The Crux, Coburg North, VIC

The Crux is a bouldering gym in Coburg North, open since November 2020.

It is bouldering only. No ropes, no lead, no top rope and no auto-belay, which keeps it simple: walls stand 5 metres to the top with about 4.5 metres of climbing, and the whole floor is padded matting. Problems are graded by a colour-coded tag on the starting holds, and each colour covers a band of grades rather than one exact number, so there is somewhere sensible to start whether it is your first session or your thousandth.

Alongside the walls there is the Grasshopper board, an LED training board staff set from 15 to 60 degrees, and a gym-equipment area for training rather than just climbing. The gym runs to about 699 square metres.

It is also somewhere to stay a while. There is a cafe, and a lounge that people work from during the day. A multipurpose room is available for community and creative hire, and there is retail on site for shoes, chalk and the rest. Dogs are welcome, on lead and tied to a secure point, and there are beds and bowls for them.

You do not need to book for a casual climb. Turn up, and if it is your first visit the staff will run you through a safety induction before you get on the wall.

Louvain Street is one-way, so enter from Charles Street. There is overflow parking at Coles.

Open Monday to Friday 10:00am to 10:00pm, and Saturday and Sunday 9:00am to 8:00pm.

The Crux, 20 Louvain Street, Coburg North VIC 3058. Operated by The Hold Bendigo Pty Ltd, ABN 62 656 244 683.

• Cafe
• Indoor Climbing
• Climbing Gym
• Bouldering
• Rock Climbing
• Dog Friendly
• Climbing Wall
• Rock Climbing Gym
• indoor bouldering
• bouldering gym
• bouldering Coburg North
• climbing Coburg North
• LED training board
• multipurpose room hire
• first time bouldering