LEF Climbing

❗️FINAL CALL ❗️

Summer Youth Teams start tomorrow, Friday June 6th!

Green Team (ages 6-9) will meet Fridays from 11am-12:30pm

Blue Team (ages 8-12) will meet Fridays from 1pm-2:30pm

In addition to Team Practices, climbers will receive a full membership while they’re an active Youth Team member. Keep your kiddos active through the summer months and help them climb to new heights of teamwork, friendship, and adventure!

We only have a few spots left in each — Give us a call or stop by the Front Desk to get registered!

We will be closed for Memorial Day — Get outside and climb a rock!!

We’re open regular hours this weekend, but we’ll be closing Monday for Memorial Day. We’ll reopen for regular hours Tuesday!

The move we all wanted to see go down at Regionals!

A huge thank you to Bold Climbing for getting our massive Blocz hexamites to us in time for the comp.

Members, where do you want to see the giant volumes next? What move should we set with them??

and

Thank you for all your support and patience during our USAC Regional Competition!! Shoutout to everyone who volunteered, watched, cheered and a special thanks to everyone for allowing us to use our space for this event.

Our region includes Kentucky, Arkansas, Southern Illinois, Northern Louisiana, Missouri, and Tennessee. Through this comp we were able to introduce people from all over the region to the climbing community in Kentucky, as well as LEF and what we have to offer! Our Setting Team also gained a ton of experience and guidance while working alongside two world class USAC Route Setters, which we will utilize and bring into the gym.

Some updates on our route setting schedule:
- The current competition routes will be modified for difficulty over the coming days.
- We hope to fill in the lead area with routes 5.10 and below.
- We will set up two auto belays in the lead area and three auto belays in lines 43, 47, and 50. Two of our auto belays will be out for yearly inspection.

If you have any specific requests regarding setting, please email our head route setter Shaun at [email protected]

Thanks again for all of your help and support!!

Some important dates in May 🗓️

On SATURDAY MAY 11th we’re hosting the USAC Region 52 Lead / Top Rope Regionals. The facility will be closed, but we encourage you to come watch the competition and experience the action first hand. Anyone can watch for FREE!

On SUNDAY MAY 12th, we will return to our normal operations. Our main lead wall will be packed with new climbs from the comp and we’re stoked to open them up to you guys!

We’ll also be bringing back our monthly member meet-ups in the weeks following the comp!

- MONDAY MAY 13th — Belay Partner Meet-Up
- TUESDAY MAY 21st — Womxn’s Meet-Up
- WEDNESDAY MAY 29th — New Member Meet-Up

Lastly, on MONDAY MAY 27th we will be closed for Memorial Day. Get outside, climb some rocks, and enjoy the last of the spring weather!

We really value it when you all share your thoughts, opinions, and ideas with us, so in an effort to continue open communication - on April 4th at 6 PM, we are hosting another focus group. Our focus groups are open to any Members who have feedback that they would like to share - want a new song added to our playlist? Want to know what goals the setters have? Have an idea for a cool event? We would love to hear it!

We can't wait to see you there 🙂

It’s Monday so you know that means that we are here to give you the rundown on what we have going on around here this week. Check it out below!

Monday, March 25th
6 PM - Desti Yoga

Tuesday, March 26th
6 PM - Tuesday Climbing Club
6 PM - Boulder League (4/6)

Wednesday, March 27th
6 PM - Climbing 101 (Class 4/4)
6 PM - Desti Yoga

Thursday, March 28th
6 PM - Yoga with Allie
6 PM - Power Hour

As always, you can sign up for these events through the flyers we post in our stories or at the link in our Bio on Instagram!

It’s wild to us that it is almost April - where is this year going?! But that means we are about to start another session of Climbing 101, so we’re here with the details for those who are looking to kickstart their climbing careers!

Climbing 101 is a four-week series, meeting on Wednesdays from 6-7 PM, in which we teach you absolutely everything that you need to know to feel comfortable and maybe even confident in the gym! We cover gym etiquette, basic climbing technique, how to build a training plan, and more!

The dates for April Climbing 101 include April 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th from 6-7 PM.

