UKC

Right, I am looking at getting a year membership to a bouldering wall but the thing is I can't decide on which.
I live in Sunderland but would be happy to drive 20-30 mins if the wall was worth while.

The thing is after climbing fairly often (2-3 times a month) at depot in leeds nothing around here really compares :P

Which bouldering walls are you favourites?

In reply to SomeClimbingGuy:
This ones pretty good, not quite the depot tho
http://www.sunderlandclimbingcentre.co.uk

In reply to Sonjita:

I was there last night actually, + its VERY close to where I work, this one is top of my list as it stands I just wanted to know where other people enjoy going.

Yeah nothing is quite depot in my eyes haha

In reply to SomeClimbingGuy:
Climb Newcastle is an excellent venue. I would suggest that you visit several in the local area before you stump up the cash for your membership.
Newcastle climbing centre has a fairly good bouldering section, however it only has about half of the wall space which is available at Climb Newcastle.
Durham Climbing centre is a decent size as well, however when I visited last christmas I found the grading to be all over the place with the V2-3 circuit being substantially easier than the V0-1 circuit, this may have improved now though.
The one in Eldon leisure in Newcastle is a waste of time unless it's changed recently. I've not been to any of the sunderland walls so can't help there.

In reply to spenser:
I have visited durham climbing centre often over the last 9 months - 1 year and I have to say it's just not for me. I don't like the route setting and it was very often empty with no atmosphere.

I have been to climb newcastle once and enjoyed it however a major issue for me is parking a motorbike which I wasn't very comfortable doing outside there.

I visit Sunderland Wall once a week for lead/top roping with a friend but the bouldering area there is very small, I will probably end up at the Sunderland Climbing Centre but will give every wall another chance to impress me before I drop a chunk of cash down, I created the thread mainly to see if there was anything obvious I was ignoring

In reply to SomeClimbingGuy:

Really depends what you're after, the only obvious place that hasn't been mentioned yet is Climb North East in Ferryhill, its about 5 minutes futher away than Durham climbing centre but the routes are changed far more often and are always of a much better quality (Not hard to be mind you), plus it has a much better atmosphere if you get to know a few people there. Worth a look i'd say.

In reply to SomeClimbingGuy:

I also don't like DCC and visited Climb NE (Ferryhill) a couple of weeks ago. I'm not a boulderer but was impressed at the venue and the quality of the problems.

In reply to SomeClimbingGuy:

Climb North East is probably the best and it isn't far from Sunderland. Climb Newcastle is good too but it woud be quite a drive if you were going a few times a week.

In reply to SomeClimbingGuy:
I've never been to climb north east, it looks within the range I would want to travel for a somewhere I enjoyed, is it often busy?
I actually prefer a busy wall to a quiet one (I tent to often climb at weird times) which probably doesn't help.
If I'm not at depot this weekend (friends and a girlfriend who live in Leeds) I might check it out

In reply to SomeClimbingGuy: Climb north east is an amazing venue, great wall and also great atmosphere. Highly recommended

In reply to SomeClimbingGuy: The bouldering walls in the NE are all of a similar and reasonable standard. I have been to all of them often. Setting is about the same quality everywhere with the biggest variation being between internal and guest setters. I find them all usually quiet, which I prefer to crowds. The busiest, but with the setting I most prefer is Climbnewcastle, paradoxically they only set with their own staff, but this is a team of three outstanding climbers. If you want to train hard, creating your own problems, rather than following set circuits then the Eldon Square wall is excellent and can be truly hard core if you have the right people to train with. Eldon can suffer from being too warm though.

I’ve been climbing over 23 odd years and I am based in the North East and we are lucky to have so much choice of brilliant modern indoor climbing venues, I remember the painful sessions climbing on chipped bricks at Hedworthfield Community Centre back in the day or getting hot aches under the bridge at Lumley. Thankfully the Berghaus wall at Eldon come on the scene it is still a great place to climb it will get your fingers strong without blowing them up and will improve your footwork having to use the features, it is council owned and there have been threats of it closing so give it a visit now and again i.e. use it or lose it.

I have been the in house setter at Durham Climbing Centre for about 6 months now, but DCC does have regular guest setters Gaz Parry, Mickey Stainthorpe, Micky paige, Ned Feehally to name just a few all being A list well respected climbers and in my opinion setters and I have personal enjoyed all there sets to date. The turnaround of sets is regular, a set comes down on Sunday night and a new set is put up the following Friday.

