The Aviary

Great small climbing gym for students run by friendly volunteers! Things to know before you go for the first time: You'll need to sign a waiver. If you plan on belaying you will need to take a test before you can (of course). They also have lessons although they're usually booked pretty far in advance. They also have equipment you can rent. The cost is cheap and they have drop in or memberships. Although honestly if you're planning on climbing multiple times the membership is worth it. It is small so it can get crowded easily. Also ALWAYS check the schedule any time you go. They have semi-regular hours, but sometimes what seems to be a usual time will be closed one week.

Staff as enthusiastic to help, teach and even climb with you. They offer smiles and great conversation. The gym itself is tiny and if you have performance anxiety you won't do well here where the entire gym is essentially a hallway with 50ft tall walls. The routes are nice but the place often is too full to get in and you have to start lining up 30 minutes before it opens which isn't worth it for a small gym. UBC! PUT MORE MONEY INTO YOUR CLIMBING GYM!

Small but chill, size doesn’t matter

Small and modest climbing gym for UBC students and staff operated by VOC volunteers located at the this floor of students building, offers both top rope and lead climbing routs. Cheap membership, its recommended to bring your own harness and climbing shoes. Sometimes too crowded. Also offers beginners classes. For exchange students- great place to climb and meet friends and climbing partners

The initial experience was rather disorienting and confusing, leaving me uncertain about where to begin. Additionally, the hour-long wait and subsequent inability to engage in the intended activity left me feeling perplexed and dissatisfied.

It was alright... Just so confusing how to even get started. It had me very confused. I went and the wait was an hour long and then I couldn't climb so...(｡0﹏o｡) huh????。i was a little disappointed I did t get to climb. Is it required to make a booking or is this a drop in. I was asked if I'd made an appointment. Just for ID and my UBC student ID...

The Aviary is awesome. There's a lot of climbing in a small space, people are friendly, and because it's volunteer-run, it's CHEAP.

Hard to find, no posted hours (nor consistent hours), volunteer only means unreliable hours and availability.

Climbed here a couple times. This is a smaller climbing gym which means the routes are harder. You have to have skill in order to climb here. cost for day is $10 very cheap compared to competitor $25 etc for the day. Again it is a smaller gym and it is in UBC. This being said its tailored toward students.

The Aviary is both convenient and financially sound for UBC students. The cost is low for belay lessons (free!), pass ($20 for 4 months, from the day you pay!) and rental ($5 for everything). The staff are very friendly and helpful. The music they play is usually good. The sunset view is wonderful from the top of a send. It does have its quirks. The biggest inconvenience is the operation hours. The place is only open on weekdays and the schedule can change from week to week. The space is small, so it could be hard to get in, and you might have to wait awhile for a free rope. However, these problems can generally be mitigated by going super early (8am) or late (closes around 10pm). I like that the holds and the wall have very nice textures for and all the holds on the same route are the same color. As an added bonus, the walls are super loud when you knock on them. This makes climbers more aware of footwork! The quality of the routes are generally good. However, some routes have strange hold distributions, where there are way too many at the bottom, and could use more near the top. Also, the difficulty for some of the moves seem to vary drastically depending on the climber's height (really simple beta and move for a tall person, creative beta and awkward move for a short person). I guess the setters are all really tall...? The ropes used to be very worn out. However, I think they used to have dynamic ropes, so that the same rope could be used for both TR and lead. I believe the new ropes for TR are all static ropes, so should last a lot longer. This does mean that you have to ask the monitor for rope if you wanted to lead climb.