If you’re looking to sign up, you can do so through the link in our stories or at the link in our bio on Instagram. Happy sending 💪🏼

📣📣 WE NEED YOUR HELP 📣📣

On Saturday, May 11th, our facility will be hosting the USAC Region 52 L/TR Regional Championship. We will be releasing more details about the event as it gets closer, but for now WE NEED YOUR HELP!

In order to host this event, we are in need of approximately 130 volunteers - this is where you come in! We need belayers, judges, escorts, isolation monitors, check-in guides, and rope-handlers. The only position that requires experience is a belayer (you must be top-rope or lead certified in our facility prior to May 11th). All other volunteer positions will be trained the day-of for their position.

There will be both morning and afternoon positions available (the start time for each position varies), or you can sign up for both and save us having to find an extra volunteer 😉

If you need some incentive to sign up… don’t worry! We’ve been working on just the thing to convince you 😎 Here is what we have lined up for volunteers so far…

Morning Volunteers: Free Coffee and Donuts

Afternoon Volunteers: Pizza

All Volunteers:
- will be entered into a raffle (there will be one raffle after the morning session and one raffle after the afternoon session - if you sign up to volunteer for both, you are entered into both!)
- receive a Volunteer Swag Bag containing products, coupons, freebies, and goodies from local businesses around Lexington!

LEF Members - receive a FREE Day Pass for volunteering, so you can bring in a friend for free even if they have been here before!

We will be posting a sign-up link in our stories where you will be able to see start-times for each position and sign up!

Please consider helping us out, you all are the reason that we can even have cool events like this in our space and we are eternally grateful for your support. Thank you for showing up for us!

HAPPY MONDAY FRIENDS. We’re here to let you know what we’ve got going on this week so you can get signed up!

Monday, March 18th
6 PM - Desti Yoga
7PM - Learn to Lead Mondays (Class 2/2)

Tuesday, March 19th
6 PM - Tuesday Climbing Club
6 PM - Boulder League (Week 3/6)

Wednesday, March. 20th
6 PM - Desti Yoga
6 PM - Climbing 101 (Class 3/4)

Thursday, March 21st
6 PM - Power Hour

Friday, March 22nd
7 PM - Learn to Lead Fridays (Class 2/2)

Saturday, March 23rd
8 AM - Learn to Lead Saturdays (Class 2/2)

As always, we post stories with sign-up links daily or you are welcome to sign up through the link in our bio on Instagram. We hope you have a great week 🙂

Everybody say hi to this week’s Member Beta participant - Haven Coleman! Haven is 23 years old and is originally from right here in Lexington! She has been climbing for about a year and a half, after being introduced by her brother-in-law.

Haven says that climbing is the most addicting sport in the world and that it has become an outlet for her, a safe place (a ‘haven’, if you will 😉) to come to to forget about he outside world and jus focus on challenging herself.

Haven has learned the importance of not overthinking when reaching for goals and she has learned that with confidence and persistence she is capable of things that she never thought she could do. “No self doubt!”

Haven’s climbing goal right now is getting outdoors for the first time this season! She said that she is finally comfortable and confident enough to get out there and she is ready to push herself a little further.

Say hi to Haven if you ever see her sending it around the gym, she would love to grow her climbing network and make some new friends 🙂

Happy Monday, friends 🤘🏼 Wanna know what your plans are for this week? Check out our schedule below. As always, signup for the things you’re coming to through the link in our Bio on Instagram. We’ll see you this week!

Monday, March 11th:
6 PM - Desti Yoga
7 PM - Learn to Lead Monday Session (Class 1/2)

Tuesday, March 12th:
6 PM - Tuesday Climbing Club with Blake
6 PM - Boulder League (Session 2/6)

Wednesday, March 13th:
5:15 PM - Desti Yoga
6 PM - Climbing 101 (Class 2/4)
6:30 PM - Desti Yoga

Thursday, March 14th:
6 PM - Yoga with Allie
6 PM - Gym-to-Crag: Anchors Clinic
6 PM - Power Hours with Alex

Friday, March 15th:
7 PM - Learn to Lead Friday Session (Class 1/2)

Saturday, March 16th:
8 AM - Learn to Lead Monday Session (Class 1/2)

Up next for Member Beta is one of our youngest and newest crushers in the gym - Gideon Howard!

