Beautiful and spacious new gym with a decently sized bouldering area and some nice wall features. They have installed more autbelays (10 total now I think). Hopefully they will set a wider variety of climbs for autobelay and top rope, especially in the middle range (5.8 - 5.10+), for those just progressing into the sport. The routes up now are mostly fun and engaging.

Updated: to add that I appreciate they communicate well with the membership as to events happening in the gym! We get emails when large secions are being closed for comps or clinics. This is an amazing venue to host competitions and I hope they continue to host them for the community and the youth compeitive circuit - they do an AMAZING job on these events. There are very few commercial gyms that care about competitive climbing, and they are one of them. The Nationals training camp most recently brought in some amazing new sets; I hope they will do this regularly to continue to grow the sport of climbing. We will continue to support them with our membership and we've recommended them to all of our friends. Beautiful facility. Clean. Great new sets. Friendly staff. 10/10.

We visited for the gym's debut event, Youth Climbing National Championships. Staff were amazing, gym is beautiful, tall walls, plenty of climbing areas and large open feel. Definitely check them out.

I went with my six year old daughter and she loved it. We had a lot of fun bouldering. We can’t wait to come back soon.

This place is awesome! Clean, safe, and top notch! Go with your friends or by yourself, there is plenty to do. Staff is friendly and knowledgeable. Rental equipment is accessible and good quality. The building itself is very nice and modern feel. There is lifting equipment, treadmill, and much more to stay fit.

Had a blast at the grand opening. Good mix of routes for ropes and bouldering. Staff was friendly and engaged. Good to see the climbing community expand and see some city climbers come support. Nice mix of difficulty for beginners and more advanced climbing. Kid friendly too. Check it out. Short ride from the Metra station too.

Very nice facility. Spacious, bright and clean. Staff was very pleasant. There is a dedicated kids area which is fantastic. Some bouldering, auto belay, and top rope. Routes are set for kids but they're not just jug hauls. Good flow and movement. Well done. Only demerit is on bouldering. Overall, great variety and options. Yet, I didn't see an area with just an empty canvas of holds to create problems. There is plenty of wall space. Fill all the t-nuts and let people get creative. :-)

A very solid climbing gym with everything you'd expect from a modern-style gym. Only thing I noted that was "missing" was a kicker on the campus board. Lots of good natural light, spacious floor plan (almost too spacious; feels like they could have fit in some more wall space), quality boulder problems (didn't try any routes), and a ping-pong table, too! Staff was very friendly. Would definitely recommend, if you're in the area.

Overall great gym. Clean, nice lead climbing routes, friendly staff. Could use overhanging boulder routes( cabe area) and some specific training things in the pull up workout area. For example sloper training spheres and a pulley device system for training one arm pull-ups. These things could help support climbers to getting to more advances levels of climbing. Overall really good gym though.

Amazing place to climb. The staff do an impeccable job. They are extremely friendly, helpful, engaging, and the facility is kept very clean and well maintained. There are many options to choose from and surely there are other ideas in the works, maybe to expand the bouldering area *cough* would love that but it’s still a perfect gym with everything you need to feel comfortable and hyped to climb. I’m still very new to climbing but the setters do a dang good job at setting and it is always interesting to watch them work. I love that they have community events and bring everyone together. You guys do a fantastic job and I wish the best success with this business and facility!

Very nice gym. Fully decked out with ample bouldering and rope climbing. I have climbed at gyms across the country and this is definitely one of the good ones. Staff is very friendly too. Now build one out in Libertyville!

