VITAL Climbing Gym - West Harlem

Tanmay Jaiswal

It's a good gym with interesting routes and a good community. However, it may not be worth the $115/month for everyone. The wall is smaller than most places so you have a limited variety of problems (although they are good problems). The gym area with the workout equipment is pretty small and cramped. They don't have student discounts but they do have financial assistance programs. However, it is not the same thing. I'd rather have student discounts, no questions asked. The $115 is for access to all 3 gyms (west Harlem, east side and Brooklyn) and the Brooklyn gym is much bigger and had a lot more facilities but it's unrealistic to expect people who live near west Harlem to make the trip to the Brooklyn gym 3 times a week. I would pay $115 for the Brooklyn gym, no complaints but I don't see why I'm paying for a privilege I will use maybe once a month at most. No showers is also a little annoying. However, the route setting and staff is top notch and I still enjoy the climbing sessions. It just doesn't feel like it's worth $115/month to me. If they introduced a $75-$85/month plan for just west Harlem, I'd give it 5 stars easily.

Eric Haller

Facilities are clean. Decent variation of problems. Wasn’t too busy in the time that I was there. The lobby area is so huge!! Almost seems like a waste of space? I like that they have cardio offerings upstairs with a bike and a treadmill. Free weights and campus and hang boards downstairs for stretching and conditioning. Kind of surprised they don’t have showers here seeing that is it’s a climbing gym? Hm. Overall it’s a nice place to not think about too much & pull on some problems 😌

James Renner

The location is nice and secure.

Gabe Stump

I've been climbing at this gym for over 3 years the transition from steep rock to vital has been a mixed bag tho mostly downside from a members perspective. If you're thinking about becoming a member here don't expect to get a guest pass like at other gyms. I have a lot of friends who climb at different gyms in the city, they all have guest passes and this allows us to climb together at least once a month and provides a ton of value to me. no freezing your membership either so if you're a student or have long term travel plans I'd think about that. On to the things I still love about this gym. First the setting, easily the best reason to climb here and not somewhere else. Consistently has diverse sets of fun and interesting problems featuring all types of climbing even at lower climbing grades, which I don't always see at other gyms. Second the gym does have a small neighborhoody feel, my fellow climbers tended to be very helpful and friendly. This could change as the gym evolves into whatever it is becoming but for now the community is still solid.