Gideon is only 14 years old and has only been climbing for about six months. He came into the gym for the first time with his sister and has been hooked ever since. Gideon said that his favorite pear of climbing is the pain - "the pain feels good".

Since he started climbing, Gideon has learned the importance and benefit of attempting something multiple times, even if progress isn't made immediately. All of those attempts are learning opportunities!

Gideon is most proud of sending his first v6, which he flashed, here in the gym! His current climbing goal is to improve his finger strength so that he can pull on pebbles a little harder.

Gideon's fun fact is that he is a rock climber 😂 He also mountain bikes, which he has been doing for about a year!

Gideon is an awesome kid and we are sure that he would love for you to cheer him on next time you see him sending it in the gym!

Spring season is quickly approaching and we want you to feel confident heading out to the Red River Gorge this year, even if it’s your first time going out!

We are hosting a Gym-to-Crag: Anchors clinic one week from today, Thursday, March 14th at 6 PM to teach you everything you need to know to feel confident heading out into the wild to climb. We’ll cover anchors and cleaning (Ever wondered how lead climbers get their gear down from the wall? Let us teach you 😉), crag etiquette, Leave No Trace principles, and more! Come prepared with all of your questions for us to answer.

Sign up through the link in our Bio on Instagram or through the stories that we post. We'll see you at Gym-to-Crag 🙂

If you’re ready to unlock a new level of rock climbing for yourself by learning to lead climb, keep reading! We’re here with all of the details about our upcoming March Learn to Lead Classes.

The Learn to Lead class is a two-part series in which we’ll teach you everything you need to know to get certified to lead climb in our facility! We’ll cover lead belay technique, clipping technique, slack management, how to take and catch a fall, and more. Learn to Lead is totally FREE for our Members or a $90 investment for Non-Members!

The dates for March Learn to Lead Classes are:
Mondays - March 11th and 18th from 7-9 PM
Fridays - March 15h and 22nd from 7-9 PM
Saturdays - March 16th and 23rd from 7-9 PM

Check out the link in our stories or the link in our Bio to get signed up!

The Fine Print: You must be 14 or older and top-rope certified in our facility prior to the beginning of the class. You must also own a personal harness - you may not lead climb or lead belay in a rental harness.

We’re kicking off a brand new week here at LEF and we can’t wait to see you all for the fun happenings we have scheduled for you! Check it out here

Monday, March 4th
6 PM - Desti Yoga

Tuesday, March 5th
6 PM - Tuesday Climbing Club
6 PM - Boulder League (Week 1/4)

Wednesday, March 6th
5:15 PM - Desti Yoga
6 PM - Climbing 101 (Week 1/4)
6:30 PM - Desti Yoga

Thursday, March 7th
6 PM - Desti Yoga
6 PM - Power Hour

You all asked an we heard you! Starting next week there will be some changes with our weekly climbing club - it will become Tuesday Climbing Club and will meet at 6PM. We hope that this change allows for more people to be able to make it after work and no longer have to choose between simultaneous activities that we host during the week!

Come out on Tuesdays at 6 PM to climb with Blake, discover new adult climbing partners, and learn about new and interesting movement in climbing. This is an excellent way to get some FREE informal coaching on your project or to help answer questions that you may have. Spaces are limited to only 10 Members each week - so make sure that you get signed up early as spots do fill up!

As always, you can sign up through the link in our Bio on Instagram. We can’t wait to see you for TUESDAY Climbing Club 😉

We know you’ve missed our weekly Member Beta posts, so we are back hot and heavy with an awesome NEW Member - Jacob Arsenault!

Jacob is 21 years old and is originally from Maryland. He ended up here in Lexington to attend UK where he studies history. Jacob’s sister-in-law is our very own Jordan Arsenault, one of our amazing Routesetters - she pestered Jacob until he started climbing about two months ago. Jacob said that he has got hooked by climbing because it is fun and more mentally engaging than other types of workouts.

