UKC

Just wondering if any of you lot are climbers in or around Southampton? Am goin to uni there this september you see... Whats the sea cliffs like round there?

In reply to jonny_098: get in contact with the Southampton Uni Mountaineering club they are a good group.
the cliffs around southampton swanage and portland are both good venues if you like that kind of thing. I am a soton uni student although i barely climb at the moment due to other priorities

In reply to jonny_098: I don't study at southampton uni, but i climb a lot with the uni club.

Its a wicked group and they're very active, organising loads of trips across the uk and europe. The club website is
www.sumountaineers.org

The local (ish) sea cliffs are at swanage which is an excellent venue.

In reply to jonny_098:

Calshot is the nearest good wall, about 20 mins drive away, think the uni climb there on a thursday night.

Nearest outdoor crags are Swanage and Portland, both in Dorset.

In reply to psicobloc:

Just had a look at the website, looks pretty good! Dont think i could get at it through susu cos u need to be a member or something? Its good to know that there are climbers that far south! Looking forward to soton, u dont happen to know the surf clubs website do you? btw, passionwagon looks awesome!

In reply to Southampton Tom:

Cool, how many people do u reckon r in the club atm?

In reply to Richard Horn:

Red scoop at calshot looks hardcore. Some of the other routes look small tho. (is that just me being picky!) Is there much bouldering there?

In reply to jonny_098:

Most of the calshot routes are 11.5 meters high, the comp wall is 15m, there's a reasonable sized bouldering wall. Calshot can be a pain in the ass to get to due to it only being open in the evening on a weekday (6:30-10:00 although it's open during the day on on the weekend).
The city's other indoor wall, st marys, is small but good for a quick training session (especially if you live a 10 min walk away from it, although you'll probably end up in halls which is a bit further away, the unilink buses will get you there easily enough though).

Swanage is awesome, I'm not a massive fan of Portland (don't like bolt clipping) both of which are between an hour and a half and 2 hours drive from soton. Dartmoor is also possible for a (very) long day trip.

I've just left soton for a while, I'm off to LA for 6 months courtesy of soton uni so will be back in Dec. I've never climbed with the uni club so can't comment on that (nowt personal against them, I'm sure they're a good bunch but they do tend to overwhelm wherever they go with sheer numbers so I generally steer well clear). As rich said they do calshot on thursdays, st marys on monday and afaik they do weekend trips every other weekend - SUMC members feel free to correct me on that one though.

In reply to Ashley:

Thanks for all that info, much appreciated. Dont have particularly strong sport/trad views, ill climb pretty much anything as long as its good!

LA sounds pretty cool, u goin for research of something?

Saw u juggle on ur profile, so do I! Into clubs, devilstick (fire), 2 diabolos and am trying atm (with little success i admit) to learn 5 balls. Good to see a fellow juggler every now and then. What kinda stuff u into?

In reply to jonny_098:

I juggle 3 balls and 3 clubs (fire and normal for both), haven't gotten my arse in gear to learn more than that, tried poi and got bored, am trying to learn diabolo again, haven't used it since I was about 10 so Im basicly learning it from scratch.

Am going to LA to work at UCLA and being paid for the pleasure, should be cool, found myself an apartment with someone who climbs!

What course you enrolled on btw?

In reply to Ashley:

Cool, never got into poi, looked boring from the start! If you r starting up diabolo again check out the mad french posse (google). They have released diabology its insane, trailer on website blows my mind. lol, also check out diabolo.ca for some more inspiration!

Was thinking of getting some firefly balls actually. U used them? u dont need gloves!!

Wow, im so jelous UCLA will be a good experience im sure, and climbing as well! who could ask for more.

Im doin Marine Biology with Oceanography this sept, will be a good laugh im sure.

In reply to jonny_098:

Ive got the Mr Babache balls with the gloves because I liked the weight of them, the firefly ones are far too light for my liking. Oh and they give bigger flames :-D

In reply to Ashley: Which at the end of the day is what its about right?!

Calshot has a good mix of everything i tend to find, best if you have a rope to do some of the lead walls (they are quiter when some of the top ropes can be busy in winter)

bouldering isnt bad they are in plans for new bouldering walls last i heard, the ones they have change fairly frequently though.

If you have a Car, day trips from Southampton Portland and Swanage as mentioned and Craggy Island for a different indoor climb

In reply to jonny_098:

Can't really add much to what others have said; calshot good, st marys bad, calshot far, st mary's near. Bolts or trad an hour and a bit away.

Just thought I'd say hi. I climb and I'm in and around Southampton. Give us a shout when you get here.

All the best.

In reply to Ashley:

When are you off, Ash? Heading to Calshot on Tues and out boozing on Thurs if you're interested.

In reply to jonny_098: beaware of sharks

In reply to jonny_098:

Exactly. If you end up getting them one tip I'll give you is that it's useful to stick an elastic band over each wrist to keep the gloves on your hands when theyre soaked in water because the elastic on the gloves is a bit crap, other than that no complaints!

In reply to MagnusL:

I fly out on the 6th july, have already moved back home and I doubt I'll be in soton again any time soon so no can do bud, lack of cash has forced me to cancel my trip to swanage at the weekend, cant afford the petrol! Let us know how your training goes over the weekend btw, how far you planning on walking?!

In reply to Ashley:

Thats harsh, no crumbly limestone action. Ah well you're going to LA

not sure about this weekend, I'm about to go and get the maps out. Maybe about 50km. ugh Only three weeks till the race, don't feel very ready. eek.

In reply to MagnusL:

We'll get some limestone action in when I get back bud.
Hopefully you'll have better weather than last year, apparently it was baking on the hills last time!

In reply to Ashley:

Yeah, it was brutal. I was support crew and I was suffering with the heat! I'm praying for a day like today.

In reply to prana: Sharks?!