FA
First Ascent Block 37
Climb with precision and variety, backed by expert coaching at First Ascent Block 37
4.6
Yoga Studio
$$
Climb with precision and variety, backed by expert coaching at First Ascent Block 37
First Ascent Block 37 is a Chicago climbing gym with a spacious layout, boulder walls, and a dedicated yoga room for stretching. Reviews highlight diverse holds, challenging routes, and a setting praised for driving technique. Attentive staff, including coaches who helped climbers improve technique, contribute to a welcoming space for climbers of all levels.
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Access to extensive climbing walls with varied routes and system boards, designed to challenge technique and strength for all skill levels.
Use of a well-equipped gym area including cardio machines and strength training equipment to complement your climbing workouts.
Dedicated yoga room for classes and self-guided stretching sessions to improve flexibility and recovery for climbers.
Personalized coaching and technique workshops from knowledgeable staff to help climbers advance their skills and confidence.
Flexible options including punch cards and memberships for convenient access to all gym facilities and climbing areas.
Rental shoes and gear available for visitors, though bringing personal equipment is recommended for optimal performance.
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Overall rating
David Tian
My favorite First Ascent location. The setting is the best in the city by far. There’s a lot of variety of holds and it is challenging. The setting forces technique and tension when a lot of commercial sets these days can be solved with brute strength. The wall structures are beautiful. The system boards are convenient. Kudos to the setters. I think the sets at block were a HUGE contributor for me sending my first v9 outdoors so thank you!!! The commercial sets translate well which is rare for gyms. Nice facility. Only one big con is the kilter board is not set up properly and can be unpleasant to climb. It’s also a little embarrassing that FA doesn’t have a Tension Board 2 in any of the locations in Chicago. I’ll give Block 5 stars anyways due to the good setting.
Tim Dufrane
Great place to stop and climb! I was visiting and ended up in rental shoes. Will say that the rentals are garbage, as is expected from hard, durable rubber. Even good feet slipped if you didn't have extreme tension all the time. I felt soft capped at V3 because of no footwork potential. Once I realized that more muscle would probably overcome the rentals limitation, I was able to knock out some V4s and get progress on a couple of V5s/V6s. That said, poor fitting rentals shouldn't get a mediocre climber like me past V2 or so, so I think this gym is pretty soft on grades. Or I'm just traumatized from upstate NY grading. In any case, friendly staff, cool and interesting problems, decent size facility and walls, garbage rental shoes. Highly recommend if you have your own shoes and want an ego boost on grades!
Kira Local Reviews
Been to this gym a good handful of times and the setting here is definitely the worst of the Chicago bouldering gyms. It feels like they don’t take into account anyone unless you are a big man. It is shoulder move after shoulder move here. Prices are the cheapest in the city but it shows. I love everything else about this gym. bathrooms are clean, cardio and gym equipment all works, The desk staff are incredibly helpful. I want to love this gym but the setting here is making it really hard.
Jessica Vickery
I want to give a huge shoutout to Vincent at First Ascent Block 37. A couple of months ago, he took the time to walk me through some climbing techniques that completely changed how I approached a V4 route and noticeably improved my ease and confidence on the wall. I ended up pausing my membership for a bit to explore other gyms, but during that time I realized just how rare Vincent’s level of attentiveness, kindness, and knowledge really is. I didn’t encounter staff anywhere else who were as genuinely invested in helping climbers improve. That experience ultimately brought me back to First Ascent and led me to restart my membership. Kudos to FA for staffing such talented people like Vincent (also referred to as V I think?) who truly care about their fellow climbers. He makes the gym a better place to climb.
Ana Lucia -
Got a 10 passes punch card for 250 dollars. I like it, it is big: has a lot of boulders, a good gym space with machines, and a yoga room to stretch. The boulders are quite fun, and they don’t use color gradings, just directly refer to the routes per their grading system (i like that)
