ROKT Climbing Gym

Timbowne - 17/Apr/12

Getting to be a bit of a regular here, despite the distance for me! Fantastic place, really friendly staff and an amazing (really different) building. It's got a gorgeous outside seating area for nice days which overlooks the river. Then you have the actual climbing, which is fab. The 16m top rope walls feel a bit of a challenge at first, struggled on some 6b+ routes which was unusual. Definitely good fun though. I recently had chance to try the 21m lead wall, first on the slab (5+ to get myself used to the height) and then on the overhang (6b, easiest grade they have on there). Definitely a challenge and the highest I've climbed yet indoor. It must be noted that you need at least a 45m rope to climb. Don't get caught short! Volumes on the lead wall make for some very interesting and varied routes. Grading seems fair. There's a grading sheet at the base of the wall where you can give your opinion as to if they've got it right or not. The bouldering is a highlight too, forgetting the fantastic competition wall for the moment they have a number of other bouldering rooms. Two chamber like rooms, one with a number of fantastic traverses and some fairly technical little problems and another with more pumpy stuff, including a nice long lip, a stalactite and problems that can go from one side of the room to the other (with holds all over the ceiling). Then in the middle of these there's another wall for doing some circuit training on, trying to link together more than a couple of the circuits led to my arms nearly falling off. And then finally back to the competition wall, which has a nice variety of grades and isn't just for the superstars. All in all, fantastic, must confess it's taken over from The Leeds Wall as my go to venue for climbing of an evening/weekend.
Kieran_John - 27/Jul/11