I've been a member here since about a month after the gym opened and for the first few months it was great. Currently I am paying a non-insignificant amount ($89/monthly) for what I'd simply call a poor experience. If you come here for a day pass it is great (usually). If you're planning on buying a membership though, maybe not. The setting schedule, if you can call it that, is a complete joke. Every Monday they set boulders, and every Wednesday the set top rope. That's the system... or it used to be anyways. It is a coin flip as to whether or not there will be new climbs in the gym on the days that they supposed be setting. I am a boulderer primarily. There isn't that large of a bouldering area at FA Arlington however there are climbs still up from over 3 months ago. That is simply unacceptable when I am paying as much as I am. I have visited the other First Ascents in the city, and they all have maps of their respective gyms showing what walls are going to be set on what dates. It is a problem unique to this gym. I have been living at the Kilter board for weeks on end because they won't put new climbs up. There are too many events happening in the gym. This is compounded by the fact that there is zero transparency between management and the members. They have hosted numerous clinics and camps for competitions since opening. There is no mention of this in the gym anywhere on what is going on. If there is, it's on a tiny piece of paper tucked to the side of the gym that you will never pick up and read. I've spoken to staff members who don't even know what is happening. Is it so difficult to put a sign up at the front saying, "on these days these sections will be closed for X event"? On top of that, when these events do happen, it ruins the already subpar setting schedule. When it comes to competition climbs in general, they aren't suited to the average climber. They have no reason to be up for more than a couple of weeks. I would frankly want a refund if I paid to climb here with a day pass and over half of the bouldering area was unapproachable competition style climbs. This is the current situation in the gym as I write this. It's a shame to know that these climbs will be up for several months. If there was a better option nearby, I would have switched gyms a while ago. There isn't though. This gym should be and can be great. Setting more frequently and more communication from management would be the first thing to do. The last thing they NEED to do is start taking feedback from members/people visiting with day passes. I really hope things turn around with this gym.

My teenage kids and I visited First Ascent for the first time today. We had an hour long guided lesson with Joe, who was SO helpful, knowledgeable and encouraging while we were climbing. His instruction made our experience that much better. The facility was very clean and organized and the space is beautiful. I love that the day pass grants you ALL day access, and had we cut out more time and if the weather wasn’t so bad, we would have gone back after lunch. We really enjoyed our time there and will go back for sure.

First time indoor rock climbing. Experience was great. Easy to understand and jump right into climbing for all ages. There were kids to seniors which was really cool and lots of options for climbing if you came by yourself or someone else which is awesome. My visits will be few and far between unfortunately because I live all the way out in st Charles. Great time, great atmosphere and everyone seemed to know the etiquette of climbing which was relieving

We had an amazing experience today at First Acent. The crew is friendly and great with kids. They helped us in finding the correct harnesses and shoes. The facility was very clean and spacious. Lots of tables to sit at for lunch and charging ports. Also couches and comfy chairs. We would definitely return.

A well appointed rock gym with great staff. Great variety of routes for all levels. Staff does a great job of resetting so there's always new routes to try out.

Had our first Intro to Bouldering group session with Jo. Awesome instructor - enthusiastic, pointed out areas of improvements, went straight to beginner climbs after some stretches, answered our questions, awesome attitude too. The 2 other assistant instructers were also awesome. The facility itself is clean, pretty, and huge. Huge bathrooms and open gym area. Overall a really professional and luxurious fitness center. There were a lot of people for a weekday night but nothing overwhelming. It'd be nice if another gym was available nearby. The climbs also have levels for beginners and pros and are color coded, making the overall system challenging and rewarding. Definitely going to come again. The front desk staff were also awesome! Other people were also very friendly and willing to help.

The gym is a very great facility and has all the amenities I would expect from a top tier gym. Route setting is pretty good and I very much enjoy the kilter board. Staff is attentive even on busy days. Has everything you could need and more. No negatives to speak of. Go check it out!

We had a great time here! The gym was very clean and organized. Workers were friendly and knowledgeable. The routes were challenging but not too hard to solve. Loved their kilter board too! Their auto-belays did take a little getting used to as they have less resistance when falling compared to our home gym. And they provided grigris at every rope so you don’t need to remember bringing your own. Although they have a separate kids area, our kids (6 and 8) were allowed to boulder alongside us with supervision, which was great since our home gym has an age limit. Overall super pleased. We’ll be back again when we’re in town.

First time at Ascent, everyone was really nice, everything was really clean. The staff was happy and very professional. I primarily used the weight room area and when finished I was able to watch others in my group on the climbing walls from some comfy chairs. The place is very inviting, we will definitely go back!

Fantastic gym! The staff is very friendly. Lots of great boulders and routes. They have a new set every week with creative and new ideas. Also have a fitness center with everything a climber would need with an adjustable kilter board being installed soon and a moonboard already installed. Only gripe with the place is that it doesn't have a campus board but it does have many different kinds of fingerboards to account for that.

Amazing Walls, Staff, and Sets. Was lucky enough to go to the pre-opening of the gym on Saturday the 9th of July, had and a great time. Clearly they still have things that need to be finished up, such as the weights area of the gym, but other than that the gym is beautiful and fun.