DAV Climbing Centre Berlin in Moabit

DAV Climbing Centre Berlin is the club gym of the Berlin section of the German Alpine Club, a few minutes behind the main station in Moabit. Its 1,751 square metres hold walls up to 15 metres, an overhanging competition tower, a speed lane and an outdoor area for multi-pitch practice. Climbing is reserved for members, with a four-week trial for non-members.

DAV Climbing Centre Berlin: a club gym in Moabit behind the main station

Seydlitzstrasse lies in Moabit only a few minutes behind the main station, and there the Berlin section of the German Alpine Club with its more than 12,000 members runs a gym of its own. DAV Climbing Centre Berlin is not a commercial operation but a club project built up over years out of voluntary work and members’ own labour. The section has a long history in Berlin: in 1970 it put up one of the first artificial climbing towers in Germany at the Teufelsberg, and in 1997 it opened the first indoor climbing facility in the city on Huettenweg. That a club rather than an operator did the building shows in details like the seminar room and the bistro, which look more like a clubhouse than a sports studio. The gym is best reached on bus lines 120, 123, 142, 147 and 245 or on foot from the main station, because there is no parking of its own and spaces nearby are scarce. In return it is one of the few gyms in Berlin within walking distance of a long-distance railway station.

1,751 square metres, competition wall, speed lane and an outdoor area on the west face

Indoors there are 1,751 square metres of climbing surface, with walls reaching 15 metres and continuing above into a roof climbing area. They include a steeply overhanging competition tower, a speed climbing lane, a 71 square metre structure section and a separate smaller hall at 8.2 metres for top rope and lead. On the west face there is also an outdoor area of around 260 square metres and about 13 metres in height, where 18 anchors allow multi-pitch practice. The section also runs the climbing tower at the Teufelsberg and the bunker wall in Humboldthain as outdoor facilities. The training area holds a Moonboard, a campus board and wall bars, and there is a club bistro as well. The bouldering area was recently topped up with easier, child-friendly problems. Worth planning for: climbing at DAV Climbing Centre Berlin is in principle reserved for members of the Alpine Club, while non-members may trial the club for four weeks. A day ticket for members of the Berlin section costs 15 euros and the top rope course with certificate 69 euros.