Minneapolis – Boulderfest 2025
BOULDERFEST 2025
Minneapolis’ biggest community climbing competition returns to MBP on September 20th.
Boulderfest is an electric, all-day community celebration featuring an all-levels climbing competition, entertainment, music, food trucks, raffles, open finals, and community connection. It’s open to everyone, and the competition is geared for all climbers—from beginners to experts.
Early Bird Registration ends August 24th!

COMMUNITY COMP
Boulderfest is an all-levels climbing competition. Whether you’ve been climbing for years, or it’s your first ever comp, you’ll find something fun and challenging for you to climb!
The climbing at Boulderfest is the absolute best of what Bouldering Project and our setting team has to offer. It’s an incredible experience to climb and to watch others climb!
Join us for the pre-Boulderfest prep clinics!
These clinics are aimed at helping you prepare for Boulderfest by covering specific climbing and competition skills!
Intro to Boulderfest Clinic (August 28th 6:30pm-8:30pm)
Competition Clinic – Footwork (September 2nd 6:30pm-8:30pm)
Competition Clinic – Dynamic Movement and Coordination (September 4th 6:30pm-8:30pm)
Competition Clinic – Footwork (September 8th 6:30pm-8:30pm)
Competition Clinic – Dynamic Movement and Coordination (September 10th 6:30pm-8:30pm)

Youth & Family Comp
We offer a Youth & Family Round for individual youth (age 13 and under) or families who want to compete in a fun, casual, recreational-level competition.
Youth can also compete in our regular community rounds if desired!
Join us for the Boulderfest Youth & Family prep series!
This 3-day clinic is aimed at helping you and your kiddo(s) have an enjoyable climbing competition experience. Cost: $65 for one adult & one youth.
3 Day Signup (September 2nd-4th)

PRIZE RAFFLE
Everyone who competes has a chance to win awesome prizes! Each boulder topped = one raffle ticket entry. We have incredible prizes from our sponsors and local brands, and the raffle is always a blast!

OPEN FINALS
The entire day culminates in an electric Open Finals competition. Pro climbers and incredible athletes compete to claim the title of Boulderfest ’25 champion! The winners take home the cash purse and bragging rights.

ALL DAY PARTY
The day kicks off with our community competition, and is followed by a whole day of activities. Our community comp, vendor market, games, beer from Pryes Brewing, and Open Finals make the day one giant party you won’t want to miss!

VENDOR VILLAGE
When you’re not climbing, hangout in our Vendor Village where you’ll find local artists and makers, sponsor booths, food and beverage, fun games, and more!

VOLUNTEERS
We would love for you to be involved! We’ll have signups to volunteer and get fully immersed in the energy, fun & community.
Signups will open soon!
Boulderfest is an electric, all-day community celebration featuring a youth and adult climbing competition, entertainment, music, food, raffles, open finals, and community connection. It’s open to everyone, and the competition is geared for climbers of all levels—from beginners to experts.
Open Qualifiers: Climbs will have individual scores and your ranking is based on the sum of your top 10 scored climbs. Finalists will be contacted before the Finals round. Finalist must be able to return to ISO by the set time on Saturday evening.
Community Rounds: Competitors will earn raffle ticket for each climb completed within their category range. The raffle will be hosted on after climbing finishes.
Youth & Family Round: Competitors in the youth & family round compete as a group. Each boulder topped by at least one member in your group is equal to one raffle ticket. There will be a separate prize raffle for the Youth & Family Round directly after the round ends.
Final scores and results will be posted online after the event.
Community Categories:
- Recreational: Yellow, Red, Green
- Intermediate: Purple, Orange, Black
- Advanced: Black, Blue, Pink
Open Category: Blue, Pink, White
Competitors will self-select into their respective categories during the registration process. The idea is to challenge yourself!
When trying your absolute hardest, if you are able to top 10 boulders in the highest color available in that category in one climbing session, you should compete at the next level up.
See the example below:
Example: “I generally climb purples/oranges/blacks. I can flash most oranges.”
- When trying your hardest, are you able to complete 10 black boulders in one climbing session?
- If yes, we recommend the Advanced Category.
- If no, we recommend the Intermediate Category.
Open category competitors should be climbing predominantly whites and/or pinks. If a climber is able to climb white boulders, they more than likely should register for the Open category.
Rules talks will be given 15 minutes before the beginning of each session. Please plan to arrive on time to hear the rules talk, and to give yourself as much time as possible to climb!
Yes! Boulderfest is an all-levels competition, so even if you’re new to climbing, there will be something for you to climb. Boulderfest is an awesome experience for everyone!
Yes. Youth 13 and under require an adult (18+) that is also competing to supervise, or a coach if they are on a youth team. Youth 14-17 may compete without a supervisor.
We offer a Youth & Family Round for individual Youth 13 and under who want to compete in a fun, casual, recreational-level competition as well as families who want to climb as a group in a recreational-level setting.
Yes! Spectators are welcome on both Friday and Saturday.
We also have a need for volunteers for our community rounds. If you’re interested in volunteering, you can register here.
Tons of stuff! We’ll have a vendor market all day, beer from Pryes Brewing, open finals, an after party, and more!
No, the gym closes for anyone not competing, spectating, or volunteering. The fitness and yoga studios will be closed.
Our parking lot gets busy! Check along West River Road or N 2nd St. for more parking. We recommend carpooling or arriving early as the parking lots will get full!