World class climbing in the Loop

First Ascent Block 37 is open! Come climb with us in the heart of downtown Chicago.

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Check out our blog, featuring member and staff highlights, trip reports, best practices, tips & tricks, and more

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Built by Chicago climbers, for Chicago climbers.

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Four great locations. One membership. Let’s climb, Chicago!

First Ascent Climbing & Fitness is built by Chicago climbers, for Chicago climbers. We have four convenient rock climbing gyms in the Loop, Avondale, Humboldt Park, and Uptown neighborhoods of Chicago. Our facilities feature world-class rock climbing terrain, a full schedule of yoga classes, and state-of-the-art fitness equipment. Join the FAmily now, and let’s climb!

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214 boulders each!! Incredible effort from Mara and Pilar for the Climbathon last night at FA Humboldt Park! Results from Day 2 are up - link in bio. Have you considered asking friends and family to sponsor your climbing? Swipe left for a post-ready way to rally your crew. Every little bit helps!
📷 @marabucci @projectheal #faclimbathon #climbsavvy #climbinggym #womenwhoclimb #womenwhocrush #womenclimbers #climblikeagirl #fundraiser #projectheal #letsclimbchicago

Just another #WomenCrushWednesday at First Ascent! Here’s Amy crushing it at FA Uptown. The WCW session is on for tonight from 7-9 pm - women of all ability levels are welcome to ...

The first day of the Climbathon was awesome!! See the results after Day 1 on our website, link in bio. Dustin and Myung (arms pictured here) both pulled off an impressive 100 pitches yesterday. That’s 5200 feet of climbing each! We’ve already climbed the moon once and then some - thanks to everyone who contributed so far. We’ve still got a long way to go though, so keep climbing and logging your climbs on our website (again, link in bio). You can check out the leaderboard there as well. Climb on!
📷 @marabucci @dsamma1 #faclimbathon #climbsavvy #climbathon #fundraiser #projectheal #climbforacause #climbforsavvy #climbingcommunity #climbinggym #letsclimbchicago

The first day of the Climbathon was awesome!! See the results after Day 1 here: firstascentclimbing.com/climbathon. Dustin and Myung (arms pictured here) both pulled off an impressive 100 pitches yesterday. That’s 5200 ...

The Climbathon is live! Drop by FA Avondale today to help us kick things off, with @stansdonutschicago donuts free for anyone participating, great hand made ceramics from FA artisans, and a Savvy inspired playlist going all day. All donations go to @projectheal in honor of Savannah Buik @savvytothemax. If you can’t make it to Avondale or you can’t make it in today, no worries - log your climbs from any FA location or even from outside all week through Saturday 4/28! More info about the Climbathon on our website - link in bio.
@projectheal #FAclimbathon #climbsavvy #fundraiser #climbingcommunity #rememberingsavvy #donutsforsavvy #savvystrong #climbinggym #firstascent #firstascentclimbing #letsclimbchicago

The Climbathon is live! Drop by FA Avondale today to help us kick things off, with Stan's Donuts free for anyone participating, great hand made ceramics from FA artisans for sale, and ...

From The Blog

April 23, 2018

Celebrating Savannah

On March 28, 2018, Savannah Buik passed away in a trad climbing accident at Devil's Lake State Park, Wisconsin. Savannah was an original member of the First Ascent Staff, co-founder of the Chicago chapter of the [...]

April 20, 2018

Your Guide To Climbing Outside

The city is thawing, the birds are singing, and spring is on its way, which can only mean one thing – it’s time to get outside! Nothing quite compares to the feeling of real rock under your [...]

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