UKC

Wall options in Bristol

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 9fingerjon 18 Nov 2014
I've recently moved down to Bristol, living in horfield - so very interested to get peoples opinions on the walls down here. I tend to boulder indoors, but not always- I used to live in Sheffield and go to the works with the odd trip to the foundry or edge for a change and to do some routes.
 Kemics 19 Nov 2014
In reply to Gustav:

This is obviously comes down to personally preference. For me TCA is the best bouldering venue and redpoint is the best leading venue.

I live in horfield too and I make the cycle to redpoint because i think it's so much better. That said that bike ride is a pain in the ass
 Bluebird 19 Nov 2014
In reply to Gustav:

Bloc, TCA/climbing academy, Redpoint, Undercover Rock/St Werberghs and a little wall in a sports centre near Hartcliffe.

Loads. I'd start with Bloc and the head to St Werberghs around the corner.
 Reach>Talent 19 Nov 2014
In reply to Gustav:

I was going to post a link to my reply last time someone asked this but the search seems to be broken

The main options:

Under Cover Rock: (Top Rope/Lead/Boulder)
I haven't been in years, the impossible parking and foot thick dirt on the walls put me off. If this has changed I'm happy to try again, but I won't hold my breath (which incidentally you definitely should do if you fall off the bouldering wall).

TCA: (Dedicated bouldering)
Bristols answer to the Works, bit smaller but good problems and regular resets; the font style circuits have a good variety of styles. The pizzas are really good.

Redpoint: (Top Rope/Lead/Boulder)
The route setting at redpoint is top notch and the staff are really friendly. Lots of variety in the climbing, regular resets and well thought out. The bouldering definitely plays second fiddle to the roped climbing.

Bloc: (Dedicated bouldering)
Really good bouldering, but really quite high. I wouldn't take a nervous climber here but if you like slightly high-ball bouldering then Bloc takes a lot of beating. Some really very nice boulder problems and seems less crowded than TCA.

I don't know which wall I'd take out an all inclusive membership of, as each has some good points and some bits it does less well. At the moment I am visiting Bloc and TCA for weekday evening bouldering and then hitting Redpoint at the weekends.



 hms 19 Nov 2014
In reply to Gustav:
You don't have to decide on a membership to just one - MoveGB covers TCA, UCR & Redpoint for £10/week.

UCR - bouldering wall used to be mucky, but carpet covering was put down on the mats several years ago and they have a pretty good hoovering routine in place now too. The routes there are very good indeed. Height is good. Parking - this is not a problem if one is prepared to walk more than a few yards, plenty in the surrounding side-streets.

Redpoint - bouldering extremely limited. Routes make a lot of use of smearing on the ultra-rough wall but no screwons/splats at all. Personally I think the massive disadvantage is that the height just isn't enough - the very longest lines might be UCR height, but the majority are a lot shorter. Decent food but v slow service, so you'll have totally cooled down whilst waiting for your (delicious) sandwich!

Bloc - good, feels v high at 4.5m, they delight in setting problems with rockover moves on dodgy feet right at the top so personnally I find it scary. They tend to reset panel at a time, so can be quite hard from one visit to the next to spot what is new.

TCA - good, not so high, good variety of angles. Can get horribly crowded in the evenings which I tend to avoid. They do regular full resets of each grade-range circuit, so session of everything new, then a few of working, then hopefully another reset. Since Bloc came along, it is very obvious and also much appreciated that the resetting cycle has got shorter too.
Post edited at 09:54
 d_b 19 Nov 2014
In reply to Gustav:

I quite like TCA for bouldering. Haven't been to Bloc yet, but it seems to have a lot of fans.

For roped stuff I tend to go to Redpoint these days, although that's mostly because it is close to home and I like the burgers in their cafe.
 BFG 19 Nov 2014
In reply to Gustav:

The only problem with Bloc (and this might have changed since I left Bristol 6 ish months ago) is that they just don't reset as frequently as TCA. Depending on the speed with which you get through problems this can be an issue.

Although, personally I liked the height - boulders aren't size limited outside - and lack of crowds. Whatever floats your boat.

Redpoint is the best lead wall in the area. But not much in the way of bouldering.
 thomasadixon 19 Nov 2014
In reply to hms:

Hiya Helen, what's moveGB? That sounds pretty good - cheap too!
 hms 19 Nov 2014
In reply to thomasadixon:

Hi there Tom, long time no see! How is the wondeful world of work?

