Basecamp

This place is truly one of Reno’s hidden gems. If you have ever thought about wanting to try climbing, come to Basecamp. The helpful staff with get you set up with rental equipment and the basics to get you started, and friendly community of climbers will make sure you have an awesome experience. The facility is incredibly well maintained and always clean. Inside they offer bouldering routes for all ability levels, a slack line, rings, cardio equipment, weights, and kids climbing room so the whole family can have fun together. You can even bring your dog as Basecamp is one of the dog friendliest businesses in Reno. They also offer group yoga and fitness classes throughout the week as well. If you’re feeling really adventurous, you can gear up and top rope or lead climb the outdoor wall to get some great views of downtown!

Great way to get your fitness in! Varying difficulty on the indoor and outdoor rocks. Gear belt, chalk, shoes, and staff tips make it a good choice! Be prepared for sore arms!

Strolling around downtown Reno a little Tipsy and saw the outdoor rock climbing portion right next to the Reno sign. Asked around on how to get into the place because the entrance is hidden on the side of the building looking like a ghetto fire exit. Inside the gymnasium was very hipster like lit. It had that semi rave and dark lightning which made it unique. Saw a couple people climbing some walls and others looking like gymnasts practicing their tricks.
The friendly receptionist Cameron was helpful in describing the price plans which was only $ 12 if you’re a college student of any sort. He taught us how to strap on the equipment and guided us to our adventure. After practicing on the indoor walls, we were ready for the outdoor sky high one. At night, the city looked amazing. Despite of what Reno’s night life has come to nowadays, it still had a great view of lit up casinos and hotels. The outdoor experience was definitely way more scarier than the usual indoor one. There was an optoin for 35 feet, 70 feet or the whole 164 feet sky high climb. Most of my friends stuck with the 35 feet as we were all beginners. A selected few finally gave in for the whole package experience. It was dead scary. For people who don’t feel comfortable with heights… this is like the perfect timing to train your fears. Once you go up, there’s no going back down. Im just kidding. Cameron was pretty helpful in explaining on how the process works and it was more secured than it seemed.
Rock climbing outdoors for a new experience, with a low cost in a city that majority prioritizes their entertainment towards adults. Give this place a try. Will come back for round 2 next time in Reno.

Very cool place. I ended my rather brief and unimpressive rock-​climbing career when we got pregnant with my first boy. Today it was great to take my two boys out climbing in the safety of an indoor gym (all of my previous climbing was on the side of a mountain), and this was a great, inviting atmosphere. There wasn’t the «what the hell’s guy doing here with his kids?» attitude you might encounter at other climbing gyms. In fact, there was another family there at the same time. The best part is being able to follow up the affair with a couple drinks and some Mark Estee grub downstairs at Heritage.

You know what’s really annoying? When you call to confirm holiday hours and the employee at the front desk goes out of his way to confirm that base camp is open on Jan. 1^st. Then when you get there, it’s closed, after you’ve packed your gear and coordinated the outing. Get it together and prevent inconveniencing potential climbers and guests.

This is a nice climbing spot. I haven’t climbed anything outside (i.e., the only top rope stuff). The bouldering stuff inside is decent and it gets a little higher than the bouldering they have at Rocksport. Basecamp also has a gym to use. So, as your arms get burned out, you can get on a bike or a treadmill.

Been here a couple times now. Impressive! The staff deserves a special mention for being SO helpful, pleasant, and supportive. We are complete beginners and they have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome and to show us the ropes, figuratively and literally!
We love climbing the wall outside. Incredible views, plus it is fun to have spectators on Virginia Street watching.
The facility is clean and well-​maintained. The music is awesome and at just the right volume. Excellent atmosphere.
We also really enjoy the extras of the climbing rope, slackline, monkey ropes, etc.
We are making this a regular outing we like it so much!

The staff was incredibly friendly and I think it would be a great daily gym if you’re more into bouldering. If you’re more into lead or top rope there are probably other nearby gyms that will serve you better (or the great outdoors) .
The website for the gym is pretty terrible at the moment so here are the salient points:
1) If you want to do the multi pitch section that goes all the way up the hotel you need to bring your own rope and have some vague idea of how to lead climb and multi pitch. It also requires a full 70 meter rope, so if you’ve got a 60 you’re out of luck. You can technically top rope it, but that costs an extra $ 50 and I suspect that if you fall off the wall you’ll have a hell of a time getting back on since it’s a bit overhung.
They also forgot to mention that if you’re leading you don’t use the anchor at the tippy top since there’s a top rope through it already, you just lower off the last draw. That would have been handy to know before we’d done it the first time…
You also will get an audience watching when you climb which is pretty fun. We happened to be there when there was an art fair going so there were a lot of people ooohing and ahhing as we climbed.
2) In the height of summer, go very early in the morning or after 1:00PM. We were idiots and decided to take the lead test while the sun was still blasting the outdoor wall and the black rubber that we were standing on was hot enough to burn through our shoes.
3) The routes are a bit separated between incredibly hard and very easy. There isn’t a ton of mid range stuff, but that could have just been a function of when we went.
4) You will be required to belay using a grigri even on lead, so make sure you’re comfortable with that. You’re allowed to rappel using an ATC.
There are auto belays but almost no top ropes to speak of so if you’ve got your own rope and are comfortable lead climbing, it’s definitely worth bringing it.
They’ve got discounts for EMT and students, so be sure to mention that if you’re one or the other!

