UKC

Hi there

moving to London soon, good bye NW ...

Is Westway any good ? how high is it ?

can u share any thoughts please

c u there

m

In reply to Maciek:

Probably the best in London now that there is a new(ish) bouldering wall. Where in London are you moving to?

In reply to Maciek: don't come down Maciek

In reply to Maciek:

the castle comes highly recommended. havent tried it yet having only just moved here and having no one to climb with yet but when i do i will repost

In reply to Donna:

I have to say considering the price that I've always been thoroughly underwhelmed by the Castle.

Went to the Westway on Friday for the first time and thought it was a good wall for leading (didn't boulder so can't comment) with a large roped climbing area and lots of routes, which generally seemed to be reasonably well set too.

Mile End is a good one for bouldering, never liked the leading personally.

AJM

In reply to AJM:

i have to totally agree with you on Mile End. I've been once and after hearing really good feedback found it an utter let down

In reply to Maciek:

Westway is very friendly, very Cosmopolitan, unusually sociable for London.

In reply to Donna:

Ten years ago Mle End was great. But things have moved on since. Last time I went there I was surprised how old-fashioned it seemed compared to Westway or The Works.

In reply to AlisonS:
Don't agree at all. We rarely have a chance to climb there but each time I enjoy there being so much variety, instead of the unrelenting overhanging, overhanging and more overhanging panels which appears to be the main offering of so many walls today.

In reply to Maciek:

Mile End is great for bouldering. Lots of off-vertical, crimpy, technical stuff. I always know about it after I've had a session there...

Westway is now a good all-round venue. Tons of routes (leading and top ropes) and now a good amount of bouldering up to some very hard woody-style modern training walls. Can get mentally crowded during the week, although the bouldering isn't so bad since a new section was opened.

Haven't been to the Castle, though have heard it has a reasonable amount of variety.

All of them are probably adequate training bases, and you'll most likely choose your main haunt depending on where you live.

Mark

In reply to Donna:

I'm not sure you do. I think Mile End is a grand wall if you want to boulder.

My mate tells me its just that I'm weak, but I think they sometimes set very hard sit starts and the rest of the problem is comparatively very easy (theres being weak, and theres being completely unable to do the sit start but able to flash the problem from standing, which has happened to me more than once). Generally though it has well set problems and a good selection of training facilities.

AJM

In reply to AJM:

I think I only really look at it from a climbing aspect, i dont really boulder(im just not very good at it) so i tend to only see the rope point of view.

the real problem i had was with an instructor with a group of kids who was more interested in ensuring that the non climbing/belaying kids were sat down whilst the others were in a right pickle with 1 child 2/3rds of the way up the wall and no belaying taking place.

In reply to Donna:

So, you went to a bouldering centre and felt let down. I wonder why!

In reply to Maciek:

WW for leading, ME for bouldering and Castle for Stoke Newington luvvies who like paying £10.50 a session for free handcream.

In reply to caver:

well i didnt know it was a bouldering centre seeing as its advertised as Mile End Climbing Centre. lol

That'll teach me to listen to the ex bf.

In reply to Owen W-G:


I think you're a bit out of date.
A year ago I would have said ME was certainly one of the top 2 bouldering spots in London.

Now, it's almost definitely in the top 5.

In reply to Owen W-G:

Although Westway has now jacked up its prices too (probably to pay for the Buck Rogers style security gates at reception) and you don't even get the handcream...It's a bit annoying that you can't really climb in London for less than a tenner these days.

In reply to Chuckles:

Have the westways gone up? It's getting quite silly - how the arches can justify their prices I don't know - it's more expensive thank the gym!

In reply to Maciek:

westway = great for leading and top roping lots of walls about as high as they come in climbing wall terms, limited bouldering for the size of venue but i think they have had more put in since i last went. It's in the middle of a leisure centre under a dirty great flyover so it has a somewhat urban municipal sports centre feel to it. Has a decent shop

The castle = lots of leading and top roping maybe not as much or as high as the west way. Lots of bouldering at all grades over several areas. has a shop and the building itself is a castle so quite an interesting feel to it and IMO a slightly better atmosphere. decent pub nearby

Mile End = small sweaty rather old school bouldering venue. pretty high boulder probs and good training room but i find the atmosphere can be a bit unfriendly and it's on the small side. cant remember if there is a shop, but deffo woth a visit or two

The Arch = small, cramaped and pricy for what it is but has a good range of bouldering. There allways seems to be alot of problems at the higher end and not so much easy or intermediate stuff but good route setting if you like hard overhanging problems with lots of slopers! No shop but they do a nice cup of tea.

