UKC

I've been invited to go to the westway customer forum next weds and am interested in what people think of the place, in particular what they do well and shouldn't change and what could be done better. Any views? mike

In reply to jonnienomates: No one any views? Grades perfect? Routes not reset too often? Always greeted with a smile? Nice homely feel? Never need to queue... mike

In reply to jonnienomates:

the place needs more bouldering. Also would be nice if they developed the outdoor stuff they have there. They also need more lockers.

In reply to jonnienomates: route oudoors are never changed (or certainly haven't been in at least 3 months!)
bouldering - they're doing more - no issue
route change indoor - about right, possibly left up ever so slightly too long
queues for routes can be an issue on busy nights - possible 'max' capacity work-around??? although i wouldn't like to implement this - or be on the receiving end of it!
lighting for outdoor routes? possibility - would add capacity as when too dark to climb they're not used.
space for kit can be an issue - lockers have been renovated yet floor space somehow removed (sofas)? Perhaps open gear stores? similar to the Edge?
However, sofa's were good addition and well placed for watching main areas..
hard routes only on very overhanging walls - perhaps add some high 7's and low 8's to other area's

that's about all i can think of,, and everyone might not agree but it's just my personal observations..

In reply to jonnienomates:

personally I'd like it if they consistently played music, sometimes it's on, sometimes it's off..........

also, and I'm not sure how they could deal with this, but it's ridiculous that you might have to queue for 10-15 mins to pay/sign in. My suggestion would be that the climbing till would be for existing pass holders only and that if you have pay/renew you queue at reception. That way you would have to queue (perhaps for a bit longer) once a month but that would be it - when you turn up for your evening session after work you go straight to the fast moving climbing till queue.

In reply to Wingman: aye but sometimes it's no queue at all..

there have been times when the climbing till isn't open and the front desk one is out of the door!! that's ridiculous.

In reply to gingerdave13:

Whenever I've had to use their front desk it has been hopelessly slow, even with only a couple of people needing served. They should address this.

What are they doing about the bouldering, I haven't been in a while but they would have to have a serious extension to make it worth while!

In reply to catt: they've put a 'new' (6 mnths maybe now?) addition in where the old storage locker for westway kit was which is very steep and hard and small

but they're also building a whole new section on the back (behind current textured bouldering) soley for a new bouldering wall

In reply to gingerdave13:
I agree with Dave, the receptionists do not deal efficiently with the queues at peak times. They can improve on this by opening the climbing wall till more often or having a spare receptionist to help out when needed.

The bouldering issue is taken care of with the new area opening in October. Does this mean the excisting bouldering area is staying, could they not use the area for more leading routes??

In reply to clivem01:

that's an outstanding idea - and would really increase the capcity of the leading.. however, i'm guessing it's not for that purpose - and is more to expand on bouldering!

In reply to clivem01:
Also - and i have no solution to this - stop them answering the phones when there are people to be dealt with onsite. It drives me mad when I am the only person there and I am standing there for 5mins while someone tries to find out what time the wall is open/whatever......

In reply to jonnienomates:

A few gripes:

Top roped areas do not have routes reset often (especially the featured are in the middle) - I'm not a regular there maybe twice in the last 9months and all the routes I climbed the first time were still there the second time.

I found the routes very straight forward with for me soft grades it seems like there's not a lot of imagination used on the route setting front - a bit castle esq - harder route = bigger gaps or smaller holds

Think the traverse walls could be better - really they just need more routes on them (when I was last there they seemed to only have a few routes, but it struck me they could easily have put in a few more.

That wierd Slimfast bloke who does the belay tests is a bit anal (and it's not my responsibility to prevent the testee from putting on their harness before being told - that's his job) I know it's a safety thing and insurance and all that but no other centre I have visited is quite so anal, yet oddly I've seem some horrifynig "techniques" used in the centre once the test has been passed - more than at other centres

In reply to jonnienomates:

p.s. can we get some feedback please......

(although guess I could just ask the guys, but I'd like a 'non-westway' view as well)

In reply to Wingman: Good idea, i'll write up what i think of the forum next thurs. Re the bouldering the plan is defintely to tackle what the Westway is worst at which is bouldering by expanding it so the existing bouldering wall will be left. I think the current plan is to have easy routes on the current bouldering wall and have all the harder routes on the new one. mike

In reply to balmybaldwin:

Castle esq? When did you last climb there may i ask?

