Climb NuLu

Can’t speak highly enough about this place. It’s changed my life. I bought expensive climbing shoes because of this place.
The staff is great. Wall routes change all the time, so you’ll never get bored. And they give them fun names, too.

I pulled up to Climb NuLu on a snowy Sunday afternoon not expecting the place to be as crowded as it was. I walked into a bustling rock wall palace! Everywhere I looked there were people climbing, falling, lounging around. I was pumped to get started. We had to wait around quite awhile to get our forms filled out as you can only do them online. We finally got tired of waiting for one of the tablets to be open and just filled it out on our phones.
Once we got up to pay ($ 15 for an all day pass plus shoes!) it went really smoothly. They gave us an «orientation» (basically how to fall correctly, how the «trails» are laid out, and watch out as there are people EVERYWHERE) and then we could get started. Unfortunately there was a birthday party going on in the beginners section so we just had to throw ourselves into the mix which, not gonna lie, was a little terrifying. I’ve only ever rock climbed with a harness on so free form climbing was very different.
We did quite a few little trails and a lot of the rocks are really fun, especially for kids. They had dinosaur rocks, veggie rocks, face rocks, all sorts of things going on. I liked that they numbered the trails 0 – 10 so you could see which were going to be easier. Thankfully there’s about 18 inches of padding below you so if you do fall it’s not bad. Try to climb about half way down before you do though because it helps a lot.
I’d go back! It was a really fun time, and it worked out some new muscles that were a little sore the next day.

I am not an experienced rock climber by an means so I can’t really comment on the various levels of route. Before my visit tonight I had only ever done rock climbing and only twice at that. I stuck to V0 routes for the most part which are the easiest and held my own on a V1 once which, I’m not going to lie pretty much made my night. The highest level of routes I saw were V8 but there could be higher if that givens you any indication of my experience level. But, with that being said it was extremely fun. I think if you have an open mind regardless of if you have ever bouldered before you will enjoy it. It’s a different way to get some physical activity in your life and challenging to make yourself make that extra push to reach the next wall hold.
The place is a lot larger than it appears to be on the outside and even has a separate room from the normal routes for kids (a little bit shorter and the wall holds are much closer) and a slanted wall for those crazy talented people who solely use their hands to get to the top of the wall. It seems very clean and the staff were friendly. Word of the wise– sign the waiver online and print one copy off to hand in on your first visit to save time.

Because I’m from the rather mountainous «west side» of London, I grew up climbing and spelunking. THIS is heaven. It is a climbers Mecca! After climbing to the top, I pointed upwards and yelled, «I’m a climber extraordinaire!!»…after I was told to quiet down, I just uttered the phrase in my head over and over– in a yelling fashion.

Ok first off, I’m not an expert climber. I’m not even a decent climber. I’m a total noob. And in my books, bouldering is not as enjoyable as climbing… in most gyms.
However, this solely dedicated bouldering gym made me realize that it isn’t all that bad! Mostly I’m still at the stage of climbing to the top, panicking and dropping all the way to the foam padded floor. OH, that’s important to know! The entire floor is padded. Unlike other gyms where you have to move the pad to wherever you are going to climb. My only complaint is that I wish the pads were more squishy/​forgiving.
There are plenty of routes that are accessible to folks like me and many others are much more complicated for those that actually know what they are doing. It is especially appreciated that there are many V0 routes that are straight up and some that are overhanging. Don’t ask me to explain the rating system any further, but I’m sure the staff should be able to help.
The gym has a few more perks on top of the climbing too!
–several treadmills
–a practice/​training wall
–fingerboards
–a bench and a set of free weights
–gymnastic rings
–free member yoga classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays
My favorite part is how the routes are named, so clever and punny and dorky. I love it. Make sure you read ‘em.
In case you want to know the costs:
$ 15 for adults for your first trip (includes shoe rental and a chalk bag)
$ 12 for every trip after but rental gear is not included
$ 55 for unlimited monthly membership
They also have youth rates, family rates, and party room rates, check it out here:
I love the hours too! Makes it super easy to get to after work. M-​F: 11am-​10pm; S & S: 10am-​9pm
Note: Do not be fooled by the website. It shows a foam ball pit under a climbing wall. This does not exist in this gym — it’s in the Indianapolis gym. I was super bummed.

Brand new, really fun gym. The setting is alright and there are tons of entry-​level routes. It feels a bit sketchy to send the bit overhanging routes, though, because the crash pads are pretty firm and can give you a shock. For this reason, I didn’t attempt too many routes outside of my comfort zone. It’d be nice if they had some mobile crash pads for those extra treacherous climbs.
The last time I was there, they had just opened up a training room with a couple pieces of cardio equipment, some fingerboards and training walls. It makes the prospect of a $ 50+ a month membership more manageable.

We were traveling through Louisville and the weather was not conducive for heading to the Red so we stopped in here. First and foremost, this is in fact a pretty nice gym, the setting is mediocre to good (nothing terrible, nothing amazing), the walls are shiny and new (as are the holds!) The shaped walls were well thought out and offer a nice variety of movements and style. These are 18 foot walls, which is relatively standard for bouldering gyms, however the crash pads below them are terrible. As an avid gym climber I’m accustomed to much thicker and forgiving pads in gyms this tall (and even some shorter gyms). While I still topped out quite a bit it was only on things a grade or two or even three below my normal level. There really should be some supplemental crash padding or thicker installed floors! This really dragged the rating and enjoyment down for me.
Furthermore as an out of town guest, I had my shoes and chalk with me. They list a really nice first timer package that includes shoes and chalk as well as a brief orientation to bouldering for $ 15 (not unreasonable, even a savings of a $ 1 over renting equipment). I told them that I just needed a standard day pass ($ 12) since I had my equipment with me and had bouldered many times before. I was told this didn’t matter and you had to pay $ 15 for your first visit regardless!!! What gym charges more to first time visitors than repeat customers. It made sense when it included the rental equipment but not without. After going back and forth about it for several minutes, I gave up and paid the extra money.
If you are an experienced climber and just want somewhere to stop in and get a workout, this is not the place for you. It’s clearly geared for brand new climbers, or those reckless enough to go 18 feet off the deck with minimal padding. I’ll pass next time I’m in Louisville, I hear there are some other gyms in the city!

Had a great time! I’ve never been bouldering before and it was a fun and challenging experience. There’s different levels for different skill sets. But the cost is wayyyyy to high in my opinion. Should be like at least 50% lower

Definitely the best gym around Louisville. The only gym I’ve been to here that actually rates the routes using the v scale. And the others gyms are so cluttered with holds it’s hard to see what route you’re even on. This place has plenty of problems where each hold is specific to a route instead of one hold having 5 pieces of tape. The only complaint is their website shows an awesome wall where you fall in a foam pit, but that ones in Indianapolis. It’s not their fault so still 5 stars, I’m just really jealous.

Incredible facility, a really great community of friendly climbers, and great problems for climbers of all levels!

Glad to see a climbing gym near the cities center. Nulu is the perfect area. This is the largest in Louisville, is clean, and actually has routes for any skill level. I hope it stays as nice as it is! Excited for rumors of expansion and adding more training equipment.