Vertical Endeavors - Warrenville, IL

When I started my new job I was pretty clear with the head suits that I would not be able to travel back and forth to Chicago, or any other area for that matter. Marginal travel is one thing, but to be honest any travel to Chicago-Midway Airport just scares the hell out of me. Every flight I've ever taken to this airport has been a complete roller coaster ride. Much worse than flying in and out of DIA, SLC, or RENO. I just can't stand to give complete trust to the airline pilot especially after those guys just recently flew past the airport while playing video games.

On the Western side of Chicago is a climbing gym that is located inside of Lifetime Fitness. Typically climbing gyms such as these are pretty generic walls with virtually nothing to offer anything, but the most inexperienced climber. It's just a way to promote sales by showing a different side of fitness. These walls are never maintained, and the routes haven't been updated since the installation of the climbing walls.

Vertical Endeavors is different in that it was originally owned by Nicros and they bought space inside of a fitness gym. The climbing gym is of descent size with everything from topropes, lead climbing, auto-belays (these are not the type kind that have been recalled), bouldering, campus board training, and fully equipped to provide you with all of your sport and bouldering needs. The terrain consists of slabs, vertical, overhanging, crack, and roof climbing. They have a good selection of climbing shoes for purchase amongst other things.

Upon entering the gym I was greeted by two very friendly employees that were very informative and interested in getting to know me the out-of-townee. They were also very professional in giving me tour, and orientation with the rules and correct way to operate the auto-belays. This was very helpful, because honestly without this I would have let go of the rope and it would have been stuck up at the top of the climb and I would have been standing there looking like a ding-dong.

I did however find the quality of the gym somewhat disappointing. When I first saw the photos online I was stoked to check this gym out. However when I finally started climbing at the gym the quality of the features of the walls, the routes, and grade range for using the auto-belays was less than desirable. First off the auto-belays started at 5.5 and maxed out at 5.10a. Which got boring quickly since I warmed up on the 10a. Secondly the features of the wall while they looked cool was incredibly slick. Lastly I don't want to sound harsh, but the quality of the routes was very poor. They had recently supported an ABS comp so I was able to try out some of the problems. I've seen it before and this gym happened to be filled with it, but making awkward moves that don't resemble what's outside is not the only way to create hard problems. You can have the best gym in the world, but if can't get psyched on the problems you'll find somewhere else to climb. I've seen some very underdog gyms with some great problems and this can make a huge difference. Two examples of sub-par gyms where the quality of the problems make up for great amenities are North Wall in Crystal Lake, IL and the now defunct Raleigh Rock Yard in Raleigh, NC. In my opinion these two gyms know how to take advantage of what they have.

I did have one other problem with the gym and it was the material used to cushion the floor. The gym was covered in some type of rubber foam material. Even a fall from just 3-ft was pretty jarring to my spine and ankle. After suffering a spinal injury and cartilage replacement surgery in my ankle I was even less psyched. However in the gyms defence they have height restrictions for bouldering, and on several occasions locals quickly rushed to spot me.

In my experience so far Chicago local climbers have been very warm and friendly and I definitely appreciate this when I'm on the road. Maybe the stereo-type of Boulder climbers is true?

My overall opinion is to check this gym out because you never whether the route setter was having a bad day, and whether, or not they have been replaced. At the very least you'll find friendly folks and a good workout. Plus afterwards you can hit up the Chipotle just up the road!

Gym Overall: 6.0
Quality of bouldering: 4 (No topouts, and low quality of problems)
Quality of routes: 6 (Nice features, but poor quality problems)
Attitudes of owners/workers: 9 (Incredibly friendly, and helpful staff)
Attitudes of climbers: 7 (Quick to give a spot, and decent for conversation)
Cost: 4 ($15 day pass. Expensive, but you do have access to Lifetime Fitness's other facilities)