Rock Climbing Nearest to Long Beach, California

Long Beach may be prohibitively far from the classic climbs of the Santa Monica mountains, Malibu's twisting canyons and the looming rock walls of the San Bernardino range. However, both indoor and outdoor options exist within half an hour of the city, offering both new and experienced climbers opportunities to dig into a chalk bag without venturing too far afield.

  1. Hangar 18 Long Beach

    • The only climbing spot located within Long Beach city limits is indoors. It's called Hangar 18 Long Beach, and it's one of a handful of southern California gyms owned by the Hangar 18 group. The Long Beach location, sited in the Signal Hill neighborhood, offers more than 12,000 square feet of vertical real estate, including bouldering, top-roping and lead climbing routes. Local university students often pack the gym in the evenings, so visit during the daytime if you're looking for a quiet experience.

    Hangar 18 Southbay

    • Twenty minutes north of Long Beach on the 405 freeway, Hangar 18's other Long Beach-convenient climbing gym, the Southbay location, occupies the space once known as Beach City Rock. Similar in size to H18 Long Beach, H18 Southbay features textured climbing walls, two large, free-standing bouldering areas, crack climbing, an expanded selection of traditional gym equipment and a wide variety of lead climbing routes.

    Pirate's Cove

    • About half an hour south of Long Beach in Newport Beach, the sandstone walls of Pirate's Cove invite a cheerful array of rock climbers to scramble around the rocks over the water. Founded in the 1970s, locals still carefully maintain the holds and problems that make the site famously fun. The routes at the Cove are generally composed of steep -- sometimes, overhanging -- sandstone jugs above the soft sand of the beach. Wet days make the rock problematically slippery, so dry-day visits are best.

    The Bird Cave

    • Twenty minutes north of Long Beach, a seaside cave occupies the space below Palos Verdes' now-defunct Marineland Park. On the way to the cave, you'll pass what locals have monikered the "Devil May Care Wall," a slippery panel of rock walls with plenty of rather dubious handholds and footholds. Inside the cave, climbers find the only truly solid rock between the Long Beach and Malibu climbing areas far to the north. The cave presents a small selection of novel, intermediate routes and a very large number of the site's namesake roosting birds.