UKC

Hello,

Now then ive been mulling over this for a week or so now and have now only just got the chance to write my thoughts although i think its gona be brief!

Well i arrived at MCC all set up for what i really wanted to be an enjoyable experience for myself and my fellow and very new to the climbing fraternity, friend of mine. Only to be greeted by rather condescending, rude, patronising, 'im part of the cool gang' receptionists.

This wasnt just me, my friend noticed it and a couple behind us in the queue also politely to me showed an expression which backed up my perceptions.

Not a reception that you expect at what i assume to be a premier venue.

Moving on from that - £8 just to take it in turns for a boulder or a top rope for my mate. Granted we live in a city of millions but i shall not be attending in a hurry. The phrase 'cattle market' does not come close.

One final sour point from myself..sorry...for any climber out there who believes they have more right to be at a crag or wall than anyone then you are not wanted. That is not the number one ethic of climbing surely.

Sorry if i have seemed to have gone on but after a week of thinking, as i said at the beginning of this rant i thought i had to express my thoughts.

Be good to hear your views.

Definitely agree that it is over-priced, especially if you compare it to awesome walls, which has masses of bouldering, top-roping and lead walls to go at. However I would say that the presentation and standard of MCC is excellent.

I've only been to MCC twice, but haven't had any probs with staff there. I have noticed in my few years of climbing though that there is a definite element of snobbery to be found, but that in general, people are helpful and friendly.

I hope your friend has not been put off by the experience. If you are looking for another wall to use in the area awesome walls are due to open another centre in stockport fairly soon - i hope that it is as good as the liverpool centre.

Cheers Tom

In reply to greylag:

I have always found the staff helpful and inclusive. You must have met someone on a bad day.

In reply to greylag:

you sound a bit sensative to me mate.

In reply to greylag:

£8 for a top facility is pretty reasonable to me. If you have a problem with the staff, why not speak to them ? and if you have a problem with other climbers, its hardly a fault of the wall. Sorry, but you do sound a bit oversensitive about all this.

In reply to greylag:

Since the clocks went back I've been a few times after work. On one occassion there was an arrogant idiot there, but that's not bad going all things considered. The staff have never been rude. Aside from telling people to go outside rather than inside, I would recommend MCC.

In reply to greylag:
Only been once and found it fantastic.

I didn't have a problem with the staff but I am a 6 foot, 13 stone, skinhead, goatee bearded northern monkey.

Apart from one chap there who seems a bit stand offish, the staff all seem like reasonable people to me. And to be fair, this one chap isn't particularly rude or anything, just a bit....distants. I'm sure he's a nice guy once you get to know him. (which I haven't)

And £8 for an unlimited amount of time...not that bad surely?

In reply to GreyPilgrim:

Dunno, £8 sounds like a lot. Guess it's what you're used to though. It will be interesting to see how much of a difference the new Awesome Walls in Stockport makes to the area, seeing as how it's cheaper than MCC and has a loyalty reward scheme.

In reply to greylag:

I'll second that mate... i lived in manchester and my mates used to drag me there from time to time... never really had a problem with the facilities or anything but the staff there are so pretentious. 8£ is an extortiante ammount to boulder considering walls in sheffield...edge, foundry etc are half the price!

In reply to greylag: I apologise if you feel you have had a bad experience at the Manchester Climbing Centre.

It would be very helpful if you could raise these issues with the duty manager at the time they happen so that we can address them. Our staff work very hard to ensure that all users of the climbing centre have a really positive experience there. We would be very upset if anything we had done had lead to you not enjoying your visit.

Unfortunately though unless you give us specific feedback about the reasons you aren't satisfied, then it is very difficult for us to resolve the issues. Hiding behind anonymous profiles isn't a particularly positive way to address issues.

Our entrance fee is £7 at peak times for members, this is in line with most UK climbing centres. When non-members visit they are charged £8 at peak times. We also offer further discounts for regular users in the way of 10 and 20 climb passes and annual members. If you you send us your email address we will send you advance notification of the fantastic January / February / March special offers which will be available 1 December.

John Dunne

So what did the receptionists actually do?

In reply to greylag: I've never had an issue at MCC, apart from it being just a bit too popular, therefore crowded on a weeknight. The entrance fee is pretty standard. In fact a damn sight cheaper than the London equivalents. It's also unlimited so surely you get out of it as much as you like... C-:

In reply to greylag:

If you want to meet climbing wall staff who are really rude, pretentious and snobby - can I suggest you give Boulder UK in Blackburn a go?

In reply to greylag: I was there last night and I hadn't got my shoes and one of the staff let me have a rental set for free.....

I did have a problem with a couple of the people there, not the staff though.....

I wanted to do the 5+ orange double hang and a couple left their rope in as a top rope and went for a coffee, so no one could climb that route till they got back, I was very tempted to take it down, when I found out where they had gone... I didn't I just mentioned it to a member of staff and had them sort it out......

I do think the price is slightly high though, will be good to see what the new Awesome Walls prices are....

In reply to Mita:
...

