Climbing & more
BOULDERING
Bouldering is a unique form of rock climbing that focuses on climbing short problems without the use of ropes or harnesses. As a subtype of climbing, bouldering is great for beginners and experts and emphasizes powerful, dynamic, and technical movements. Bouldering relies on the use of thick crash pads to help protect from falls.
Interested in learning more about bouldering? Check out our Climbing 101 class.
TOP ROPE
Top rope climbing is a form of rock climbing where the climber is attached to a climbing rope that runs through a fixed anchor at the top of the climbing wall, and back down to the belayer at the base of the climb. A climber who falls while climbing is caught by the belayer and can either resume their climb or have the belayer lower them down in a controlled manner to the base of the climb.
Top rope climbing at HiClimb requires a top rope belay certification. HiClimb employs and enforces American Mountain Guide Association belay standards. Experienced climbers may "test-out" with a team member to receive certification. Belayers must be at least 14 years of age (call for exceptions).
Want to learn to top rope? Check out our Climbing 101 class.
AUTO BELAY
An auto belay is a mechanical device used for belaying on indoor climbing walls. These devices are excellent for children and adults of all skill levels and enables climbers to ascend without the need for a human belay partner.
Any age welcome! Must weigh between 30 and 300 lbs. Must be 14 or older to clip in unsupervised.
Great for groups!
LEAD CLIMBING
Lead climbing is an advanced discipline of climbing offered at HiClimb. When lead climbing, the lead climber clips their rope to a piece of climbing protection (a fixed draw) as they ascend a route, while their lead belayer remains at the base of the route belaying the rope to protect the lead climber in the event that they fall. Lead climbing differs from top rope due to the position of the rope and the addition of lead specific skills required.
Lead climbing at HiClimb requires a lead climbing certification. HiClimb employs and enforces American Mountain Guide Association standards. Experienced climbers may "test-out" with a staff member. Climbers must be at least 14 years of age to participate (Call for exceptions).
Interested in learning to lead? Check out our Learn to Lead class.
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kilter board
The Kilter Board is a light-up climbing board that you control with your phone. Any climber of any skill level, beginner or expert, can access a worldwide database of boulder problems, or create their own to share with other climbers. What’s even cooler is that the board’s angle is adjustable, allowing you to climb at a vertical angle (0 degrees) or a steep angle (70 degrees). If you send a boulder problem at one angle, try climbing the same problem at a steeper angle to increase the difficulty gradually over time.
Interested in learning more? Check out the our Kilter Board page
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The Gym/Fitness area
HiClimb offers a 2500 Sq/Ft fitness area which includes free weights, cardio and cable machines, hang boards and many other olympic and strength training items.
YOUTH
clubs & events
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Party reservations
EXTRAS
retail
HiClimb offers the largest selection of climbing shoes in Hawaii! On top of shoes, we also offer a wide variety of chalk, chalk bags, harnesses and everything else you need to push your limits.
coworking
HiClimb offers 3 different coworking spaces to suit your personal and professional needs.
lounge
Can't outclimb your friends? Take a break and crush them in Mario Kart instead... or just relax.
setting
schedule
Our route setting team works hard to keep things fresh by setting new routes 4 days per-week, every week!
Monday: Rope Setting
Tuesday: Rope Setting
Wednesday: Maintenance
Thursday: Boulder Setting
Friday: Boulder Setting
The R.I.C Scale
All of the routes at HiClimb are set using the Risk, Intisity, and Complexity (R.I.C) Scale. This system provides setters with a higher level of understanding across all the climbs in the gym by improving the quality of climbs and creating a diverse climbing environment.
The Team
Our route setting team consists of between 4-6 full-time and part-time setters. All of our setters have been professionally trained and have years of commercial experience from gyms across the globe (from New York City to Japan). Our Route Setting Manager is Andre Hoyos.
The Community
Follow your friends, share your sends, track your progress, see who set which route/problem and get beta all in one place. Join Pebble App.
boulder grades
Hybrid Circuit System
HiClimb's hybrid circuit grading system categorizes each bouldering problem into a range of 3 possible V-grades. We believe this system exposes you, the climber, to a broader range of climbing styles and difficulties without the subjectivity that is often experienced with single V-grade routesetting. This broad approach encourages growth as a climber in and out of the gym.
