To avoid injury, rock climbers should always use safety ropes and never make friends with a mountain—even if it follows you home. Practice safe scaling with today's Groupon: for $8, you get a one-day pass, plus climbing gear (a $16 value), to The Phoenix Rock Gym in Tempe.

With more than 15,000 square feet of textured climbing terrain, a two-tiered bouldering area, and 56 top ropes, The Phoenix Rock Gym's sculpted climbing surfaces challenge neophyte rock wranglers and expert cliff climbers alike with numerous, continually changing routes. Adventurists new to rock-groping or spider-like people that don't remember how to abseil and belay can relax as the expert, friendly staff teaches the ins and outs of climbing safely. The rock gym's walls are covered with textured products that mimic the conditions of real rocks—faces, cracks, varied holds, and sharp angles included.

Crawling vertically at The Phoenix Rock Gym is sort of like training and running a marathon, but you get the adrenaline rush in shorter, more intensely concentrated spurts. Indoor climbing is a great way for someone to get started or an easy way for experienced climbers to hone their skill without nature pounding them with rain and chunks of cloud. Social climbers can purchase an additional Groupon and learn how to climb with people they trust, or they can buy three and learn to climb with people they're highly suspicious of and friends they trust watching them.

Reviews

Twenty-two Yelpers give The Phoenix Rock Gym a 4.5-star average:

• The staff were extremely helpful and friendly as well as very good at making a newbie like me feel safe. – Sarah G., 1/25/11
• Seriously, it was a TON of fun! – Peggy T., 7/2/10