Through climbing the last two months, Jacob has learned that sometimes changing your approach to solving a problem is the solution. For example, he has learned about footwork and technique, whereas when he started climbing he wanted to use his arms to pull him through every move. Jacob is currently most proud of sending a problem in the gym that he spent several days working on. He said that it was satisfying to go from thinking “There is no way I can do this” to progressing through the beta, learning new moves, finding his strength, and finally sending problem. He is actually photographed in front of the problem that he is proud of sending! Also check out his flapper that he is proud of in the second photo 😂

Jacob’s climbing goals include getting stronger and able to more consistently climb white tag boulders so that he can move on to other grades!

Something interesting about Jacob is that he lived in Hawaii from 5th through 7th grade - how cool 🌊 Jacob is friendly and cool, so make suer that you say ‘what’s up’ next time you see him sending it around the gym!

Happy Monday, friends! We hope your week is shaping up to be an awesome one and we hope to see you for some of the things we have planned for you this week at the gym. Check out our schedule below!

Monday, February 26th
6 PM - Desti Yoga
7:30 PM - Womxn’s Meet-Up

Wednesday, February 28th
5:15 PM - Desti Yoga
6 PM - Climbing 101 (Class 4/4)
6:30 PM - Desti Yoga

Thursday, February 29th
6 PM - Belay Partner Meet-Up
6 PM - Power Hour with Alex
6 PM - Yoga with Allie

As always, you can sign up for events you are interested in through the links we post in our tories or at the link in our Bio on Instagram 🙂 See you this week!

If you’re looking to kickstart your climbing career, look no further 😎

We are about to start a new session of Climbing 101 in March!

Don’t know what Climbing 101 is? Let us inform you!

Climbing 101 is a four-week series where we each you everything you need to know to go from being a beginner climber to feeling confident and comfortable in the climbing gym. We discuss different topics each week, covering things like gym etiquette, basic climbing technique, how to create a training plan, and more!

Climbing 101 meets on Wednesdays from 6-7 PM and is a $60 investment if you already have a Membership with us or a $135 investment, if not.

The March dates for Climbing 101 include March 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th. Sign up through the link in our stories or at the link in our Bio!

It’s about that time for spring cleaning… which means that we need to get rid of the mountain of lost and found items that we have accumulating at the gym.

Next Tuesday, February 27th, we are going to put everything that has been left at the gym and is still unclaimed out. You will have until Monday, March 4th, to claim any items that belong to you.

Any items that are not claimed by March 4th, will automatically go into our Spring Cleaning Yard Sale, where all items will be available for purchase on a name-your-price basis. All funds collected from the yard sale go directly into our Community Events Fund (to pay for things like Reel Rock).

Any items that are not purchased by Friday, March 8th, will be donated.

Happy spring cleaning - we hope you find the items you lost or score an awesome deal on something somebody else left.

We’re here to officially announce our first Climb L8 of the year - we know, we can’t believe it’s that time of the year again either! Every other month we pay for up to 100 first-time climbers to come try the sport that we all love so much. This event is hosted in partnership with the in an effort to make climbing more accessible to people who have historically been marginalized from the sport of climbing due to lack of financial resources, inequitable access, lack of mentorship, or systemic barriers. Climb L8 is always full of fun, laughter, life, and pizza!

Our first Climb L8 event of the year will be hosted one week from today, Friday February 23rd, at 6 PM. If you are interested in registering yourself or a group, please email [email protected] to get signed up to join us!

Happy Monday, friends! If your week is shaping up to be anything like ours it’s going to be busy and awesome. Check out some of the cool events that we have lined up for you this week and be sure to sing up through the link in our Bio!

Monday - February 12th
6 PM Desti Yoga (Strength and Stretch with Alexis)
7:30 PM Womxn’s Meet-Up
7-9 PM Learn to Lead - Monday Sessions (Class 1/2)

Tuesday - February 13th
6:30 PM New Member Meet-Up

Wednesday - February 14th
5:15 PM Desti Yoga (Somatic with Josh)
6 PM Climbing 101 (Class 2/4)
6 PM Valentine’s Day Social ft. The Test of Love
6:30 PM Desi Yoga (Somatic with Josh)

Thursday - February 15th
5 PM - Thursday Climbing Club with Blake
6 PM Power Hour

Friday - February 16th
7 PM - Learn to Lead - Friday Sessions (Class 2/2)

Saturday - February 17th
8 AM - Learn to Lead - Saturday Sessions (Class 2/2)

Sunday - February 18th
8 PM - Reel Rock 18 Screening!!!