They have raised their prices to $ 17 because they added a fitness area I suppose to go with the new hotel. I did not boulder, but that area actually looks pretty good. When I pay to go to a gym to climb, I expect top ropes. There were none. I get that leaving the ropes in the elements all day would wear them out, yet the auto belays are left out there (how safe does that make you feel?). Not a lot of area and several easy 5.6, then jump to 5.9s, then to a 10.c. Going to the very top would be the only reason I would ever go back, and the routes up top are on this very skinny wall… just wonder how often it is serviced and makes me a bit nervous as well over 100 feet up from the base and much higher from the street. There were plenty of staff, so they cld easily have ropes set up… especially when the sun isn’t baking the wall… can’t imagine many people want to climb at that time of day anyway. I come with a partner so I can work on tough routes, not so I can auto belay a few easy ones. And leading all the routes you want to climb is very time consuming. Also, and possibly this is a space thing, the routes were all straight up. The other gym I climb at has routes that travel to the side, around corners, back and forth, etc. Pretty boring just going straight up. They cld hang line from the top so people cld tie rope on and pull it thru, then replace line when done. They do this at some outdoor areas. But don’t charge $ 17 and not have ropes on any of the routes.

What a great gym! I came to visit recently to take a much needed break from the smoke-​filled casino floors. Walking out of the elevators, it almost feels like you’re entering a nightclub with the low lights and glowing walls, but it’s kind of fun!
I actually stopped by this place on a road trip out to Utah last summer and it was quite a 180º (the downstairs, not the gym itself). When we visited then, it was almost creepy: entering through the first floor looked something like a scene from Dexter, dark halls, plastic lined walkways, etc. This time around, turns out it’s now a super fancy hotel called Whitney Peak! Apparently the only non-​gaming non-​smoking hotel in Reno, too, geared towards anyone visiting who’s not in town for gambling.
Anyway, I only got a chance to boulder while I was here. They had a great variety of problems and terrain. The walls are kind of tricky since they’re slick hardwood I think, so you can’t smear very well, but they also had a ton of holds I’ve never seen before (I climb at a lot of gyms…) which was interesting! I loved that they had traverses around all their boulders also, and tried pretty much as many of the walls as I could (the slab wall totally shut me down as usual). The floors are done by Flashed, too, and were really slidey. I don’t know how else to describe it, it was kind of funny though — if you fall hard on them (which I did a lot) you slide pretty far backwards!
I didn’t try the outdoor rope walls this time around, maybe next time though. They have a multipitch route on the side of a hotel! Who does that? I’ve heard from a friend though that it can be pretty daunting and feel kind of insecure, especially while windy out. I guess the wall shakes maybe? Not sure, I’ll update this if I do go back.
Oh last thing, one of the points that made this gym really awesome (besides the super friendly staff members) was all the great bonus equipment! They have a slackline set up that’s kind of high but still fun. And THEN, they had all these grips and ropes like you might see on Ninja Warrior! I wish I had more time to mess around with them, they were pretty challenging. They even had a really sweet campus and finger board set up in a side alcove, I think it’s the So-​Ill hold set up maybe? I can’t remember, they’re the green plastic ones with the side diagonal pinches.

This place sucked. The employees aren’t friendly and make you feel uncomfortable like they don’t want you to be there.

Great climbing walls. My son loves this place. He has a blast here and the staff is super friendly. I like that the outside wall is above Virginia Street. Pretty cool concept. I wish the kids area was a little bigger. I plan on having my son’s birthday party here in the spring of 2013 and HOPE and PRAY they are still open when that comes around.

BaseCamp Review — This review is only for the climbing gym portion of Commrow.
I’m giving the gym 5 stars because it has tons of potential. The walls are awesome, everything is well kept, great vibe, the pricing is very fair, and super friendly staff that made us want to return. Unlike Rocksport whose staff made me never want to return.
The routes weren’t rated very well here (same with Rocksport). I flashed a V8 but couldn’t even finish another V3… Pretty sure the same setters set routes at both gyms.
I would highly recommend a trip here and even a membership if you are a local. Support the new local gym and keep them around so they can supply you with winter time crushing.
Crush on.

The climbing wall is definately cool! Base camp bouldering area is a fantastic idea! However, the rest of the place (1^st floor) makes no sense. 4 bars with different theme’s? Very poor execution and they should think hard about having a more streamlined look! A ton of potential with this place with the right vision!

Totally friendly staff, awesome climbing wall. This place has a ton of potential once they have it completely finished