Ive not tried any other climbing walls in London.

For me the castle wins but thats becouse i live round the corner from it

hope this helps

Chuckles again, can't log into hotmail to get my activation code to actually log in...In reply to ClimberEd:

I went there (westway) a couple of weeks back and I think it was £9.50 to climb. Although in all fairness this was probably after 5 so 'peak' climbing time.

I actually like the Arch, I've just bought a block of 10 visits which works out at £6.50 a go, on/off peak. I normally feel like I've got my money's worth (there's only so many V1s I can fall off before I'm done!)

Climb London (which runs Swiss Cottage, Brixton and some other small walls plus, I think, Mile End?) is £8 something (less to Climb London members). What's annoying is that I used to be able to climb at Swiss Cottage as part of my gym membership (which is how I started climbing regularly, actually) but now have to pay £6 something to go, and it's not worth it for me.

In reply to doz generale:



Or to put it another way has an even spread of problems from easy to mid-grade rather than the majority being below Font 6a.

In reply to i.munro:


i've found that there is more hard stuff then easy or intermediate but my deffinition of hard is probably most peoples intermediate as im a bit of a lard arse at the momment as i havn't climbed much at all over the last 12 months. I think due to the small size of the place someone climbing at easy to easy intermediate would probably be able to do all the problems on offer within that range within one visit. I don't really know how this translates in terms of the V grades they use as a i tend not to take much notice of grades other then a rough guide of what i should atempt to climb or not.

In reply to doz generale:

That's what I mean though, there's roughly the same number of problems at each grade up to about their V8 (I've no idea what that means elsewhere either).

So while I can definitely do all those problems I can get in a few attempts in a single visit there's more than enough stuff to keep me in projects until the next re-set.

Someone climbing at any grade should be in the same situation (unless you generally get V11 in a couple of tries in which case you'd probably have to start doing eliminates)

If you won't attempt anything that you can't get either on-sight or in a couple of goes then you will run out after one visit but that would be true at any wall or bouldering area in the world.

In reply to Maciek:

I think the Westway is probably the best all-round wall in London. It's got good high leads, a lot of top roping, a good-sized traverse wall, an easyish bouldering area and a hard bouldering area in the new section, along with all the necessary training aids - fingerboards, woodies, campus boards etc.

I tend to go to the Castle as it's easier for me to get to. If you go on the direct debit scheme it works out as £36 a month. I go 3-4 times a week a lot of weeks, so it works out pretty cheap. They have a great selection of easier bouldering, but not much really hard stuff, and a reasonable selection of leads and top ropes. I think they should put in a competition lead wall where they have the high top ropes opposite the bouldering; then it would compete with the Westway. Got all the training aids also.

Mile End - I've been a few times, good for bouldering as mentioned above, don't like the lead area much.

The Arch - Went once, would go again, great variety of bouldering at all grades, but a bit cramped and dusty.

In reply to Maciek: Been climbing at castle for 3 years, never wanted to try the other walls. Routes reset regularly. New boulder walls changed in the summer, new top rope walls and new tall leading walls to come. Choice of wall depends on where you decide to live.

Again, Chuckles can't log in. I'm not being anonymous through choice, just work's firewall

I completely agree with Chalk Bunny, the only (real) deciding factor is where you live/can get to easily. For me the Arch is the easiest as it's right on a decent tube line (except at weekends, grr) very close to central london. I initially jumped in to defend the Castle, which I've climbed at a few times and been very impressed by - great selection of routes of all types, I particularly liked the 'technique' bouldering wall, where the routes were set to give you a chance to repeatedly work one technique, rock overs for example.

I think it boils down to spending a tenner wherever you go in the LDN, for which you'll get fairly decent, but probably quite crowded, climbing. Each cardinal point has its wall, each of which has good and bad points. Plus you can get out to Craggy fairly easily if you live South/Central, and Craggy's great.

In reply to Maciek:

westways decent - new bouldering room means thats lots of wall space and a good seperation between people climbing at different levels. Not as good as mile end for <V4 but probably better above that. Lead walls are decent and in IMO much better than the castle. However I think the different walls appeal to different people there's not one wall which is miles better than the others. Other major bonus at westway is the decent monthly pass rate unlike at craggy.