If you’re looking for an opportunity to kickstart your climbing career, become familiar with the gym, and learn some basic climbing technique - look no further than our Climbing 101 Clinic!

Climbing 101 is a four-week clinic, meeting on Wednesdays at 6 PM, in which Blake covers various topics to give you a solid foundation of climbing knowledge and skills. We’ll cover things like basic climbing technique, how to create a training plan, gym etiquette, and more!

The February dates for Climbing 101 include February 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th.

Get signed up today through the link in our stories or our Bio on Instagram!

We're back this week for another installment of Member Beta Wednesday. Today we are introducing you to Deborah Davis!

Deborah is 67 years old and is originally from right here in Lexington. She is a retired biotechnology professor who started climbing in August, only a few weeks after a hip replacement surgery! WHOA 😱 Deborah's daughter lives in Teton Valley and took Deborah and her husband climbing in City of Rocks for the first time. The third photo here is her first climb only 8 weeks after her hip replacement surgery! She said that climbing has been an excellent way to strengthen her hip muscles during her recovery process.

Deborah appreciates climbing as an opportunity to stay active - she said that since she is retired that it would be easy to stay sedentary, but that climbing has "quite honestly changed my life" by giving her a new outlook on what it means to be fit, new challenges to work through, and a new purpose. Deborah loves that he sport of climbing involves the mind, the body, and the spirit. She said that finding success through a challenge is a very spiritual and rewarding experience for her.

If you see Deborah sending it around the gym, she would love for you to come introduce yourself and tell her if she inspires you! She said "you are never too old to start" and she would love to make a new friend 🙂

Happy Monday, y’all. We hope you’re gearing up to have an awesome and productive week. Here’s what we have in store for you at the gym this week. Check it out and be sure to sign up through our stories or at the link in our Bio on Instagram!

Monday (1/29)
6p - Desti Yoga

Wednesday (1/31)
5:15p - Desti Yoga
6:30p - Desti Yoga

Thursday (2/1)
5p - Thursday Climbing Club
6p - Yoga with Allie

We are almost one month into 2024 and that means we have the deets (and dates) for our February Learn to Lead classes!

Our Learn to Lead clinic is a two-part series (attendance at both sessions is required) in which you will learn everything that you need to know to get certified to lead climb in our facility, including clipping, belaying, rope management, catching a fall, taking a fall, and more! This clinic is FREE for our Members (our a $130 investment for Non-Members) and the February dates include:

Fridays - February 9th and 16th from 7-9 PM
Saturdays - February 10th and 17th from 8-10 AM
Mondays - February 12th and 19th from 7-9 PM

You may sign up through the link that we post in our stories, at the link in our Bio on Instagram, or through the calendar on our website.

*The Fine Print: You must be 14 or older and top-rope certified in our gym prior to the start of class. You must have a personal harness, you may not lead climb or belay in a rental harness.

Don’t forget that we host bi-weekly meet-ups for women! This is a casual night of climbing for really anybody who wants to join, to get meet other people in the climbing community and make some new friends!

Ou font desk staff will facilitate introductions and usually even host a game or two and hang out while everybody climbs together.

Let us know you're coming through the link in our Bio on Instagram or at the calendar on our website 🙂

We’re glad you're hangin' in for another week (see what we did there😉). Here is all of the fun stuff we have lined up for you this week. As always, sign up through the link in our Bio on Instagram or a the calendar on our website!

Monday (1/22):
6-7 PM Desti Yoga

Wednesday (1/24):
5:15 - 6:15 PM - Desti Yoga
6-7:30 PM - Belay Partner Meet-Up
6:30-7:30 PM - Desti Yoga
6-7 PM - Climbing 101 (4 of 4)

Thursday (1/25):
5-6 PM - Thursday Climbing Club with Blake
6-7 PM - Power Hour with Alex
6-7 PM - Yoga with Allie