There’s a huge facility that offers indoor rock climbing near Greenville, SC. ProjectROCK, located in Easley, is fun for the whole family, no matter if you’re a beginner or expert rock climber. And it’s home to the highest indoor climbing wall in the country. We checked it out and have all the details why projectROCK is a must-visit for your family!
Looking for other places to go rock climbing? Here’s a list of the best places for rock climbing near Greenville, SC.
I’m always up for a new adventure and wow, my kids and I found one at projectROCK Easley, a massive indoor rock climbing gym. This place is really cool and the story behind how it was designed is perhaps even cooler. I’ll tell you all about it right here plus let you in on special climbing events they host, birthday party options, and why your family should try them out.
Bringing the Outside Indoors
ProjectROCK began out of a dream of a couple who loved rock climbing and lived in South Florida where elevation, and therefore, rock climbing, is non-existent. They had traveled all over the country to rock climb and decided to open their own indoor rock climbing gym that brought the outdoors in.
How did they do that? They designed the gym and climbing routes all based on places they had been, like Wyoming, Tennessee, California, Alabama, and several other amazing spots. The second location of projectROCK opened in Easley last year. It is based on the same concept and as an outdoor lover myself, seeing the different rock formations inside the gym that I recognized from my own travels was really cool.
For example, there is a literal arch the color of sandstone that is based on the famous arches out in Utah. Another climbing wall is based on Devils Tower in Wyoming. The climbing structures are all unique and provide routes for any level of climber and you can quite literally climb your way around the United States.
Another cool fact: projectROCK Easley is home to the highest climbing wall in the country at 84 feet tall.
There are more than 31,000 square feet of climbing activities at the gym plus they have a birthday party room, bouldering room (climbing without ropes), and a smaller kids’ room where kids are clipped to the climbing apparatus instead of using ropes.
Getting Ready to Climb: What to Expect
When you first come to projectROCK and want to climb, you need to take a short belay course ($10), which teaches you how to properly and safely tie knots needed to climb the towers with your partner or kid. I’ve never done this before but had no problems learning how to tie the proper knots and use the safety equipment. This course took about 25 minutes total and once I passed the belay certification course, I had to hide my excitement from my instructor. I was certified in something cool! This was momentarily thrilling. Whenever I had questions afterwards when I was the belay for my daughter, there was staff to help me out.
If you’ve never climbed before, projectROCK offers an intro class for beginners, which consists of all the gear you need, a belay class, and as much time as you want climbing. We’ll get to memberships in a bit. Once you take that class, you’re good to go for climbing!
Day Passes allow you to climb for the day. You can even climb, go get lunch nearby (we recommend Tropical Burger in Easley), and then come back and climb the rest of the day. An individual day pass with gear is $30 and $21 without gear. A youth pass is a little cheaper at $18 without gear and $27 with gear.
Kids need to be at least five years old to climb and they can do so for just $10/day pass in the American Valley room, which is a super cute room with American monuments like the Golden Gate Bridge, Mt. Rushmore, and the Statue of Liberty. This room is great for smaller kids since they just have to clip themselves to the climbing apparatus and no ropes are necessary.
Bouldering and the Big Walls
ProjectROCK offers several options for climbing no matter your ability or adventure level.
You can climb in the bouldering room, which has different routes for different abilities (I was definitely on the lower end of climbing these!) and the floor is padded. These structures aren’t that high because you’re climbing without ropes here.
If you want to climb the big walls, you can do so after you take the belay course and get your gear. There are more than 100 climbing lanes, 18,000+ holds, and 200+ routes at projectROCK. Having never been in a climbing gym before, it was quite the sight to behold. My kids were ecstatic as well. There is just so much to see and do.
Competitive and Rec Climbing
If you’re a competitive climber, projectROCK offers both a competitive and semi-competitive league that meets regularly. The Competitive team is for kids who have competed in the past and are looking to build on their skills and compete on a local and regional level. The Semi-Competitive team is more for those new to climbing and interested in competition. Both of these teams are for ages 7-17 years old.
The Competitive team costs $190 per four-week session and includes:
- Membership and gear during the 4-week session
- Team Member parents get 50% off a Belay Class
- 2 Climbing Team Shirts
- Discounted rate for Private Coaching Session for team (ask coach)
- 10% discount in Pro Shop as members
- Bring a Buddy Day (1 time per every 2 months as announced per coach)
- Parents and siblings receive family membership pricing for their climbing memberships.