In reply to jonnienomates:

I think Westway is a great wall, and I particularly like the way the route setters appear to consider the fact that some people are short in stature whilst still keeping them imaginative and challenging. Slimfast's routes are especially good.
I'm put off by the congestion charge and haven't been since that came in. When does the new bouldering wall open? I'll be interested to see that.

In reply to DrGav:
Sunday. But to be fare it's a long time (9 months) since I've done routes at the castle - they may well have improved somewhat... Now I only go there for boulder sessions - as it's the nearest wall with a big bouldering area... for routes I mainly use craggy.

In reply to jonnienomates:

Way too expensive! Other than that, for me it does what it says on the tin, it's a plastic wall that is to be used as a training venue.

In reply to jonnienomates:

I don't really like the Westway at all. I don't have a problem with the climbing facilities themselves, just the general attitude of the staff and the over the top bureaucracy.

Joining takes forever and so does getting in. The fact that they judge dodgy automatic belay devices to be safer than an inexperienced human belayer sums it up for me. And, charging people £16 to learn how to belay from scratch, when they pretty much already know in a 'not quite by the book' sort of way, is a total rip off.

The atmosphere is quite cold and unfriendly, unlike the Castle which is quite the opposite.

Personally, I won't be going back unless all that changes.

In reply to PaulE:

Not helpful as they can't do anything about it but prsonally I'd rather spend as little time as possible exercising directly under the busiest road in Western europe. Clearly living in London the pollution is going to get you in the end but still...

In reply to i.munro:
For me, I love the wall but wish they would turn the sodding heaters off. As a compromise could they at least have the heating turned lower towards the comp wall bouldering end of the wall as people down here are generally workign harder than the top ropers.

In reply to PaulE:

Some of the worse receptionists I have ever encountered! Extreme Bureaucracy. No smile.

In reply to jonnienomates:

A few thoughts:

Likes

The cafe
The variety
Liked the autobelays (before they went)

Could do better

Grades are very inconsistent (but generally 1 - 1.5 grades easier than other london walls)
Routes tend to stay up a loooong time
The nicest surface is mostly given over to top-roping

Not good but they can't change-it

*Just* inside the congestion charge zone - so a day-time trip is very expensive


J

In reply to jonnienomates:
Some of the instructors seem not to ensure that their students behave safely in respect of other climbers. This seems worse when they have adult students. An example is when an inexperienced belayer nearly lowered a novice climber onto my girlfriend. The instructor didn't intervene.

In reply to urbanmonkey:


This & lack of ventilation seems to be a general problem with London walls.

In reply to i.munro: big - good - busy - expensive - faff to get to

In reply to jonnienomates: My personal opinion, which I believe is echoed by my other climbing mates, is as follows:

It gets far too busy
The routes are not changed often enough - particularly on lead routes.
The majority of the climbing staff believe they are above other climbers - I've seen them missing the first 2 clips but telling people off for missing the first 1. It's a matter of consistency.
Receptionists could be friendlier - eastern european staff are always friendly though.
Queues are too long - could they introduce a new system to let season ticket holders through more quickly?

Bouldering is being improved with the outdoor centre accounting for this (I understand), this should take care of most peoples problems with the lack of bouldering problems.

The westway is very good at advertising places to climb, the clubs they run (womens night etc) and has a decent balance between lead climbs and top ropes (yes, I would like more lead climbs but people have to start somewhere..)

did you mention that annoying bloke called mike?

In reply to jonnienomates:
So....
For God's sake, do something about the queues to get in - a 'fasttrack' queue would help.
More lockers - how hard can that be?!
Get the autobelays back
Enlarge the bouldering (happening I know - hope there will be something below 6c on it)
Keep a mix of standards - hard stuff (6a+) up the easy end & easy stuff (6b-)up the hard end (for instance, there is a very good 6a slab close to the entrance - we could use more of that).
Pep up the outdoor bits.

In reply to jonnienomates:
Oh, and one other thing : whenever WW host a comp, for several days before they strip half the routes, usually with no advance warning, then charge top-dollar for entry to a vastly overcrowded, almost unusable wall - this really pisses people off.

In reply to jonnienomates:
I actually think the grading is fair and not easier than other walls I have been to. Like any wall, some of the climbs feel hard for the grade and some soft for the grade and there are particular route-setters whose routes always feel harder for me.