Carla Madison Recreation Center

Carla Madison Recreation Center

Carla Madison is one of Denver Parks and Recreation's regional recreation centres, on East Colfax Avenue at Josephine Street in central Denver. It was planned as the first Denver rec centre with an outdoor climbing wall, and the wall now climbs 45 feet up a corner of the building, with a climbing boulder in the plaza outside.

The climbing wall

The wall has six lines: three with auto-belays and three roped climbs. It opens for staffed Open Climbing sessions, weather permitting. In late October 2026 these ran from 14:00 to 18:00 on weekdays, and the city lists Winter Climbing sessions for adults on select weekend mornings from January to March 2027, with equipment provided and booking required.

• Open climbing and the wall orientation are included with a day pass or membership.
• Everyone completes the orientation first, and climbers aged 14 and under need an adult with them.
• To belay, pass the belay test or take the belay workshop.

Prices and the rest of the centre

An adult day pass costs $6, and a Regional membership, which covers all of Denver's recreation centres and pools, is $30.75 a month. Beyond the wall there are lap and leisure pools, a gymnasium, weight and cardio rooms, cycle and group fitness studios, meeting rooms and a rooftop event space. The centre opens from 05:30 to 20:00 on weekdays and 08:00 to 16:00 at weekends, and closes on city holidays.