Vertical Hold San Marcos

About Vertical Hold San Marcos

Vertical Hold San Marcos is a climbing gym on Rancheros Drive and the North County member of Vertical Hold's three gyms around San Diego; the others are in San Diego and Poway. It was one of the three Solid Rock Gym locations that took the Vertical Hold name when the two local operators merged at the end of 2016, and it now calls itself "the hidden gem of North County".

Climbing and training

The gym covers every style: top roping, lead climbing, auto-belays and bouldering. Visitors note that routes are set in single-colour holds rather than marked with tape. For training there is a Moonboard, hangboards, a campus board and strength-training boards, plus a fitness area with free weights (16 and over) and a ping-pong table.

Visiting

• No booking is needed for bouldering or the auto-belays. To belay on the top ropes you need a Vertical Hold belay check; Grigri belay lessons run on the hour and are free for members.
• Ages: all ages can climb, under-16s must be chaperoned and belayers must be at least 13.
• Clinics run from Climbing Fundamentals for new climbers to Boulder Beta sessions for V2 to V5, with Learn 2 Lead courses and supervised Train 2 Test practice for aspiring leaders.
• Youth team: the recreational team for ages 7 to 17 practises here Monday to Thursday afternoons.
• Parties and groups: birthday parties and team-building events include gear, belayers and an event space.

Day passes, week passes and memberships all cover the three Vertical Hold gyms.