In the Gym
All of HiClimb's routes are monochromatic, meaning, each route uses the same color holds to ensure each route is easily distinguishable from other routes. However, a routes hold color does not always correlate to the routes difficulty. We use colored identification tags and matching colored tape to identify the routes difficulty, start and finish holds. If a route does not have an indicated finish hold, then the finish is the hand rail at the top of the wall.
rope grades
Yosemite Decimal System
HiClimb's Yosemite Decimal System (YSD) follows the traditional YSD but with a small modification at the levels of 5.10 to 5.13. Instead of the traditional 'A, B, C, and D' difficulty subdivisions we use a '+ or -' indicator to denote an increase or decrease of the base difficulty. For example a 5.10+ is not quite a 5.11 but is harder than a 5.10.
In the Gym
Our roped routes (top rope and lead) begin at 5.6 (easiest) and increase in difficulty to 5.13+ (hardest). Like our boulder routes, all of HiClimb's routes are monochromatic, meaning, each route uses the same color holds to ensure each route is easily distinguishable from other routes.
wall names
Paʻakai Wall
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Paʻakai simply means salt. We honor the wall with the name Paʻakai because before Kakaʻako was built, it was a marsh land used by the community to produce sea salt among other things.
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Using ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi to acknowledge the traditional uses of ʻāina (land) is a PONO (good) way to honor the history of a space.
Nupa Kai & Nupa Uka Section
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Nupa means deep cave. This is the deepest of caves, so you’ll need to keep your head up on your way out and watch out for other climbers. In Hawaiʻi, navigation is relational instead of using cardinal directions, where uka or mauka is upland or to the mountain and kai or makai is seaward.
Paniolo Section
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Paniolo means COWBOY. In 1798, Hawaiians developed ranches with help from Mexican vaqueros. [This three-walled area reminded route setters of ranching corrals or rodeos; the story reminds us of the diversity of contributions to the history of Hawaiʻi.]
Pōhaku Wall
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Pōhaku means rock or stone. Pōhaku are sacred in Hawaiian culture, and are used to make structures such as ahu (altars), heiau (temples), hale (houses), kiʻi (images) as well as many kinds of tools.
Moʻo Wall
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Moʻo translates to lizard, reptile of any kind or even a dragon. For the climbing community who is familiar with the Mokulēʻia crag, we have climbed the dragon theme routes. (Don't forget to sign the required DLNR permit to climb here at hiclimb.org)
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Mokulēʻia is the proper name for the area, shortening Hawaiian inoa (names) removes the mana from the inoa.
Pali Wall
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Pali translates to cliff. But we choose this name to honor the amount of time climbers spend on cliffs and steep mountain sides.
Lēʻahi
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Lēʻahi is the iconic postcard backdrop for Hawaiʻi. We honor Lēʻahi as the inoa (name) for Diamond Head as it is well known worldwide. The reason why Lēʻahi is named this is because the shape of the mountain resembles the dorsal fin of an ʻahi. There are many moʻolelo about Lēʻahi, we hope you feel inspired to uplift these traditional names and to learn these stories.
Nalu Wall
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The wall design was inspired by the shapes of the waves. Nalu refers to the waves and surf, but can also mean to ponder and think. For like the ebbs and flows of the ocean, so are the same for thoughts. Stay paʻa (firm) with your thoughts while you climb the Nalu wall.
A message from Kanaka Climbers
The HiClimb wall names were given by Kānaka Climbers a Native Hawaiian led and ally supported nonprofit which aims to encourage a more ethical and responsible outdoor community. We named these walls in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi to remind us of the importance of speaking of places in the first language of the land. Like the names of most towns and streets throughout Hawaiʻi, we hope speaking/hearing in/about ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi helps create an inclusive space in which diverse cultures are honored as they have been in Hawaiʻi for generations. We hope this encourages conversation and more respect for the Hawaiian language and culture.
Get involved and learn more at KanakaClimbers.com