One of the most important criteria we use when deciding where to travel is our workout routine. We want a destination where we have easy access to a yoga studio, good running paths and a great indoor rock climbing gym (or two if we are lucky!) We have to be careful about the rock gyms, some are bouldering only, or are just one or two walls that are designed for after school programs. We usually have to spend a fair amount of time to ferret out a gym with top rope and lead climbing options. Not the case here in Arizona! There were a multitude of gyms to choose from, all fairly close with a number of climbing options. We chose AZ on the Rocks which had the climbing options we wanted as well as a yoga studio.

We have heard some pretty horrible stories about gyms across the nation that do not pay close attention to safety. Sure, most gyms will have you sign a waiver but the first time you enter their gym the staff should take some basic precautions. I don’t want to climb in a gym where they do not check that you have the basic knowledge required to be safe in their facility. There were no such problems at AZ on the rocks! After we filled out the waiver we watched a short video on the expectations and guidelines in the gym. We were belay checked and given a few details about how they do things (and there were some important differences from our home gym, so it was good that the staff took that time to educate us). Then we were off! Since it was our first time there we did not lead climb, just worked the top ropes. The gym was clean, free of hazards and the ratings were true, meaning a 5.10+ really climbed like a 5.10+!

AZ on the Rocks has over 14,000 square feet of climbing area

We did not boulder this visit but, there were many walls dedicated to bouldering

This is the cave and a great place to work on inverted climbing

They also had a ninja training area upstairs. They did not have as many features that we have seen in other ninja gyms but it was still fun to try some of those ninjalike obstacles.

Above, on the left is the cage you must move from one end to the other.

A view of the cage from below

Monkey bars with holds on the side for traversing

But my favorite feature was the tread wall. If you have not seen these before, it is a treadmill in the sense that it moves continuously and you can climb forever! It can be inverted, sped up or you can climb for time. Definitely challenging and my first time to play on it-I want to do this one again!

We will definitely be going back to this gym over the course of the next two weeks while we are in Arizona. If you get the chance, we really recommend it!

My hubby in a new shirt from AZ on the Rocks!