Only *tempted* to take it down. I'd have taken it down without a moment's hesitation once I found out they'd gone for a break. That is totally outrageous (them, not you).

Isn't MCC the same price as AW? I'm sure it is - or at least only pennies difference.

I have sometimes found some of the MCC staff a bit supercilious but most of them seem absolutely fine. At times, it seems to take them a very long time to serve people when you go in (compared, say, to AW). I also really wish they'd have a separate room for the kids parties - having them in the normal cafe is incredibly disruptive to everyone else. But I do like MCC - lots of routes, lots of variety (although more boulder problems that aren't on overhanging walls would be really great). Am hoping it'll get a little bit less busy in the evenings once the new AW is open.

In reply to greylag:

All sports have an element of elitism.... which is annoying and does nothing whatsoever to attract people to the sport. i remember when i had just gotten in to climbing and my partner fell (on good gear) on a lead of canada crack at Bowden Doors, all the 'elite' could do was voice their opinion about how we shouldnt be any where near the crags etc. Total bolloc*s of course - and obviously i told them so (using the typpical colourfull metaphors)

MCC is a good climbing wall in a great setting (the church... not Gorton!). You can normally have a laugh with all members of staff, i am sure you just caught one of them on a bad day - we all have them!

I pay an annual fee so i think its pretty reasonable if you compare it to say an annual gym membership etc.. and 8squid for however long you want is not bad at all - the cinema if £6 for 2.5 hours!!

In reply to greylag:

Look on the bright side - you've had the big man reply to one of your posts ! That, if nothing else, demonstrates its not an endemic attititude thing.

In reply to GrahamD:

he ain't so big these days, he's lost loads of weight and looks like he's getting back into shape to some amazing route somewhere!

At least it's not £9.50 to climb like it is in London!

In reply to greylag:

Personally I reckon that the staff at MCC are all really friendly and helpful, and I think the atmosphere generally is welcoming and non-elitest. It is perhaps a slight victim of its own success in that it can certainly get very busy, but from a business point of view this obviously only goes to show that people are prepared to pay the £8 to use its facilities - if you're not then either buy an annual pass or go elsewhere, such as the soon to be open wall in stockport.

In reply to mark 7:

Big isn't always about size !

In reply to kingholmesy:

you are right its non elitist but there are some nipple-pierced twonks mincing about.....

In reply to cathsullivan: Same Here. Mita's nice though

In reply to SJD:

Not to mention some curly-haired numpties ...

In reply to GrahamD:

usually is when John's mentioned. Looks like he's given up the pies

In reply to greylag:

Hello,

Im just back from a couple of days camping around the gables and scafell and with awesome weather the good lord must have known i was goin!


Anyway im pleased to see so many posts with both sides of the discussion expressed which is exactly what i wanted - to fnd out whether i was wrong...

and to be honest by the looks of it i think more posts have disagreed with me than have agreed...maybe ill go back..maybe i did catch them on a bad day.

having been up north for a while i was spoilt with good walls and cheap prices..good point £50 for 90 minutes of Old Trafford as well...but with walls opening around about maybe prices will fall..

as for elitism i suppose it happens in every sport.. yes.. but i dont think it really suits the climbing/mountaineering world.. who cares if you can climb a diff or E numbers as long as you can go to a wall/crag have a chat with strangers in a friendly atmosphere that in the day to day world you just dont have the pleasure of enjoying with anything else.

cheers

stuart

In reply to THE.WALRUS:

I beg to differ!! The staff at BUK are very friendly, helpful and most definatley grounded of mind...maybe they just didn't like YOU?

In reply to greylag:
Not had any problem with the staff though definitely a different atmosphere there now since most of the staff that I knew well have gradually moved on so I'm now just another anonymous customer to most of the folk working there.

I've been on plenty of busy nights there before but this week I found people really possessive of the safety sandbags. After being told by the second person "we're using it" when what they actually meant was "we're going to use it in about 5mins when my mate eventually finishes this route" I got fed up and pointed out that there are a lot less bags than climbers who need them and they could have it back after I'd belayed my mate up his route.

In reply to greylag: agree with most who say the staff are friendly - there's just one guy in the shop who is really pushy in trying to offer "advice" when it's not wanted. I think it's just over-enthusiasm He has really put me off buying anything from the shop though when he's about as I don't like being patronised. However all other staff are prety good in my experience.
The biggest problem is that it is very busy at times, but that's just because it's the start of the winter maybe - and as has been said before, if hte MCC was generally bad (which it isn't) then I doubt it would be as busy as it is. Agree with the comment about the variety of the bouldering, there's not much vertical technical stuff, but lots of overhanging jug pulling.

In reply to J Dunne: For what its worth John, when I was living close to Manchester and using the MCS, the staff were fine, generally helpful about things like sensible places to leave your car and other little useful points. The wall gets crowded at popular times, but that is just a sign of success - you can hardly expect a business to turn people away, though at all popular walls (like the Westway or Castle in London), there might come a point where the numbers have to be limited at any one time.