The Semi-Competitive league costs $150 per four-week session and includes everything that the Competitive league does. Competition costs are extra. The Competitive and Semi-Competitive league meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 5-7 pm.
The Recreation league is for ages 7-16 years old and meets weekly and is a lot more laid back than the Competitive league but just as fun. Kids will learn the basics of climbing and safety from coaches. This league meets on Wednesdays from 5-7 pm or Saturdays at 10 am. The cost for the Recreation league is $100 per 4-week session on weekdays or $150 per 4-week session on weekends and includes:
- Discounted Membership Rate Available
- Club Member Parents get 50% off Belay Class
- 10% discount in Pro Shop as members
- Discounted rate for Private Coaching Session for team (ask coach)
- Bring a Buddy Day (1 time per every 2 months as announced per coach)
- Parents and siblings receive family membership pricing for their climbing memberships.
Special Climbing Events: Homeschool Days, Full Moon Climbs, Community Nights
There’s a lot happening at projectROCK and you’re bound to find something engaging for your family.
ProjectROCK has Homeschool Days a couple times a month where kids can climb for two hours for $20 per child. That includes all gear and the belay. You can watch your kids from the beautiful balcony that overlooks the tall climbing walls area. If you have a smaller child, they can climb for just $10 (includes gear) in the American Valley room during Homeschool Days.
ProjectROCK also hosts members-only events like the Full Moon Climb where the gym opens only for members at 10:30 pm and they get to climb in the dark with a headlamp. How cool does that sound?!
If you bookmark the Activities page on the projectROCK website, you can stay updated with the latest happenings.
Birthday Parties and Camps
As soon as I walked into projectROCK, I thought it would be such a cool place to host a birthday party. My kids agreed and have already planned out that they want their birthday party in 2024 at projectROCK.
The gym has a dedicated birthday party room right next to the American Valley climbing room (and a restroom, yay!). Birthday party packages start at $150 for members and $275 for non-members for up to ten climbers for two hours with two guides.
ProjectROCK will also have camps for kids but they have not yet released those details. As soon as they do, we will update our story and add them to our Summer Camp Guide.
Memberships
Like many cool places that you may want to visit again and again, projectROCK offers membership options so you can enjoy lots of climbing. Individual monthly memberships are $70/month for auto pay. They do not include gear, which you can rent for $9. Or you can purchase gear at some point if you really want to make a habit of indoor rock climbing.
ProjectROCK also offers day passes for $30/person, including gear. Or you can go bouldering without gear for a $21 day pass. Day passes for the American Valley climbing room are just $10. That room is perfect for smaller kids as it is auto belay and has shorter walls.
If you’re not sure what you want to do in the long run, you can save a little money by getting a six-visit multi-day pass for $162/with gear. Other passes are available as well. The climbing gym tries to make it easy to climb when you want but not commit to anything long term if you’re not sure what you want to do yet.
Honest Mom Review
Having never gone indoor rock climbing before, this was a real treat. My youngest daughter is totally fearless and couldn’t wait to get climbing so it was right up her alley. She went straight for the big walls once I got my belay certification and we were cleared to climb. It was a lot of fun.
Let me say that the staff was amazing. Again, having never done this before, I didn’t know what to expect and was a little nervous once I saw those climbing walls rising very high up. I’m adventurous but was still a bit apprehensive. Every single staff member was polite and helpful and encouraging. They never made me feel inferior for not knowing what in the world I was doing. You could tell they wanted their guests to have a great time and really enjoy the sport.
When I was belaying my daughter on the high walls, a staff member told me he could belay me while I climbed. I was psyched to do so! I chose a route that wasn’t that hard to get some confidence and didn’t do that bad. It was really high up there but oh-so-fun. I appreciated the time he took to make sure I got to have just as much fun as my daughter was.
I would definitely go back to projectROCK (and likely will just due to the persistence of my kids) and learn how to climb more of those walls. I’d love to be able to really get my confidence up to tackle some of the tougher routes!
ProjectROCK Easley is open daily Monday-Friday from 3-10 pm, Saturday 10 am – 10 pm, and Sunday from Noon-8 pm.
projectROCK Easley
2121 Farrs Bridge Road, Easley
864.307.9152
