UKC

Hello,

Planning on moving to Bristol in the near future and looking for a local climbing wall with that has a monthly pass entry (i.e. pay for a month to go as many times as you want in that month).

I know there are a few around and probably all quite well equiped. Can anyone recommend me one that has good bouldering facilities and maybe an auto belay (i.e. for training).

Cheers!

In reply to Luk e:

Bristol has 4 climbing centres, 2 of which are dedicated bouldering facilities - TCA and Bloc (both are fantastic and well worth a visit). For roped climbing, your options are UCR and Redpoint; of the two I prefer Redpoint for their exceedingly friendly staff and interesting routes though both have a loyal following.

All in all it's a good place to be though in my time here I haven't seen any auto belays - the closest I'd imagine is Redpoint's 'dedicated partner scheme'.

In reply to Luk e:

We are spoilt for walls in Bristol. TCA & Bloc both excellent bouldering walls - TCA on average offers more powerful bouldering and Bloc slightly higher techy bouldering i.e. it has more slab & vert.
Both also quite sociable if you want to buddy up.

I'm out of touch with the route walls but as previous responder has said no auto-belay.

In reply to Luk e:

Got 4 walls, 3 of which you can get entry to via MoveGB on a 28 day pay plan. That gets you entry to Undercover Rock, The Climbing Academy & Redpoint, Bloc unfortunately aren't part of the scheme. Basically works out at £10 per week for membership to the first three walls plus swimming pools etc.

Undercover rock, St Werburghs. (MoveGB)
Bristols oldest wall, 12m high lead walls, 8m top rope wall, small-ish boulder room and some circuits.

The Climbing Academy, St George: (MoveGB)
First dedicated bouldering wall in Bristol, decent size, lots of angled walls, lots of circuits and training stuff, inhouse physios etc. recently hosted blokfest.

Redpoint, Bedminster: (MoveGB)
Lead walls UP TO 13m (shorter in places), loads of shorter walls for the kids, small but decent bouldering, pub.

Bloc, St Werburghs: (not MoveGB, £6 off peak, £8 other times)
huge 4.5m high bouldering walls, lots of slab, 'Boot camp' training sessions, banging coffee.

Spoilt for choice really, lot of people seem to do MoveGB to cover the first three walls and head to bloc for the odd session, all walls do rates for members also.

In reply to Luk e:

My 2p worth:

For solo training TCA gets my vote. Loads of bouldering at every angle, 2x circuit boards, 2x system boards, multo fingerboards, campus set-up. It's has a suitably old-school slightly industrial atmosphere feel, good music, you can go tops-off if you're working hard without feeling judged, staff are friendly, it has a good vibe and excellent cake.

Bloc feels a bit more hipster bouldering to me, it's new, clean, bright and as stated above has more vertical and technical stuff. One point I find difficult is the height of the walls there - they cross the point where I feel comfortable falling uncontrolled. Especially on what is often not too steep and therefore has lots of holds sticking out. I am a bit of a wimp though. It also has excellent cake.

Undercover Rock aka St Werbergs, the original wall here has some bouldering but I'd mainly head there for the lead walls. For roped training I reckon this is the best bet, plenty of long steep routes to get you pumped. It also has excellent cake.

Redpoint is the newest lead wall in town and it does have some good features, but in my view it's aiming more for the new convert to climbing. It's shiny and bright and the friction paint will shred the tips of your boots within a couple of visits. I don't think I've tried the cake there but it does have a bar with Korev on tap ...

In reply to Steve nevers:

Do you (or any other UKCer) know how MoveGB works in relation to individual venues. For example. if you go to say TCA only, how much of the £10 a week goes to that venue? It would be really harsh on TCA if all the venues got an equal cut regardless of where people go.

In reply to ericinbristol:
Not a 100% sure but I was told in relation to our local council facilities (swimming, yoga etc) that a rate was negotiated for each activity done at specific venues (B&NES has several venues) From how it was explained I would understand that if you went to TCA they would be paid what ever the rate they had agreed with Move GB directly.

I got into a bit of barney with Move GB about something and they tried to explain their business model-which seems similar to standard gyms, ie they hope that not everyone who signs up uses it fully. It did seem that in order for them to succeed they do need people to use it a bit though as overall use needs to increase to ensure it stays viable. So more people exercising more but not everyone going mad and maxing out.

It seems to be surviving and as it is such a great deal for me/public I hope it continues, obviously not at the expense of the walls or anyone else's viability.
Rich

In reply to Solsbury:

Hi Rich. Thanks very much for the information. Do you know if the venue gets a fixed amount every time you go? For example, I generally go to TCA about once a week off peak for £6. If I changed this to three shorter sessions a week and TCA got say £2 a visit then that would be okay. A MoveGB pass would guarantee that I would train indoors to supplement my outdoor climbing because it would keep the cost down. But I would hate it, as you say, if this was damaging to venues like TCA which is why I want to know more.

In reply to ericinbristol:


Its worked out on a per-visit basis for each venue but with a total-visits-per-week cap on what they get. The second part of that deal has apparently started to bite since there's been so much take-up from regulars.

In reply to elliptic:

Thanks for the info. I would be very interested to know what the per visit amount is and what the total visits per week cap is. But I imagine that information is confidential.