Odd for someone to comment on other climbers attitudes - hardly the responsibility of the wall if another climber gives you attitude. In any case, that is like bad/dangerous driving - you never notice the good and reasonable majority, while the *rsehole sticks out like a sore thumb.

The prices seem pretty comparable with other walls of a similar size - it is always amazing what people expect from a wall. At a climbing wall you can stay as long as you want, while at a squash/tennis court you get what? 45 - 60 mins for an hour, usually £5 - £8 per person. If you think of the costs of running a wall (light, staff, the wall itself, the dreaded liability insurance, etc, etc), nobody is going retire to a sunny beach on the proceeds of running a climbing wall. Most climbers above all want regular updating of well set routes, how much do you think that costs? The days of "build a wall with a few bricks sticking out and leave it for 20 years" are long gone. Ultimately you get what you pay for.

In reply to greylag: Was there for the first time yesterday and couldn't dissagree more. The staff were freindly and helpful. The cost isn't high for facilities of that quality and quantity (which compares well with any of the big london walls).

The boldering was well set and seemed consistantly graded with a decent range of grades though with an emphisis on the steep. Though it does suffer from the problems of V grading for beginers who need some differentiation between english 4a and 5a.

The lead walls are long and looked to have a good range of routes though the ones I led had a tendancy to puting thin 5c moves on F6a's 'cos there not overhanging. It was crowded but not so much as to make it unusable and for a wet cold windy sunday it was better than I feared as I was able to get on to problems/routes at my grade whenever I wanted to.

In reply to Obi Wan:

I have to agree with you there. A great place, even for a punter like me.

In reply to Simon4:
- hardly the responsibility of the wall

If thats in reply to me, then who said anything about it being responsibility of the the wall? Just an observation and only made because it was unusual from my experience climbing there over the last two & half years.

In reply to Obi Wan:

Quite clearly they didn't - don't know why though. All I did was pay them for an afternoons bouldering.

Perhaps it's because i'm no good...

In reply to SecretSquirrel: No it wasn't, just a general observation.

In reply to greylag:

Turned up with my wife for a wet saturday pulling on plastic and we did feel like second class climbers when we signed in and went through the questions. Went back several months later for a meeting that happend to use the venue, several climbing 'names' were at the meeting, the nice people from behind the reception even booked me a taxi!

Not sure if it is a culture issue or on the wet saturday we just got someone having a bad day!

I still think its a fantastic venue and would go again. Having said that the staff at the Cotswold shop / cupboard were very friendly on BOTH occasions.

Name and address supplied

In reply to THE.WALRUS: Boulderuk is owned and run by 8 local climbers and we try to repeat the friendly atmosphere of the old Blackburn YMCA days. I am sorry if you felt intimidated in any way and we certainly welcome all grades of climber. The concept of the wall is to enable you to improve quickly and the staff are always happy to give help and encouragement.

In reply to greylag:

hello

just to add my 2p - I went for the first time yesterday and really enjoyed it.

Friendly staff, good routes, well-thought-out space, good coffee, tunnocks caramel wafers on sale - what more could a girl want?

As I'm based in Huddersfield, and it's pretty much as easy to get to as Leeds, yet just felt 'better', I think that this will be my first choice of a 'bigger' wall...

... unless dave from awesome walls wants to give me lifetime membership to Stockport as I'm always so nice about awesome Liverpool...?

In reply to CJD:
I went for the first time a couple of dyas back and think it is superb, great effort guys.

Only feedback I would give(form is in the suggestion box) is that alot of the problems are set with long reaches (I am 6ft 2 with pos ape so it doesn't affect me), more imaginative routesetting rather than just locking off to your chest. Leeds manage this really well.

Guy

In reply to Guy T:

but on the whole Leeds's routes aren't as imaginatively set (and yes, I know, it's plastic so it's limited...)

I'd agree about the reach thing - on the routes we did, I had quite a few long reaches and I'm 5'10 - I guess shorter women just have to climb up to the holds

In reply to Guy T:

They've put up a tufa route and there's a hand/fist jamming monster. All they really need now are finger cracks.

All together now:

"Can we have a finger crack route please!"

In reply to Chris Tan Ver. L:
Apologies for not being clear, talking about the problems not the routes. On the whole the routes are fine, there are enough features to be able to work around a reach.

Problems at Leeds are v. imaginative in my opinion. Routes less so, I agree.

In reply to Guy T:

ah - oops

In reply to GrahamD:
"Big isn't always about size !"
i bet you say that to all the girls

In reply to stevefromstoke:

I have to

In reply to greylag:
I work up in Manchester every now and again and thought MCC facilities were excellent. The staff were very cheery and helpful and when I queried the expense they suggested cheaper options so I became a member and have booked a series of sessions. I don't have a huge experience of walls (Westway, The Edge, the Climb) but I thought MCC generally was at least as good as the others.

Sounds like you had a rough time with the staff. Simple solution - ask for their name, ask for the duty manager and report it both then and to the owner. Works in most situations. Good luck in the future wherever you end up going.

In reply to mmpolista:
what if he's refering to the owner?