MoveGB is a scheme that for a weekly fee allows free access to lots of health club / gym type places. Don't think it's country wide but within Bristol it definitely covers 3 of the 4 climbing venues. If you go for the slightly cheaper weekly fee then I believe there is a surcharge for climbing, but as far as I'm aware there isn' on the £10/week plan, which allows 1 visit a day. Their website if lousy, btw. You get a trial week free (which I used as much as I could). Basically, you select the venues you're interested in and drag&drop 'daily climb' from them onto your 'movelist'. Once they are there, just turn up and say your a MoveGB person. TCA & Redpoint ask for DoB or postcode, UCR ask you to write on a signing in sheet, and that's it.
So far I've been using it for a month with great success. Means I can go to more places to keep variety, but don't feel robbed if I only have a short session. Bloc so far is not included which is a shame, but i can live without them if I'm getting the other 3! It all seems a remarkably good deal, almost magically so for a keen climber.
OP 9fingerjon 19 Nov 2014
Thanks all, really useful advice. Sounds like like a good choice to have to make! Will start trying then out with bloc tonight I think
 Nick Russell 19 Nov 2014
In reply to hms:

> Don't think it's country wide but within Bristol it definitely covers 3 of the 4 climbing venues.

It has decent coverage in London too. I used it on Monday for a quick bouldering session at Vauxwall. Definitely a good deal just for the climbing, but if you ever want to go swimming, use the gym, attend yoga classes etc. it gets even better!
 thomasadixon 23 Nov 2014
In reply to hms:
Work's surprisingly fun nowadays! Not getting any climbing done though.

That sounds too good to be true! Definitely going to sign up, just keep thinking where's the catch - thanks very much for the info. Hope bloc signs up too.
Post edited at 13:38
pasbury 24 Nov 2014
In reply to Gustav:

I have a lot of loyalty to TCA as I sort of got back into climbing through the place but I have to say that Bloc is a very good alternative. As others have said bloc is quite high and an out of control dismount from the top of some problems could be nasty, having said that some parts just feel higher than others (highly subjective of course!) and there's also a freestanding bit but this actually feels too low! TCA is more pure bouldering with more steep parts and an emphasis on power and core (I like a good basic pulling prob). Bloc problems are on average more techy.
TCA can get crowded and sometimes it's not clear what's in on a problem and bits of old circuits and completion routes hanging about.
I highly recommend trying both.
 Kemics 24 Nov 2014
In reply to pasbury:

I also have a lot of loyalty for TCA because I felt they've consistently worked to be a quality centre ... Even when there were no other options. Always making improvements and developing the centre. Not to mention friendly.

Ucr on the other hand, is dirty and routinely would leave routes up for a year or longer. Wrap your head around that! And the wall was rammed simply because there were no other choices. They happily raked in the cash and invested/improved nothing. Only now with some much competition are they slowly sorting it out but it's sad it takes them losing business to remotely care about customers.
1
 Morgan P 25 Nov 2014
In reply to Gustav:
I've always thought that the bouldering was significantly better at UCR than at TCA. It's a shame that there's so much less of it.

Edit: Thought I should expand. TCA is generally powerful problems requiring strength and so after an hour you're knackered and so I never feel like I've got a good length session in. They don't really do technical problems, it's all about strength and power. Also, it can be pretty hard to work out what problem is what as different problems of the same colour overlap and there are sometimes holds that have been taken off / left from a previous route (?) so I spend more time working out what is one problem than I do climbing. UCR focusses much more on technique and making *interesting* problems.

...but then I haven't climbed in Bath/Bristol recently so my knowledge is a year out of date.

Also, +1 to Kemics' comment about UCR not really keeping on improving. I think my opinion might be different if I had been to each wall more than twice a year (when I go home for christmas etc). UCR has always been dingy and dark and a bit manky. TCA, even though the problems frustrate me endlessly I have to give it to them, they make the place seem a lot more friendly.
Post edited at 19:25
 Steve nevers 25 Nov 2014
In reply to Gustav: Climb at the 3 walls in North Bristol pretty often, haven't climbed at Redpoint though so can't offer any opinion on that place.

UCR: Used to be a bit manky, still a little bit manky but has had a lick of paint and new rubber mats laid down in the past 12 months, so no more manky than any standard wall to be honest.
Lead wall and the Toprope room seem to be what they mostly focus on these days with fairly regular resets of sections in both areas, although with the winter its bloody busy in the roped areas after about 5-6pm weekday evenings. Boulder room tends to be left to its own devices, with about say half a dozen people in there on average, setting tend to be from piss simple ladders to horrid fingerstressing problems, just not a lot of it.
Crap but dirt cheap coffee. Part of MoveGB.

TCA: Pretty nice and consistent, showings its age a little now but has a lot of varied angles of wall for what isn't a huge (but is a decent) space, decent range of grades but with a focus on the more powerful side of things, although does have the odd nice technique based thing in there too. Font-style circuits of problems too, usually 34 problems per 'grade set', and with a few random things thrown in as well, good circuit boards too.
Good but f**king expensive coffee. Part of MoveGB. Has inhouse coaches, physios and therapists.

BLOC: Bloody high walls, up to 4.5m in places, 'top out' cave thing, mostly vert/slab walls with some decent overhanging parts too. Fair bit of technique in the setting, but they do seem to enjoy putting sketchy cruxes up high, if you enjoy delicate slopers with huge rockovers you'll mostly be ok though! Personally don't climb here that often because it buggers my knees.
Awesome but pretty pricey coffee. Not part of MoveGB. Has inhouse Coaching and (i think) therapists.


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