I don’t have the right to speak for other setters but I personally know setting is hard graft and challenging and it is hard to tick everyone’s box when setting 20, 25 blocks but I do try my best. I put a lot of thought into my setting and try to create problems that are challenging within the grades of the set a lot of them aren’t flashable so need to be worked hopefully helping people to improve, develop and get stronger so even the easy sets are not ladders you have to think about them.

If anyone is struggling with the problems or want some beta I am at the wall on a Tuesday 7.30 to 9pm also here is my email jameslintonhunter@gmail.com feel free to contact me with feedback and constructive criticism about the problems I set, if it’s not one of my sets I will pass it on to whomever.

In reply to SomeClimbingGuy:

I think that its hard to find a "Best wall" as, and I'm sure you have noticed, most walls are different.
Its strange that were you don't like DCC you persisted for a year without changing.
I feel that it is unfair to simply chalk DCC up this way, based on atmosphere as that is purely down to what time you go, as people dont normally get to climbing walls till after work and the like.
Maybe try changing what time you are going and you will likely see a difference.

In reply to Dom Cordner:

Not too sure where this guy is coming from.Looking at his profile, he's not really qualified to comment on "hard routes" The routes at DCC are changed very frequently in actual fact, giving a varied range of interesting problems, ranging from easy to impossible. James Hunter does a fantastic job putting intelligent problems together on a weekly basis. I know the staff are very receptive to customer feedback regarding anything to do with the running of the centre. Ultimately, these places are training venues for boulderers who want to increase their performance outdoors and in my opinion you can't beat DCC for that.

In reply to SomeClimbingGuy:

I think I like Climb Newcastle best - the routes there manage to be technically hard without necessarily resorting to spacing the holds further... Can't really comment on atmosphere side of things - I quite like a quiet wall - which as others have pointed out is probably just your time of day. Depends what your priorities are.

In reply to charlie gardiner:

"Looking at his profile, he's not really qualified to comment on hard routes"

To be fair mate i never mentioned difficulty, also what differnce does it make if i can climb hard or not i still know what kind of routes i like and what i don't, additionally all climbers regardless of ability should be catered for, so agian its irrelevant ... I climb at the Durham at least 3 times a week and just find that i run out of interesting routes to try... At the end of the day its just my opinion, other people will love the routes at the Durham but i don't hence my preference to CNE... however as you've mentioned training i should probably give credit where credits due, The training facilities at durham are very very good

In reply to Dom Cordner:

Sorry Dom, you didn't mention difficulty. I misread your words. I think if you climbed at any wall three times a week, you'd get bored. Like I said, these places are training facilities for the real thing. I'm still kinda confused by your negative comments though mate if you go to DCC three times a week

In reply to Dom Cordner:

Flippin heck man, if I climbed at any wall, ( apart from Eldon ...where you make your own problems ) at least three times a week I would run out of interesting routes to try. I move around walls a lot simply to avoid this problem. However this does not mean there are not lots of good quality problems to do at each of the walls. As you say, we all have preferences but this does not infer that any of the setting is not good. Also I find that each of the walls in the North East has its own different but enjoyable " ambience ". Vivre la difference.

In reply to SomeClimbingGuy:

Guys chill out.
Firstly I am entitled to my own opinion about any wall, who are you to tell me I am wrong?
I visited durham mainly out of habit and I passed it often anyway.
I don't have anything against the wall or the staff there for that matter it's just generally the wall I enjoy going to the least, that doesn't mean I won't go occasionally when I'm in the area.
My profile and climbing level is pretty irrelevant IMO, very few people are climbing very hard problems, the vast majority of people I have seen are at my level or often slightly worse

I am by no means saying DCC is a poor wall and suggesting other avoid it, it is simply my opinion.

(On a side note everyone in my social group share my opinion)

In reply to SomeClimbingGuy:

Slightly off topic, but I started working on one of the problems at Eldon Square's Berhaus wall in 1991, and finally cracked it in 2003 (it was one of the ones up the 'big' overhang). Pretty sure this must be a record of some sort (probably of patheticness). Not sure what the walls like now, but it was pretty awesome in it's day.