A great place to try rock climbing is Rock Spot in Malden Center. This indoor climbing gym is a great place to work on your climbing skills with bouldering – a type of climbing without rope, where you stay relatively close to the ground and then jump down onto soft padding when you’ve finished climbing. You can rent rock climbing shoes at Rock Spot and take classes to learn how to climb if you’ve never done it before or are looking to improve your skills.

You can also check out the Malden Recreation Department website for seasonal rock climbing programs to sign up for.

The Malden Public Library also has a Great Malden Outdoors reading list to help you learn about climbing and inspire people to get outside!

Malden has both a great indoor climbing gym and great outdoor climbing areas. Rock Spot in Malden Center is a great place to climb indoors with a bouldering wall.

If you’d like to try climbing outdoors, Rock Spot and the Great Malden Outdoors are partnering to offer classes you can take to transition from indoor climbing and learn the skills you need to climb outdoors next.

If you own your own rock climbing gear, there are multiple areas to visit. For Top Roping or trad that’s MBTA accessible, check out Waitts Mount for a mix of easy to moderate climbs. For Bouldering and some Top Roping, check out the Middlesex Fells, Pine Banks Park, and Waitts Mount.

To find some of the best climbing locations in Malden on the Great Malden Outdoors map, just sort by “rock climbing” and choose your preferred location.

For people who’ve been recreating outside for years this can be a common feeling and the desire to keep “your special place” a secret can be a strong one but let’s change that perspective.

Instead of thinking about one more person in your way, think about one more person to help: maintain a trail, pick up trash, advocate for a new bill that increases funding to protect that place, one more steward for The Great Outdoors. To help limit impact on these precious natural spaces, we ask that everyone, from first timers to lifers follow the 7 Leave No Trace Principles so that we can all get outside.

It depends on the type of climbing you are doing.

The simplest form is indoor bouldering, and all you need is a pair of rock climbing shoes and chalk to keep your hands dry so they don’t slip as you climb. For outdoor bouldering you need: climbing shoes, a chalk bag and chalk, plus a crash pad and ideally at least one more person to act as a spotter to help you land on the pads.

For other types of climbing like top roping, trad, or sport (not found in Malden yet) you need a climbing rope and other equipment like a trad rack, carabiners, draws, and a climbing rope.

To figure out your needs it is best to consult with an expert guide or coach.

Rock Spot Malden has a climbing shop within it, just stop by during business hours. They offer sales and rentals of gear.

Yes! Rock Spot Malden has groups that go out, and Southeast New England Climbers Coalition (SNECC) offers events.

Sign up for the Great Malden Outdoors email list for updates about climbing events with groups in the Malden area.

Yes, please check out Rock Spot’s guiding and training program.

Yes, please visit the job board from Rock Spot to see what jobs are available.

Please join Southeast New England Climbers Coalition (SNECC), the Western Massachusetts Climbers’ Coalition (WMCC), and the Access Fund to name a few.

Checkout the Southeast New England Climbers Coalition (SNECC) or Western MA Climbers Coalition (WMCC) events pages and sign up for the Great Malden Outdoors rock climbing email list below.