In reply to doz generale:

Mile End used to have a very good shop. Not sure if it still does. The Arch has a little shop. Do they really do tea? Cool. They give a discount to BMC members which makes the price more reasonable. You need to be pushing V3 or more and over 5'5" to get the most out of the Arch; or able to make up your own problems, but it has a nice friendly atmosphere. Good if you're colour blind because the holds are so dirty you can't see the colours anyway.
Westway is my favourite for friendliness and variety and the lead walls are excellent and not too biased against the short.

In reply to AlisonS:

didnt realise the arch has a shop! yes if you ask at the desk they will make you a cup of tea for a quid. I did like the arch but you get so much more for your £10 at the castle or westway.

In reply to Maciek: A Westway monthly pass (£40) works out quite cheap if you go regularly. Also means you don’t get caught up in the queue at reception.

In reply to doz generale:

Mile End's shop (Rock On) still open and one of the best for advice. They haven't put their prices up £7 and have just opened up more new bits.

In reply to caver:

I May check it out at some point. It's been a couple of years since i visited the mile end wall.

In reply to doz generale: cup of tea for a quid? blimey. didn't realise we'd turned into starbucks overnight. I think it's more like 50p. Also not quite sure how you managed to miss the shop as it's the first thing you see when you walk in. If you try the 10 pack of climbs then you've got the least expensive climbing going in London at the moment i think.
f

In reply to fred_stone:

According to their respective web sites these are the numbers for peak
hours & non-concession climbers.
Doing all the different concession & stuff just got too confusing.

Arch

Peak Single Entrance (Inc. Registration) £10

Bulk buy 10 visits £65

Monthly unlimited membership £50


Castle

REGISTERED CLIMBERS: £11.00 per visit
Registration fee: £4 one-off fee

MONTHLY: £59

BULK BUY 11 VISITS: £110

WestWay

Casual Climb: Per session £9.50 Registration: one-off £3.00

Monthly Pass: £40.00

Mile End

Adult Entry: £7.00 (One off registration fee: £5.00)

1 month: £35.00

In reply to i.munro:

ooops sorry forgot Mile End

Buy 10 get 1 free: £70.00

In reply to i.munro: Has the castle monthly direct debit gone up to £59? it used to be more like £40? I used to do this and go climbing at least twice a week. At the time it was the cheapest option in london (as long as you went at least twice a week)

Monthly direct debit is still £40 at the Castle, but you need to commit to 3 months minimum I think.

In reply to doz generale:

No I tried to just do the simplest options to give some sort of comparison.

In reply to hops:


It's a good deal and probably the cheapest way to climb as long as you go 2 or 3 times a week!

In reply to doz generale:

I just didn't include it because no-one else seemed to do a 3-month membership for comparison.

I also missed out lots of other options by all the other walls & didn't even think about getting into all the off-peak stuff.

In reply to i.munro:

3 months is £95 on the mile end website, I think the Westway only does 6 months

In reply to Maciek:

Yeah it really depends on where you're living and what you're most into (routes or bouldering)...

IMO Westway is the best place - it has a huge amount of routes and bouldering is great. The bouldering is divided into 2 sections, the feature wall which has problems ranging from V0 to V4 along with loads of great feature problems. The other boulder section is a bit more elite, it seems to be aimed much more at higher level climbers with problems ranging from V3 to V10, with most problems in the V6-8 range... it is also really overhanging.

the westway also has a great system training room, campus board, and some fingerboards scattered around. Generally most WW people are friendly and will approach you to comment on your technique with beta! I get the £40 monthly pass which seems the best option money wise.

I would rate the Castle very closely to the Westway, though it's a bit more expensive (£1) and they grade their problems in British tech which is rubbish... it's in a nice building (a castle) and climbers are nice (though not as approaching as the WW folk!). I felt that Mile End was a bit run down compared to the other places, still worth a visit if you're close...

In reply to Maciek: I think the westway is my favorite-certainly the people who work there care about what they do.Its very sociable and they have used their space well having dedicated training areas as well as usual sort of walls.I think the other walls in london are beginning to slip up over this a bit-in philosophy if nothing else.The 45 deg board at Mile end is still my favorite bouldering facility(even though i can barely pull down on it)-possibly not long for this world,perhaps a candle lit vigil would stop its demise....

In reply to witnessthis:
The 45 degree board now has a partner in the Secret Garden along with a new 15 Degree Board (and the campus board in the near future). The original will go for a short while and then be replaced by a bigger better Board Room