Adventure Rock - Pewaukee, WI

Well it's pretty crazy, but since I'm totally disappointed in what Illinois has to offer in the way of climbing gyms I decided to cruise up to Wisconsin just to get a decent plastic fix. It's about 70 miles from my hotel in Arlington Heights, IL which is about 1-1/2 hrs driving time. I heard about this gym from a local friendly at North Wall in Crystal Lake, IL and decided to check it out. Why on earth would I drive this far to climb on plastic, because sitting in a hotel playing PS3 is just not doing it for me.

This gym is really good compared to everything Illinois had to offer. It has pretty tall overhanging walls, topropping w/ auto-belays, 2 bouldering rooms, campus boards, hang boards, and my favorite aerobic device so far a revolving wall with variable speeds and angles. The gym also has a full pro shop for anything that you may be missing which includes: shoes, harnesses, biners, trad gear, ropes, guides, chalk, etc... There is also a subway inside the same building and a burger ice cream joint next door. The gym does not offer any other type of fitness devices such as tread mill, ellipticals, bikes, or weight benches. That's ok though since the moving wall and some good problems are all you need for aerobic and anarobic training.

The problems felt right on par with what I'm used to seeing at Movement. I also like the fact that the bouldering problems are giving a range. For example V0-V1, V1-V2, V3-V4, V5-V6, V7-Beyond are all giving a certain colar base tape. Personally I like the idea of ranges because we are all built and shaped differently it's difficult to place a definitive grade when it comes to climbing plastic, or outdoors for that matter. It makes it harder for people to say, "That's no V5!!!"

What are my complaints you might ask? Not much really. It's a great gym, but if I had to pick one thing it would have to be that the holds seem pretty outdated. I've found that lately at all of the Illinois gyms including this one in Wisconsin. Another HUGE complaint is the water smells like bad eggs. It's so bad I'm not even sure it's legal. With that said bring your own water, or other tasty beverages. If your a Flagstaff Mtn bouldering visiting you might not want to bring your Nalgene bottle filled with Vino since this is definitely a family friendly gym.

Gym Overall: 7.6
Quality of bouldering: 7 (No freestanding top out boulder)
Quality of routes: 8 (Tall walls, but old holds)
Attitudes of owners/workers: 8 (Pretty friendly staff)
Attitudes of climbers: 7 (Pretty friendly climbers)
Cost: 8 ($15 day pass. It's to be expected)