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The Rock Oasis
Category: Active Life Climbing Climbing [Edit]
Suite 204 - 388 Carlaw AveToronto, ON M4M 2T4
Neighbourhood: Leslieville
(416) 703-3434
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 9 am - 11 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
14 reviews for The Rock Oasis
14 reviews in English
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Review from Matthew G.
Scarborough, Toronto, ON
This is perfect if you're a beginner or novice rock climber otherwise you may want more of a challenge somewhere else, this is for just a fun afternoon.
I would recommend this for anybody, plus a great location. -
Review from Erika L.
Maple, ON
4/29/2012 1 Check-in Here
I'm a 5.8 climber on average and I found this place to be such a disappointment :(
First, the music was horrible. They played way too loud 90's hate-my-life rock music.
Second, this place was a dump. The washrooms were so dirty.
Third, they only had top roping so it's really, really uncomfortable to go climbing with my boyfriend who is 6'1 when I'm only 5'3... if you know what I mean.
Fourth, only around 30% of the walls were between 5.7 and 5.9. And they were all such short walls. Maybe this place is more for an advanced climber?
This place is in between moving to a new location, so perhaps that's why. The old location was way better. In future, I won't be going back. TCA is waay better! Go there! ! :D -
Review from Maxine C.
Toronto, ON
12/10/2010
Good location, decent climbing, but a number of drawbacks.
The place is way too crowded, or at least whenever I'm there (weeknights, the odd weekend). I often have to wait around for a route to clear up, or settle for something I'm less inclined to climb. The upside is that the crowding makes this gym more social than others, and the patrons are friendly and always ready to offer advice.
The music selection will bring you right back to the 90s.
Minus points for the change room. Who thought a unisex change room was a good idea? It can also be really difficult to find a locker. I'm pretty sure the lockers were designed and constructed by a twelve year-old.
Big points for the convenient location, though, which gives it the edge to keep me climbing here. -
Review from Nilofer A.
Toronto, ON
8/28/2011
For my birthday last year, I got it into my head that all I wanted to do was try rock-climbing. After some Googling, I came across The Rock Oasis - I hadn't yet been introduced to the world of Yelp so decided to venture forth armed without any prior knowledge.
I can't remember whether or not I had to make a reservation for our group of 4 but I vaguely remember calling in and the staff telling me that a reservation wouldn't be necessary (perhaps since it was Valentine's Day and they weren't expecting too many visitors). We were all rock-climbing virgins and I felt that the price of $35 for new climbers, which included a 1-hour lesson, equipment rental and unlimited climbing time, was excellent value.
This cave of fun is hidden behind a very unassuming yellow door in a somewhat industrial part of downtown Toronto. Upon entering, we were asked to sign a waiver (basically signing our lives away) and then headed up to the change-rooms to get changed. You can rent lockers for a nominal fee and we managed to cram all our stuff into 2 lockers. I was already excited by all the brightly coloured walls (indicating degrees of difficulty, as I learnt later). We headed downstairs and spent a little time learning how to tie the knots for our harness - during this time, another couple joined our group and the instructor started the class. You are required to pair up with a partner as you both take turns between climbing and operating the safety device to lower your partner (I believe the technical term is "belaying"), so be sure to go with an even-numbered group. Since there were only 3 pairs in our group, we got a lot of one-on-one time with the instructor who was able to give us customized tips.
All in all, it was a fun day trying something new with my group of friends. The website is very comprehensive, the staff were all friendly and the location was crowded in a what-an-awesome-vibe kind of way. I would definitely recommend it for people looking to try rock-climbing for the first time but can't speak for experienced climbers who are looking for a real challenge and probably get quite annoyed with all the newbies around. I personally found out that rock-climbing is definitely not my one true talent in life but still had a great time overall. -
Review from Akvile H.
5/2/2011 1 Check-in Here
What a great place! I've always wanted to rock climb and had my first try at it here this past weekend. It was super fun and challenging, but definitely worth trying at some point in your life if you haven't!
