I really enjoy this location as far as bouldering goes. I especially love that it's on the water and the view is stunning from the large windows. There's an outdoor deck/patio that you can sit and relax on too if you want to take a break from your workout. Although the bouldering section is relatively smaller (compared to the Portsmouth location which is entirely bouldering), there is a good variety of problems and wall angles, plus an additional smaller wall on the upper level. Price wise, I'd say it's a little steep especially if you only want to boulder (or only ropes- I wish gyms offered discounts for one type of climbing but I understand that would be difficult to track/enforce). And amenities are a little older/dated, but they do have showers, foot rinse stations etc. And a nice retail/merch section of front. For first time visitors - I know every gym has its standards/procedures, but the entire mandatory walkthrough and explanation of all classes/events offered is a bit overkill in my opinion. I think that is something that should be announced/posted on flyers and elaborated on in person on a case-by-case basis. All in all though, I do enjoy this facility and try to make it out at least once during my annual beach vacation in Maine. @azfitfoodfun read more

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Such a amazing experience and it's such a thrill seeking adventure and the people are really friendly

Amazing rock climbing gym to go to by far the best around, good selection of easy ish rock climbing levels and a nice, friendly staff always ready to help. read more

Have you tried climbing? Would you like that feeling of soreness and satisfaction? How about when your brain tells you to do something, but your body won't let it? That was how I felt after my climbing session last night. I was PUMPED, like jello arms pumped. It was glorious! I loved, loved, loved this gym. It was just what the climber in me, who hasn't climbed regularly in over a year, needed to become reinvigorated in the sport. It's a mindset, to want to climb, to feel the urge to be strong and confident. To understand your body mechanics, to remember to breathe. All of these things are addictive and climbing, as a sport, gets in your blood. It makes you want... NO... need, to climb. At this point, I would say I am a veteran climber. I have been in the game for almost a decade, have taught kids and adults how to belay, worked in a rock gym for over 5 years, and gone on the quintessential western climbing/camping trip. I would call myself a climber. Am I the best? Nope. Do I trad climb? No, but I'll clean your route. Do I love projecting routes? You bet! When I walked into Salt Pump, I was immediately greeted by the employees who asked a few questions to gauge our climbing experience. They were non-judgemental and really gave us the time to check in, then gave us a quick tour. The facility is beautiful! It's open, but no so open it feels overwhelming. It's got a really great vibe, which immediately made me feel at ease. The route setting was solid. Lots of variety, literally something for everyone. They have bouldering, top roping, auto belays, a lead wall, and a few nice cracks throughout the gym. This is a real climber's gym. I can tell that that is their audience and that that is who should frequent this locale. It doesn't feel commercial, industrial, or corporate. And, to top it off, they have a pond off their back deck where you can fish and you access to a grill to cook food after your climbing session. I am completely sold and you should be too. Of the two gyms in the area, this one will happily give my money to: read more

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Another great climbing gym in the area! The people are great and the routes are fantastic. Which is better.... I bet there is ALWAYS going to be that question... The answer is simple. Go to whichever feels right and is in the location you want! I love the routes at SP and especially the staff. Having trouble with a route? There's always another climber or a staff member willing to help you learn and become a better climber. The location is a bit secluded but that offers a little pond to play on, a bigger floor space and big windows with great views! A rock-star kinda place (*groan*) read more

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This is an awesome rock gym! There are tons of bouldering problems, top rope routes, and lead climbs for all ability levels. I came once with a friend and was hooked. Now we all have memberships and couldn't be happier! The staff is super nice and helpful. Memberships are a little pricey but definitely worth it. They come with a lot of cool discounts and benefits. read more

Salt Pump Climbing - Top rope area - Climbing Near Me - Scarborough, Maine

Very clean and awesome atmosphere! First time climbing and I am hooked, tired as hell but worth it! Can't wait to return back here and do it again! The staff was also super friendly and helpful read more

Not to be missed. Great staff! Great walls! Great workout area! As the long cold winter closes our outside playtime, give this gym a try! IT IS THE BEST! Great routes, and variety. If you haven't climbed in a gym that doesn't mark it's routes with tape, you deserve to try it! Also, THEY EVEN HAVE 3 crack climbs!!! Oh yeah, and if your dog is quiet, house trained and socialized, you can bring them too! read more

