Blocworks Bouldering Gym Visit

A new month, a new climbing gym to visit! A couple of weekends ago, I rode with my boss to check out a new bouldering gym called Blocworks that opened in Edmond, a suburb north of Oklahoma City, OK.

Blocworks is a bouldering gym and run by a former member of my old home gym. So, there’s that local feel to it. The gym is the smallest I’ve bouldered at, but it’s fun.

New Gym, New Fun

Blocworks has more outdoor style problems. They’re different then what I’m used to bouldering. The bouldering walls are about 13-14 feet high. One thing I like there is that there are no top outs. I don’t have to worry about getting over and not falling off.

Their grading scale is a little different than Summit’s because they use a wider range of grades for each color. Theirs is a 2-grade range. I think that might reflect a bit of the style of setting there.

Their problems were cool. I was inspired to try ones in the V4-V6 range and got through parts of them. I sent other problems within my grade range, but others I’ll have to try again before they’re reset.

I joked with my boss that there was a Summit party at Blocworks because we saw three other Summit employee’s bouldering during our session. He agreed with me. It was cool to hang out with them when it wasn’t at work.

We were there for 2.5-3 hours. Their day pass is reasonable, especially if you already have your own stuff. One thing I noticed there was that the gym wasn’t busy. I found it surprising because it was a Sunday, and usually weekends are more occupied in general. However, the weather outside was gorgeous, so that might have been why. I didn’t mind at all, personally.

One thing Blocworks has is a Kilter board. It’s a mechanical board with LED lights to indicate which holds to start and grab. Problems are designed electronically on an app people download. Then they can see what others have created and climb them on that wall. The wall can adjust from 90-70 degrees.

I tried climbing some easy-ish problems on the board. It’s different and something I’m not used to as well. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pics or video of me climbing on it—hopefully next time.

Overall, Blocworks is a fun place to climb and spend the day. The gym has an outdoor patio with lawn games. I didn’t get to check out before we had to leave. That’s something I need to do the next time I’m there.

I do wish the gym wasn’t that far (45 minutes – 1-hour drive from my home gym), but maybe if I have another weekend day off, I’ll make another trip. Until next time, happy bouldering!