We called ahead of time to make a reservation since the place was pretty packed (because it's the weekend), so I suggest you do so as well since room is limited.The staff is friendly, helpful, and are really great at explaining how to do everything. You have to have a lesson before climbing but it doesn't take very long and you learn to climb, tie the ropes, and also be on the other end to help support your partner in lower them down.
There are many wall, heights, and difficulty levels to choose from. The prices are appropriate and you can climb as long as you want. The locker room is alright, however it is co-ed and quite small, but it does the trick. There are private changing rooms and showers if you need though which is nice.
Just come wearing comfy work out clothes and they supply the lessons, harnesses, ropes, and climbing shoes. Definitely a great spot weather you are a beginner or are an experienced climber since they have both vertical and horizontal walls to scale! I would definitely come back here again! -
Review from Peter D.
Toronto, ON
8/3/2011
The climbing here is pretty average. The walls aren't particularly interesting - none of them are textured and most of them are vertical - ie no interesting angles. The walls are also very low - since the move to Carlaw Ave the walls are probably only about half the height they used to be. There's no air conditioning so climbing here is pretty uncomfortable.
On the plus side this place is much larger than the bathurst location so there are more climbs and more space between climbs.
I would climb at the toronto climbing academy instead. -
Review from Robin D.
9/25/2010
Try something different. Did the $35 intro lesson. I had my own shoes when I tried bouldering so, I saved a little there, which was awesome. Not too crowded and nice atmosphere. The instructor was very friendly and gave easy to understand instructions so, we were able to start climbing ourselves in no time.
We sucked and we really sucked, but we still had fun. There are various levels of difficulty for rock climbing, which is great. I checked out the bouldering routes quick and could not figure out the routes. Not sure if it is me, or the stickers came off I don't know. I came here for rock climbing anyways so I didnt care. I would recommend it. -
Review from Karen S.
4/20/2010
Good place to learn climbing if you've never done it before!
The fun stuff:
- Super high walls, fun just to look at and it makes you want to shout just to see if echos come back
- Lots of easier routes for beginners
The not so fun stuff:
- Super cramped - for some routes, you have to sit in a circle around benches to belay. Story - I was belaying and didn't notice that someone took my smelly climbing shoes as it was so crowded. When I realized the shoes that I ended up with looked like my shoes, but weren't, I ran around the gym asking if anyone had something similar. Luckily, I found the girl who took the wrong shoes just before she left the building. Whew!
- Unisex change rooms
There are some fun routes there, and it can be a test of endurance. Not my favourite climbing gym, but a good place to try.Listed in: Keeping it active
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Review from Kim B.
ON
1/8/2009
I never would have figured myself to be the rock-climbing type...so when I agreed to go with my boyfriend to check it out, my immediate thought was "Okay! Go! Get it out of the way. Do it for him and then he'll owe you a favour."
But....I LOVED IT.
We took an intro lesson, that isn't really that hard and doesn't take all that long, rented all our gear and stayed for two hours (you can stay as long as you want) for $35!
I was surprised, most of all, that I could actually do it! And that my cynical nature sort of melted away and was replaced by this other feeling....uh....whadda-ya-call-it? You know! Uh, the opposite of doubt? Confidence. That's it.
A great place to try something new in the city.Listed in: My FIVE Star Toronto
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Review from Martin W.
1/10/2011 2 Check-ins Here
This is the closest climbing gym and most convenient for me and my climbing partner. That, and the high walls, are the only reason that I climb here. The place is just way too crowded and hot. Also, the change rooms are unisex and lockers are often full. It does make for a more social atmosphere, I suppose, which is good, but having to wait around for walls to free up is a pain in the butt. Good selection of music, though. Pluses and minuses, but for me its my climbing home for the time being.
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Review from Kelly K.
Toronto, ON
6/11/2010
Went last night with a friend who climbs regularly. Id gone climbing before, over on Broadview, but hadnt gone in about six years (or more!).
$35 got me a one hour lesson (which was great as it was semi-private, only me and one other person) and my harness and shoe rental for the entire evening.