With limited outdoor climbing in the immediate Portland area, this gym really fills a need. A bit of a drive can get you to serious climbing, but to train in the area, the gym is a must. As a primarily outdoor climber, my expectations were low going in - after all, what can you hope to recreate of the outdoor climbing experience in an indoor setting? My experience with rock gyms in the past had answered this question: fine to train, but only to train. I was honestly surprised with my experience at Salt Pump. Great location, with lots of windows and natural light, beautiful lake out back and the sunset is beautiful here. Even from indoors, the sense of the outdoors is present. The climbs. Options vary from bouldering to three-story walls, and everything in between. The bouldering is from 90 to 180, and lots of variant routes on the same walls. The large walls are top-rope or lead, and several auto-belay systems are in place. Difficulty ranges from 5.6 to 5.13+, and there are three (if I counted right) artificial cracks available. Wow. Not the same as being at Acadia, but hey. If I have to climb inside, this is where I'm doing it. read more

I've been a member of SP for about a year now and it's the best gym I've been to before of the facility and the service. The routes are constantly changing so I never get bored and they keep everything clean which is hard with chalky climbers everywhere. I like the quarterly parties which are the fall, winter, spring and summer solstices. It's totally free for members and includes raffles for gear, climbing comps for all levels, free cider/beer and free food. Your membership also includes a yoga class every night and a skills seminar on various climbing skills. It's a great value and you can bring two guests a month to climb with you. The owners are very involved and you'll see them all the time. It's also great for families with the kiddos with the wall upstairs with many easy routes to try. It's never very crowded either and I can always get on a autobelay within a few minutes. If you car pool or ride a bike there's a raffle every month for a membership for saving the planet. read more

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Best rock climbing gym I've ever been to. People there love climbing which makes a great atmosphere. They didn't charge me when I was there just to belay for my daughter. However, after I found out that they have self belaying devices there so I can climb with her too, I will just climb with her. Great place. read more

Beautiful gym, love all the natural light coming through the many windows. And it's clean, including the ladies restroom. After returning from Joshua Tree NP to learn basics of crack climbing, I looked for local gyms to see if there was any with crack routes and instruction. I found the Salt Pump Climbing gym and although it's a 154 mile, round trip drive for me, it has what I needed to continue learning more crack climbing skills. I'm working with Tino and my lessons are fantastic, Tino is the Movement Guru!! read more

I made my first trip to Salt Pump earlier this week, and I was thoroughly impressed with the facility and staff. This is truly a "climber's" gym through and through - from the design and layout, to the setting, to the training area. Scarborough, ME may not be a climber's mecca or huge metro area, but Salt Pump as just as high quality of a gym as you'll find in SF, Denver, Boston, NYC, Chicago, etc. Bottom line: if you want to climb at a gym in southern ME, this is the place to come. A few detailed highlights: - Layout: it's a large facility with an open layout that makes it feel larger. Very easy to move around without feeling congested or having to walk under climbers - Terrain: I only bouldered during my visit, and was quite impressed with the variety of terrain available, everything from slab to roof. The lead and TR terrain looked similarly varied and good - Setting: can really make or break a gym. I found the setting here excellent, with interesting, diverse movements, spanning from "realistic", ticky-tacky crimp ladders, to more gymnastic problems with crazy volumes, and everything in between. Was also pleased to see the variety of holds -- obviously there were plenty of jugs, edges and slopers, but also some really tiny crimps and even pockets! It was clear that the setting wasn't just the result of an individual setting the one style of climb that they're good at, which is IMO where most gyms fail at setting. I heard that they also hired a new head setter, so hopefully the quality of setting will remain consistent over time. - Training: one of the best training areas I've seen! Hangboards with pulley counterweight system, campus board, treadwall, free weights, gymnast rings! Everything you could want. The only way for this to go from being an "A" to an "A+" would be if they added one of the Trango hangboards, with a pulley counterweight system of course :) - The pond: if you haven't seen the pictures already, it's a really beautiful property, sitting right on a fairly sizable pond. There's a nice deck overlooking the pond, which would be a great place to hang out during the warmer months. Again, only way to bump this up from an "A" to "A+" would be to serve some of Maine's fine craft brews out on the deck read more

An amazing and very welcoming community. Great Facility in a great location. For all levels of climbers.

