COURT SQUARE — The Cliffs, the massive and highly anticipated new rock-climbing gym coming to Long Island City this spring, is opening its doors this week to give residents and potential members free tours of the space before its expected May debut.
Construction crews are still working to ready the location, at 11-11 44th Drive, near Court Square, but owner Mike Wolfert said he's received so many requests from excited climbers that he wanted to give the public a sneak-peek.
"The climbing community in New York is really excited," he said. "[It's for] anybody who’s interested. It's kind of just to have a walk through, take a tour, see what we’re trying to accomplish here."
Wolfert says The Cliffs at LIC will be the largest climbing gym in the country, featuring 30,000 square feet of climbing space that can fit up to 500 people at once.
"We will have hundreds and hundreds of ropes," he said, saying rope climbers will be able to get as high as 60 feet.
The gym will also have large sections of top-out bouldering walls, where climbers ascend shorter walls without a rope and hoist themselves onto a platform at the top, and some bouldering walls will have two tiers.
"There are a lot of people who have been going [upstate], who have been climbing for a long time, who have been looking for something like this, with high ceilings and lots of rope climbing as well as bouldering," Wolfert said.
The gym will also have a regular fitness center, with a 1,400-square-foot mezzanine specifically dedicated to weightlifting and strength-training equipment and another section for cardio workouts.
Wolfert expects to open the gym the weekend of May 4, and will be offering membership specials for customers who sign up before then: those who sign up before April 4 can get a one-year membership for $850, with the price going to $950 for those who sign up between April 5 and opening day.
Once open, a one-day unlimited pass will cost $25 and a membership will run $95 a month.
Those interested in taking a tour of The Cliffs can book a spot on the gym's website here.
