UKC

UEA Sportspark are introducing one of the most draconian policies I've ever seen in a public facility over 20+ years of climbing:

http://www.sportspark.co.uk/join-in/indoor

To climb you will have to pay an annual fee of ten quid to be assessed that you're competent.

Genius.

Anyone else seen similar in the UK? Let's hope other more sane facilities don't follow suit.

In reply to The Marmot:

Is this on top of an annual membership style payment, or does it combine the two? If so, I don't see the problem. Most centres charge a membership fee, and frankly a yearly competency test will take minutes and do absolutely no harm to the standard of safety within a wall.

That said £10 just for a five minute competency check is definitely taking the micheal.

In reply to The Marmot:
Climbing is only for 90mins if you read the price list.

They have 16 walls with 2-3 routes on each wall.

Big fish little pond syndrome

In reply to MischaHY:

it's not the price that I find irritating. I happily pay my annual dues for other walls I use. It's the restrictive 'competency test' timings and annual requirement that gets me.

I've climbed at lots of walls and not witnessed something like this. Barking that a competent climber cannot simply turn up and use it (subject to usual form filling). Most of the walls in the UK manage quite well without it, so not sure why the over zealous approach. Perhaps the lack of on-site qualified staff to monitor the users is the reason.

They've lost my business as i can't be arsed with jumping through the silly hoops.

In reply to The Marmot:

The rules and pricing would certainly put me off visiting, why the annual re-registration? And why the 90min slots? If I go climbing indoors I tend to go for 2-2.5 hrs and there's no way I'd pay £13 for that.
Most of the walls I've been to don't have any annual membership either, you fill in the standard bmc form and sometimes pay a couple of quid the first time you go and that's that.

In reply to The Marmot:

Pahaha, a 90 minute slot can jog the f*ck on. What a joke.

In reply to MischaHY:

I can see minor logic in a small (couple of quid) once off registration fee to cover the cost of admin, the keyfob or entry card or whatever but annually? it is unjustified. Imagine having to pay a tenner once a year to shop at Tescos. It's bullshit and plenty of walls don't suffer this nonsense - if you have a choice go elsewhere and whatever you do ask what the justification for it is.

In reply to gethin_allen:



Totally agree.. When I climb indoors the social aspect is a big factor.. I don't want to go thinking 'shit, if I say Hi I lose 10 minutes of my 90".. at the Foundary me and my mate would play pool for ages when too tired to climb. I may be showing me age then, that was 20 years ago when they had a pool table there..

In reply to The Marmot:

As a long term local climber and one of the route setters I'd like to comment on the points in this thread:

The new annual registration and competency test is £10. Thereafter it's £1.50 to climb off peak, £4 at peak time, quite cheap I would say. The 90 minute time limit was introduced a few years ago when the wall was the only one in Norwich and used to get rammed in the evenings. It gave the Sportspark the option of trying to manage more climbers than spaces, in practice it is never applied these days as there is also Highball, Norwich's version of the Works. I would say the chances of being booted off after 90 minutes are virtually zero.

This wall is within a multi use sports centre so doesn't have any supervisory staff with climbing experience unlike most walls. The competency test is meant to make sure that people climbing with effectively little supervision have demonstrated a basic level of competency rather than just saying they can belay. I agree with the initial competency test but I disagree that it needs to be repeated annually.

Speaking for myself and not the Sportspark I find it somewhat insulting to have to prove repetitively that I can belay when I've a) been climbing safely for 28 years and b) have been climbing for the previous year at that wall and survived. After all, I don't have to prove I can swim to use the pool and yet I could drown, I don't have to take an annual test to prove I can drive (though maybe some should ).

It is possible the need for the annual competency test may be reconsidered as there is a lot of concern about it locally.

Finally, the Sportspark are not alone in requiring a practical test, Westway required me to demonstrate I could belay someone leading before I could do other than top rope belay.

In reply to Dave Reeve:

A correction on the price, it's £2.50 off peak and £4 peak time if you have a bronze card which is £5 a month, still quite cheap.

In reply to Dave Reeve:


Cheap?! If you climb 4 times per week, that's a monthly cost of £77. My local wall, which seems to be about average for the area, charges £37/month, which on the same basis works out at £2.06/climb. And for all its faults, which are many, they don't make you prove that you're still competent when you've been climbing there for years.

In reply to Dave Reeve:

Your pricing system seems rather complicated (as demonstrated by you yourself not knowing the prices), you neglect to mention it's £6.50/90min for pay and play.

In reply to gethin_allen:

it isn't my pricing structure, it's theirs and I'm not here to defend it. Personally, unless you're a very high user, I think it's reasonable value for money but that's just my opinion.

Since the topic had been raised I was trying to give people some insight into why the registration/competency test had been instigated and explain about the 90 minutes.

In reply to Dave Reeve:

Dave,

thanks for the constructive reply. In fairness I've never seen the 90 minute policed in the last 18 months. My biggest gripe is the annual competence test and frankly inflexible induction times. I think it is unnecessary and a deterrent to casual users.

Thanks

In reply to The Marmot:

I hate those United Emirate Arabs