Let me just say this: I suck at climbing. I get halfway up the beginners wall and want to come down. Its not that Im scared of heights, its more that Im scared of falling -- not an unreasonable phobia, if you ask me. However, the gear is rigged so that you wont plummet to the ground so its just a matter of learning to convince myself I can make it up. Right now I have pretty bad upper body strength and am carrying more weight around than I should, so I found it hard to keep my grip. I think that if I keep at it, Ill eventually get the hang of it (so to speak).
Now about the gym: its a lot smaller than I expected, and super popular. We were there for three hours on a Thursday night, and there were climbers EVERYWHERE. It was hard not to be distracted while listening to other people's stories and adventures. While crowded, the vibe is fantastic and everyone there seems to be super supportive and encouraging of those on the walls (maybe this is normal for the sport?). The change rooms are co-ed, although there are private cubbies for those less inclined to bare all to the oppposite sex.
The location is ideal, right at the bottom of Bathurst, but since Im more of an east end girl these days, my appearances at RO will likely be limited to when Im visiting my west end climbing friends. -
Review from Margs L.
Toronto, ON
3/18/2010
I also went to this place with my boyfriend to check it out. We have been planning to try out rock cclimbing for a while and finally picked up and went one Sunday.
The place is big and had a significant amount of "tracks" or "paths" or whatever they are called at different difficulty levels.
We had to to the training first since I have never climbed before and we were slightly annoyed since the session was full of people and it took a really long time for the other people to get the concept of belaying and getting the ropes tied properly. I would recommend trying to find out when they are the least busy so you can get a quicker training done. By the time we were done the training we have been there for 2 hours and were tired of standing around.
Rock climbing is a great work out but I would recommend everyone try it at least once. I can see how easily people can get addicted to this activity. It's a lot of fun but very hard. If you get discouraged easily expect to fail a lot your first time. It's not as easy as others make it look.Listed in: Work It Out!
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Review from Aaron B.
4/30/2010
This a decent climbing gym in many ways, but terrible in two respects that knock it down a peg from average. There are two bouldering areas and plenty of routes which lean (like most places do) towards the difficult end. The bouldering rating system is vague and inaccurate; they use their own 1,2,3 dot system instead of any of the official route rating systems...and often routes are never marked with any difficulty rating. This initially annoying aspect has gotten progressively worse. I talked to a guy putting up new routes who happened to be there while I was climbing and got the inside scoop on that (which just means that I know exactly how vague they are set and c'est la Rock Oasis). There is a fast turnover in the bouldering routes so it's hard even to get used to the routes and make measurable progress, and without a rating system it's really against the purpose of doing bouldering problems. That said, there are usually some good problems at my level, they are just hard to identify and they disappear quickly.
The other big hit against them is the fact that it's not air conditioned and they don't even have working fans around the place (just a couple). Having a gym (of any kind) with no AC in Toronto's summer means that you'll sweat just sitting down in there, and if you're climbing the walls you turn into a fountain. This is especially bad since sweat is slippery and slippery is dangerous. So instead of leaving because I'm too tired, or too busy, I have to leave after an hour just to avoid heat exhaustion. This is only a problem for 25% of the year, but it's a huge problem.
I like that they provide locks for the lockers they have upstairs. So you don't have to worry about your clothes or gear or phone or money getting swiped while you climb.
I don't like that their floor has lots of hard strips of rubber and their crash pads are 1" thick light foam mats. Falling will hurt for sure here.
I'll definitely go back since it's the closest climbing gym, and I'll definitely avoid evenings because the place is cramped when empty.
The people working there are mostly friendly and cool and willing to help with advice and listen to requests...although I haven't yet convinced them to use a standard (or at least consistent) rating system. -
Review from Amanda L.
Toronto, ON
8/15/2010
A fun place. I went with a teen and we had an intro lesson and then were on our way. She was fearless and all the way up the wall. I was a little more cautious but still had a good time. It is great that you can anchor into the floor so the weight differential between the two of us didn't matter. It defintely was cramped and hot but it was a Sunday afternoon! A good workout...my arms were sore the next day.
