Don’t be surprised if you’re on your way out and they stop you to ask «Hey, what are you going to go do right now? Because we need help scrubbing these holds or carrying this wood.» If you decline because you know, that’s their job and you pay them to do that, they see you as ungrateful and take it personally. The majority of their regular members all have concerns, but their make-​it-​your-​fault communication style and the fact that they’re a monopoly make everyone just have to deal with it.
Would often close from Friday — Sunday just because they wanted some time off (if you’ve got a membership that’s 10% of the month). 4 days for Thanksigivng. An entire week of closing for Christmas. Of course each month’s membership was still full price. Once in early 2014 there was a bridge closure which caused inbound traffic to be slow. I saw the owner post a facebook status on his personal profile about how he wasn’t going to sit through traffic to open the gym. Meanwhile on the business page they led people to believe that they would be open (they later deleted these posts when they remained closed all day). When I spoke up that this was unfair they didn’t even address that and shamed me for being unreasonable and thinking that their customers deserved to have the gym access that they paid for.
About a year later I would raise concerns over their routesetting and how it made it so a lot of people who were less experienced or shorter couldn’t have a good time. For this they banned me from ever attending the gym again, citing the time where I spoke up about them staying closed because a few hours of being in traffic outweighed all their customers who had paid for a membership as evidence of my unreasonable negativity. They also lied to all my friends about it, and yelled at me for half an hour, calling me names and making up lies just to try to hurt me like 10 year olds when I tried to explain my reasoning to them. I’ve never had someone look me in the eye and say «you are a terrible person». The full quote was «you are a terrible person, and I hope you learn from this so you don’t cause anyone else such mental anguish ever again.» I was literally their first ever customer and most frequent customer, and I directly brought them many new members, started a climbing club at the local college, and even helped them build parts of the gym. These people are insane.
ps. check out the other 1 star reviews currently unrecommended by Unilocal.I know these people personally and their reviews are only being filtered out due to their accounts only having 1 review, because their experience was so negative that it motivated them to sign up for Unilocal for the sole purpose of warning other people about this business. The owners have asked people to post positive reviews, and will play favorites to get you on their side. Don’t be fooled.

Coastal has a dynamic set of routes, great resources from merchandise to workout equipment and professional instruction; they also inspire a strong sense of community through membership events, etc. This place is an open forum to develop as a climber and to help others do the same.

I love climbing and have used facilities all over the country. This gym is small and worst of all the owner Kensie is the worst. He was rude and degrading in each and every conversation I had with him. I cancelled my membership– and there was a significant cancelation fee. Talk about EXTREMELY poor customer service. As a member of the charleston community I strongly discourage visiting this gym. Unprofessional.

I have been climbing at Coastal Climbing since they opened their doors, and I love it. As other reviews have pointed out, they continually improve the facility and consistently re-​set the boulder problems on the walls.
Coastal climbing is primarily a bouldering gym, but they also have a work-​out area that has served me well. It includes a stationary bike, treadmill, eliptical trainer, rowing machine, free weights, resistance bands, TRX straps, hang-​boards, kettle-​bells, jump ropes, and yoga balls.
They also offer yoga classes twice a week (possibly more.)

Coastal just keeps getting better and better! Kensie and Jeanna continuously make updates to the gym to make it as sweet as possible. I am so happy that I decided to give climbing a shot and join this gym. Beginner, intermediate, advanced, it does not matter; everyone is welcomed! If you are new to the sport, schedule a beginner course to learn the ins and outs of bouldering; you will not regret it!

I have trained at Coastal Climbing since opening day, the variety of problems keep things challenging and interesting. Coastal Climbing is a perfect place to get in shape and not be stuck in that typical boring «gym environment» and make some new friends in the process. As an avid climber Coastal Climbing has helped me push my grade higher than I ever thought I would this season. Big thanks to Kensie and Jenna for all their hard work. Wether your looking for a workout or a hobby Coastal Climbing is the perfect place.

This place is awesome! A fun alternative to traditional work out methods and just as effective. The owners are really nice people!