This is a great climbing gym! The staff are really nice. The climber atmosphere is very friendly. The route setting is interesting and fun. Plus, the place has a lot of other cool features such as a grill, porch overlooking a pond, fishing, piano, climber library, and dog friendly. It is great to see the owners wanting to build a climbing community. It is also cool how open to suggestions/ideas the business owner is. By far the best climbing gym I have ever been to! read more

This place was love at first sight! Right away I fell in love with climbing, the laidback inviting vibe of this place, and the friendly people that work and climb here. I had almost no climbing experience (10 years ago I occasionally monkeyed around on a free wall at my college) and tried out the Intro to Climbing class which comes with a 2-week trial membership and all the equipment you need during that time. (During winter 2017 they have an extra discount advertised online with the promo code climb2017), so it was only $32 for all of that. Their website is beautiful and intuitive so it couldn't have been easier to fill out the waiver, register and pay for the course online before I even got there. It can be fairly intimidating to show up the first time for natural reasons - there's a whole world of equipment, lingo and etiquette that it takes time to learn, but I have found everyone I've talked to to be very friendly and willing to share info and tips if you ask. I enjoy the yoga classes included with membership they offer as well and find it really helpful to do some opposing pushing movements in those classes since you do so much pulling when climbing. What else...the music is pretty great - anything from James Brown funk to Eddie Vedder. I haven't heard any top 40 nor typical gym bro rock so I couldn't be happier about that. I moved here not too long ago and don't know anyone else in Portland who climbs, but so far it's been easy to find belay partners if you want them (if you got to yoga first often there are others who want to climb after, or if you see anyone else auto-belaying you can ask if they're interested), so don't be intimidated about showing up alone. If you'd rather auto-belay, they have 5 with varying route difficulty so it's not hard to get a spot on one. There seems to be a weekday rush of people who come straight after work, but even then you can find plenty of spots to climb, and that rush hour doesn't last long. Also, it's dog friendly, so you can pet some of the most adorable gentle giants while you're resting in between climbs. I couldn't like this place more. Careful, it's addicting! read more

Currently visiting from San Diego and was looking for a climbing gym while I'm away from mine. What a great facility. Staff was extremely friendly and accommodating. I spent most of the time bouldering. I was impressed with how fun yet challenging the routes were. Then I finished in the yoga room which had a beautiful view. Can't say enough about this gym. I will definitely make sure I stop back before returning to California! read more

Salt Pump is a great place to climb! The staff are super friendly and helpful. Whether you're bouldering, toproping, or leading, there is always something fun to climb! The setters have done a great job. The gym is so clean and bright with lots of windows overlooking a lake. It's nice to take a break and sit on the deck and look turtles and birds. Overall, my favorite climbing gym I've ever been to! read more

This could very well be the best climbing gym in the country. The route setting is challenging while reflecting the grade, the staff are knowledgeable, friendly and courteous, the view is without comparison, and the price is reasonable. I've climbed in gyms across the country and dearly miss salt pump; so much so that I'm here just to let them know it. Thanks for being amazing Salt Pump! read more

Went here for the first time last week and loved it! The staff is super friendly and helpful and the gym is enormous. Huge bouldering area with lots of padding plus a top-rope wall with auto-belays and other workout equipment. It's got nice, high walls and is light-filled and not too loud. Well-marked routes at all different levels, and a great variety of routes, so everyone can find something they like! I can't wait to come back. read more

My girlfriend and I are new to the rock gym/rock climbing scene. We hike on the weekends in part because hiking is spending time together doing something fun that's good for us. We figured rocked climbing would work the same way. We each spent $40 bucks to attend a 2 hour climbing safety and belay certification course with Zach, one of the gym staff members. The course was awesome and Zach was a great teacher, providing essential information and instruction in an easy-to-understand way while keeping it fun at the same time. Included in the purchase of the course is a month long membership with no cost rentals. This promo period of sorts gave us the opportunity to make sure rock climbing was something we'd enjoy before needing to purchase a membership. We took advantage of it and went a couple of times a week to get a feel for the gym and the sport. I had been hesitant about rock climbing because I wasn't sure what type of egos I would run into and because my competence level in climbing was zero. Walking into a rock gym when you literally know nothing about rock climbing can be intimidating. And I had no idea what the climber vibes and personalities would be like. But you get comfortable with the basics pretty quick and everyone we've talked with, other climbers and staff alike, are friendly, down to earth, and helpful. It's been really fun trying new routes, challenging ourselves on climbs above our skill level, and improving each week. The building is set in front of a small lake which makes for a peaceful spot and the gym itself has a lot of natural light. I don't have much of a basis for comparison as far as other rock gyms go but our experience at Salt Pump has been super positive so far. We just purchased memberships and are looking forward to making Salt Pump part of our weekly routine! read more