UKC

How fantastic to have this in Stoke On Trent. Even more fantastic it's only five minutes drive from my house!

I'm a total beginner and went along last night for the 20 minute induction.
Was very self conscious and quite nervous; not only a newbie but a 45 year old female! but Dom, the instructor, put me at my ease and I'm now looking forward to honing my skills there with regular sessions...really great place, great staff, come and see!

In reply to jemmima: Does anyone know if this induction thing is a 'must do'? I've been thinking about going to have a look at this place in Stoke but don't much fancy some kind of corporate induction?

In reply to jemmima:

I have a feeling inductions may be compulsory (safety, liability, insurance etc...)

However, the Awesome Walls guys are generally a good bunch and the induction is unlikely to be 'corporate'.

I would highly recommend doing a simple induction if you haven't used a bouldering facility before.

In reply to ypy:
No, you dont need an induction if you're an experienced climber (at least, no-one said anything to me about one - I took along a completed form from the internet and was climbing straight away).

Some walls always mandate one, some not as long as you sign the forms...dont know why.

In reply to ypy:

non of the otehr awesome walls have compulsory inductions as long as you know what you are doing.. think I had to name 3 differnt branded belay devices (grigri, atc, reverso)

In reply to idiotproof (Buxton MC):

Apologies I was under the assumption that we were talking about non experienced climbers who would normally require instruction.

In reply to jemmima: cheers everyone....got 30 years of experience but have only been to an indoor wall once before!

In reply to abr1966:

Most inductions concentrate on good belaying practice, but since this is a bouldering wall that's not really an issue!

They might want to discuss a few obvious safety points, but I can't imagine it would be too arduous. I already had a card from the Stockport wall, so it never came up.

It's a great development for me too. 25 minutes as opposed to over an hour each way to Stockport, I plan to be there a lot!

In reply to Dave Garnett:

It's alright planning to be there Dave, it's another thing actually bothering

Good wall, I like it.

In reply to Dave Garnett:
You can go in without answering questions about belaying etc, but if you ahree to do so then they give you a card valid for stockport and liverpool - for the sake of 30 seconds I think you may as well!

In reply to andi turner:

I was there 3 times in the first week, where were you?! I'm in Oslo this, otherwise I'd have been some more.

In reply to jemmima:

I've been twice and it's blown me away... I wish I lived nearer! They've made a real effort getting the layout right, with varied angles from easy slabs to full-on roofs (and WHAT a roof!!). The problem setting is brilliant: stuff you really have to think about not just pull on, and the height's enough to give a little thrill at the top there too...

Big thumbs up

In reply to Dave Garnett:

I went this week, wasn't quite as big as I expected, and found the easy problems a bit predictable (too weak and out of pracise to see if the harder problems were the same, and to be fair I didn't have a long session), and the height scared me (but I'm a wuss who can't land on her feet), but in general I liked it - fun training aids upstairs, friendly helpful staff, and so much more convenient for me to get to!

See you down there sometime!

In reply to jemmima:

Was really impressed with the concentration of routes that didn't depend on power but on working out the best sequence..

In reply to Fidget:

That would be good. I'm expanding my carbon footprint some more during the next few weeks, but I'd be on for a trip at the weekend.

In reply to All:

Thanks for all the positive feedback, it's great to see that you're all enjoying what we've created here in Stoke.

As always we're looking for feedback, positive or negative. There's always room for improvement or ideas that we haven't considered.

We'll be staring a reset soon so please check our blog for definite dates http://awesomewalls.co.uk/BlogStoke.html

All the best

Dave Douglas
Awesome Walls Climbing Centres Ltd
Liverpool/Stockport/Stoke/?

In reply to jemmima:
I've also recently started climbing here - (the 15 min drive is great).

The upstairs area is excellent.

Mark