Colorado’s rock climbing opportunities just expanded—by about 32,000 square feet. In November, Movement Climbing + Fitness, a five-year-old Boulder institution, opened its first Mile High City location in the Baker neighborhood. A favorite training ground of climbing elites such as three-time national bouldering champion Angie Payne and free-solo legend Alex Honnold, Movement joins a handful of climbing gyms in Denver, but none of the others have training facilities of the same size and scope. The open-layout gym includes up to 300 routes and 400 boulder problems (for everyone from beginners to pros), campus boards, treadmills, weight machines, and more than 40 weekly classes ranging from ski fit to Pilates to yoga. “Everything is 50 percent bigger than in Boulder,” says Anne-Worley Moelter, who co-founded the gym with her husband, Mike. “The pattern we saw was people having two gym memberships [one traditional, one climbing]. Our goal is one place that has it all.” Solar-powered Movement Denver, which also offers child care ($60 unlimited with an annual membership or $5 per hour per child), is open seven days a week (annual passes cost $790; day passes run about $17), giving climbers plenty of opportunities to train for the thousands of real rock routes waiting outside Movement’s doors.

5280.com Exclusive: Watch professional rock climber Alex “AJ” Johnson show us the ropes at Movement Climbing + Fitness.

5280 January 2015
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This article was originally published in 5280 January 2015.
Daliah Singer
Daliah Singer
Daliah Singer is an award-winning writer and editor based in Denver. You can find more of her work at daliahsinger.com.