Hidden Peak - Chicago, IL

After leaving Oldtown Fitplex I drove just South a mile to Hidden Peak located right in downtown Chicago. I made sure to check it out and see if it was something I would be into and luckily it was. The bouldering gym is located in the back of a tumbling/gymnastic complex. I was directed to the unisex bathroom to change into my climbing attire which was a little strange when 7 year old girls are standing in the same line to use the same bathroom. NOT AT THE SAME TIME OF COURSE!!! My point is that the bathroom is also the changing room.

The gym offers no climbing routes, but several different walls with varying angles on a plywood surface. The holds seemed a little old and didn't appear to have been cleaned in a long time. The boulder problems were very good, a little sandbagged, but cluttered. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the problems before I even got on the problems because of the multitude of tape. This gym is one of the smallest gyms I've ever been to, but it packs a serious punch. In short don't judge a gym by its size.

My favorite features about the gym was the following:
1) The price was right at $10 for a day pass.
2) The climbers are very friendly and guick to offer a spot and encouragement.
3) They had an awesome adjustable system board and campus board.
4) The boulder problems are well thought out and therefore very good.

In short this gym will build you up for a lot of bouldering power. It's a gym I recommend for the boulderer, but not so much for the route climber. The upside to that is the system board which can be used to build endurance given the right training.

Gym Overall: 6.4
Quality of bouldering: 7 (Great quality of bouldering problems)
Quality of routes: 0 (Virtually no route climbing, or potential)
Attitudes of owners/workers: 8 (Pretty friendly staff)
Attitudes of climbers: 8 (Gotta love those Chicago climbers. Very nice folks.)
Cost: 9 ($10 day pass. Can't beat it.)

North Wall - Crystal Lake, IL

I've been spending a lot of time in Chicago lately for work. It's usually cold, overcast, and wet this time of year. Getting motivated to do anything is hard in this town. I usually struggle between going to the gym, staying in the hotel, or catching a movie somewhere at night. When I do get motivated to climb I spend quite a lot of time sorting through what exactly is a climbing gym and what is a fitness gym with a "climbing wall."

North Wall in Crystal Lake is about a 30 mile drive Northwest of Chicago and has a good selection of boulder problems. This gym is not where you want to go if you need to get on some routes since the walls are very short at 20/25-ft tall. However the quality of the boulder problems is as good as it gets. The gym also has a very cool feature that starts off super steep and then comes into an almost tidal wave feature. The height of some of the routes is intimidating, but there are plenty of pads that you can shift around if you become sketched out.

One of my favorite things about this gym was the friendly climbers. These guys were some of the coolest guys on the planet that I've been fortunate enough to climb with. For those of you that want to get your bouldering fix fulfilled this was the place to do it. Although this gym might not be appealing to everyone, I definitely had a good time climbing there and meeting everyone. Just be prepared to drive about 45 mins outside of town. The indoorclimbing.com website mentions 50-ft of climbing, but I was never able to locate it.

Gym Overall: 7.0
Quality of bouldering: 8 (Great quality of bouldering problems)
Quality of routes: 3 (Very poor route climbing, and potential)
Attitudes of owners/workers: 7 (Pretty friendly staff)
Attitudes of climbers: 10 (Friendliest climbers I've come across to date)
Cost: 7 ($12 seemed steep for a gym that provided very little route climbing)