New Stone Gardens Climbing Gym Now Open in Bellevue

It’s finally time for the big climbing to begin.

Stone Gardens opened its new  location bright and early Saturday morning, with little fanfare—just die-hard climbers coming out to be among the first to scale its lofty walls.

Among them was evidence that the new gym may indeed draw people from farther afoot from the Crossroads area. Several North Seattle residents who have been climbing for years at the Stone Gardens in Ballard brought their itchy climbing fingers to the new supersized climbing gym.

Martin Cunningham, of Shoreline, said he “wanted to be one of the first people to climb the racks.” He’s been climbing since 2003, he said, and is a member of Stone Gardens. He said the new gym is impressive.

“It’s considerably larger, and the walls are much more colorful, more inviting, so it’s a very nice feel to it,” Cunningham said.

Last year, , which has 21,000 square feet of climbing surface including 40-foot tall rope and lead walls. The staff will be creating new climbing routes and boulder problems five days a week, according to the company. 

In addition to a variety of climbing spaces of varying difficulty, the facility has a full gym in the back and a climbable children’s area built in the shape of a pirate ship, with ladders, a hidden slide, and a firepole.

Cunningham invited his mother, Maggie Cunningham, to join him at the opening. She said her son introduced her to climbing about two years ago, and since then, she’s gone to Stone Gardens at least every couple of months for a workout.

At age 69, Maggie Cunningham said she thinks she might be the oldest novice climber at the gym.

“I love it. I’m so scared of heights, but when you get up there, you’re so focused on where you put your hands and feet,” you don’t notice anything else, she said.

The Crossroads Stone Gardens is open Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on weekends from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. The gym offers classes and a variety of different pay structures including punch cards, monthly passes, or daily rates.

It also rents equipment including shoes, harnesses and belay devices.