Movement Sunnyvale (formerly Planet Granite Sunnyvale)

Jesús Prudente-Barajas

Swell gym. Lot of bouldering options and top roping/lead roping to be done here. Offer yoga classes (free for members), has a decently sized rock climbing oriented gym, and they have a sauna. Very spacious, definitely wanna check this place out if you are a rock climber in the area.

A R

I really want to love or even like this climbing gym. The people that work there are wonderful and so are many of the fellow climbers I've met at MSVL/PGSV equally great. However, there are some massive issues: 1. gym cleanliness - the gym area is tremendously filthy, do lunges or any movement during which you come into even brief contact with the floor, and end up streaked or caked with dirt. Paper towels, hand sanitizer, cleaner bottles are constantly empty, so even self-cleaning your workout area is difficult. 2. route setting - no issues at all with the routes or route-setting, as there is an interesting diversity in the climbing routes, styles, and level of difficulty in the routes. There are some massively fun climbs to be had each week. The lack of ratings given to the climbs, however, leaves something to be desired. It feels a little smarmy and gatekeeper-y. Not everyone is a super experienced climber and one should somewhat understand what to expect when attempting a climb. ESPECIALLY on lead/sport climbs. Even providing an estimate/ballpark rating would be better than nothing. 3. Comparison to other ET/Movement/El Cap gyms - I'm sorry, this gym would have been fine 10 or even 5 years ago; however, moving from the east coast I'm super disappointed that I pay more for a smaller, outdated, and more crowded climbing experience than I was able to get for $20-$30 less per month at east cost climbing gyms in the same corporate family. My recent combined climbing experiences and seeing the investments that El Cap is making in other areas instead (DC area/ Chicago/ Dallas) with no new investments planned in the Bay Area have me eyeing up the Touchstone gyms. In an area where climbing is super popular and more accessible to the masses, having bigger and more updated climbing options for training seems an obvious business case. From what I understand, El Cap uses the Sunnyvale gym for case studies in their internal corporate efforts (not surprising given that it has some of the highest daily check-ins of all gyms since the merger), it seems like this area supports some more investment given the crowds and somewhat outdated nature of this gym.

Pei Rui

Great facility that offers both bouldering and top rope/lead. Can get very hot in the summer without AC.Their sunnyvale location is the best among the other gyms in terms of air circulation. My main issue is with the crowdedness. The gyms seems to be busy ALL THE TIME. Health hazard aside, it's simply hard to find the right moment to jump on a boulder problem or not interrupted by another person on the wall. The holds are well overdue for washing. I know that this is not necessarily an easy issue to solve, but perhaps the gym can consider extending hours on weekends.

Davey Freeman

Movement (formally Planet Granite) is one of the best climbing gym franchises, and this is probably their best location. They offer everything for top rope and bouldering, with lots of heady lead climbing walls too. They have the standard two part belay test for top rope first, then lead climbing. Tallest wall gets over 40ft. The setters are great. They do leave grigris on the toprope ropes, but bring your own rope and belay device for leading.