Velocity Climbing
Miami, Florida
Specs: In 2024, Velocity Climbing opened in Miami, Florida, and is “solely owned by climbers,” said Velocity Marketing Director, Event Coordinator and Routesetter Dylan Hewins. “Our intention was to bring not only a world-class climbing gym to South Florida but more importantly to build a positive and vibrant climbing community.” Hewins added that the team felt “South Florida has long needed such a facility,” so they opened as quickly as they could within the regulatory framework of a major urban city, eventually opening in March of last year.
Velocity was purpose-built from the ground up in North Miami, about 10 minutes away from downtown. “We wanted to be as close as possible to Miami’s urban core and also be close to Miami’s Metrorail,” Hewins explained, adding that their location is central and has appropriate zoning for their desired wall height. The gym features 23,000 square feet of climbing wall surface split among 60-foot roped walls—with terrain for lead, tope rope, auto belay and speed climbing—as well as two floors of bouldering and a Kilter Board. In fact, the height of Velocity’s walls earned the facility a spot in CBJ’s Gym List Awards as North America’s Tallest New Climbing Gym of 2024.
Velocity also features what Hewins described as an exact replica of the Innsbruck bouldering competition wall. For a bouldering area downstairs at the gym, the management team was “playing with a number of designs,” Hewins said, and someone suggested the 2018 IFSC comp wall. “Since Walltopia built Innsbruck, they just dropped it into the design and everyone loved it,” Hewins continued.
Hewins did note that developing a routesetting program in a region without much outdoor climbing was a challenge Velocity faced, in part because there were fewer routesetters in the area compared to other places in the country. “We solved it by bringing in world-class senior routesetters and young, talented routesetters who are dedicated to making our setting world-class,” Hewins explained. Velocity now uses a hybrid of number grades and circuit colors for their routes and boulders, giving grade ranges when appropriate. “We feel the point of grading is to give climbers a general sense of relative difficulty within our facility,” Hewins told CBJ.
Walls: Walltopia
Flooring: Walltopia; Owner/Contractor
CRM Software: Redpoint HQ
Website: www.velocityclimbing.com
Instagram: @VelocityClimbing
In Their Words: “Every gym is unique, so general advice is a tough ask. But we don’t hold onto information; reach out to us if you would like to talk, or find us at the CWA summit,” – Dylan Hewins, Marketing Director, Event Coordinator and Routesetter at Velocity Climbing
