Vancouver's climbing gyms run from Hive Vancouver Heights, the city's main roped gym in the former Cliffhanger, to newer bouldering gyms such as Progression in Mount Pleasant and Tilted, a board gym in North Vancouver with 24-hour access for members. The Hive and Climb Base5 run gyms across Metro Vancouver, and Squamish is about an hour up the Sea to Sky Highway.
Photo: Progression Bouldering Gym
Progression Bouldering Gym opened in Mount Pleasant in March 2025, with 16-foot walls, a Kilter Board, a Tension Board 2 and a spray wall, plus a licensed café, a physio and sports clinic and underground parking. The Hive's original bouldering gym is on Industrial Avenue near Main Street–Science World station, and Hive North Shore on the Dollarton Highway has 18,000 sq ft of bouldering, a MoonBoard and a yoga studio whose classes come with a bouldering membership. In Richmond, Approach Climbing opened in 2025 with what it calls the largest cave in BC, and in North Vancouver every wall at Tilted is an adjustable board, from a Tension Board 2 and three Kilter Boards to a big Kilter wall that tilts from slab to overhang.
Hive Vancouver Heights at 670 Industrial Avenue opened in 1993 as Cliffhanger, one of Canada's first climbing gyms, and the Hive bought it in 2021. It has more than 70 top-rope and lead routes from 5.5 to 5.13, six auto-belays and a bouldering cave, and you need to book at peak times. Across the inlet, Climb Base5 North Vancouver, the former Edge Climbing Centre, has top rope, lead and five auto-belays, and its sister gym Climb Base5 Coquitlam has 45-foot walls. Further out, Coastal Climbing Centre in Surrey has climbed since 1993, The Rock Wall in Maple Ridge runs drop-in sessions by age group, and the Richmond Olympic Oval has a 17-metre wall and a speed wall.
In October 2026 an adult day pass cost $32 at the Hive, $31 at Climb Base5, $30.50 at Progression and $30 at Approach, with early or off-peak rates of $22 at Progression and Hive Heights. Tilted charged $25, or $18 on weekday afternoons, and the cheapest day passes were further out, at The Rock Wall ($18.95) and Coastal ($19.95). A Hive bouldering membership covers all its BC bouldering gyms, and one Climb Base5 membership covers both of its gyms.
The Hive runs youth programmes from age 4 and sets supervision ratios for younger children, Climb Base5's Geckos programme starts at age 6, Progression runs Crushers for 8 to 12-year-olds, and Coastal's Little Lions is for ages 5 to 9.
Squamish, about 70 km and an hour or so up Highway 99, is a world-class granite climbing destination, with almost 3,000 routes and boulder problems around the Stawamus Chief and the Smoke Bluffs: see climbing in Squamish and Whistler. Closer to town, the North Shore has small crags and bouldering, such as Sully's Hangout near Lynn Loop and the boulders in Cypress Falls Park, but access is patchy, so check with the Vancouver Climbers' Association first. The Fraser Valley, from Abbotsford to Hope, has more than 1,600 routes. Vancouver's wet season runs roughly from October to April, which is when the gyms are busiest.
The Alpine Club of Canada's Vancouver Section, founded in 1918, has about 1,100 members, regular climbing evenings and huts near Squamish, and the BC Mountaineering Club has been climbing since 1907. Community groups such as the Bad Climbers Club, Van Queer Climbers and the South Asian Climbers Coalition welcome beginners. Sport Climbing BC's 2026–27 season includes the November Sessions bouldering competition at Climb Base5 Coquitlam on 7 and 8 November 2026 and the open bouldering and difficulty provincials at the Richmond Olympic Oval on 19 and 20 December 2026. North Vancouver's Sean McColl and Alannah Yip were the first Canadians to compete in sport climbing at the Olympics, in Tokyo.
Three of Climbing Business Journal's nine best new Canadian gyms of 2025 are in Metro Vancouver, and UBC's rebuilt BirdCoop Bouldering Centre opens on 19 October 2026. Here's what each one offers.
Joe Rushton
Sport Climbing BC's season runs from Pop & Lock in Kelowna in October to the open provincials at the Richmond Olympic Oval in December, with speed events at The Boulders near Victoria and bouldering across Metro Vancouver.
Joe Rushton