UKC

Looks like the route setting of old has rearerd its ugly head in this climbing gym what ever happen'd. I was under the impression they had employed a designated route setter to remove the constant rock over long reach, rock over long reach. Will it change over the summer again?

In reply to Anonymous: where is the wall ??

In reply to Scotty: Right in the back yard of sunderland wall you think they would be putting up a bit more of a fight. They just seem to have sat back and put on the blinkers thinking that it wont make a difference to them, Thats what the likes of British Airways and BT have done and look at where they are now!!

In reply to Anonymous: Right which routes cant you do, this is really starting to piss me off, stop whinging and think about where you put your damn feet. Its not all bloody rockovers, i set there and i dont set just bloody dynos either, set 3 new problems on saturday, problem with them? are they just too hard? come on give me a break got a levels and stuff

In reply to Anonymous: And stop being bloody anonymous

In reply to Anonymous:

Yeah, it seems just about right....
Climbing in Aycliffe for a few years now. Never seem to see many new routes on the the top rope walls. Same old things for years. With a little exception to the new wall at the back. Still no signs of changing.
Went down there a couple of weeks ago during a weekday evening, probably monday evening I think. Not many souls around as it used to be before Sunderland opened. I think Aycliffe will go down eventually according to this trend.

Whereas, Sunderland changes their problems so often and keep some problems on the main wall for a little longer, which proves to keep off the stale stake to me. I'd go to Sunderland more often despite the boring panel construction and bolt-ons. At least they spend time to set routes, new ones. That's probably why they host more comps than Aycliffe.

In reply to Skinny Kin: this is nonsense. aycliffe very recently set a whole load of new routes on one of the old top rope panels. In addition the bouldering wall changes reasonably regularly too. many of the routes/problems are high quality and also pretty hard which i reckon is possibly the real problem here. and the reason the wall is so quiet of late?...maybe people are outside climbing or am i being silly.

Sounds like the same old Aycliffe problem to me. Its not that the routes too hard or easy (often there is a mix). Its just they show no imagination. Basically the same moves over and over again, with the odd long reach thrown in to supposedly make them harder. Wake up, take the criticism constructively and be a bit different in the route styles.

In reply to Anonymous: I set routes there. come measure my reach..im tiny.

In reply to Paul B:

Im well sick of people talking shit about routes at indoor walls. eg, this rockover long reach rock over bollocks. Setters (including myself) do their bloody best. People should give us all a break. Has any one who criticises the routes ever tried to set them. I mean come on i know not all the routes set are gems but these people try their best.

In reply to Boywonder: Thank you... where do you set?

In reply to boywonder:


Exactly the problem you pointed out yourself there. I can see why you are sick. YOU (singular) are trying the best by YOURSELF. Can one person do the best? This is exactly where customers come into play. "Two heads are better than one". YOU all route setters out there should listen to the customers what they have to say about the routes, grades. Just as leisure centre should listen to their customers about the facilities and services the centre provides IN ORDER to improve them.

After all, the more the comments (constructive or even negative) the more it can be a help to improve.
I do not think you're a good listener if at all.
If people don't like the routes, ask them why. Questionnaires are always good in leisure centres, gyms and the likes. Why not in climbing walls? Ask customers for feedback.
Have you route setters not got that marketing skill yet?

In reply to Anonymous:

Exactly, only ONE of the twenty odd panels in the main hall, that's what...5% Can you not see or breathe in the dust and dirt on the horizontal tuffa on the slabby wall. It looks like no staff, route setter ever go there.

The old bouldering wall is not changed for ages. Nothing much they do about it and nothing much they can do about it. The new one, yes. Agree. That's about it. The new lead wall has many routes set at the opening of the wall, which was about a year and half ago. I get pretty bored by now.

GO TO Sunderland and see for yourself how often they change their routes there.

AND stop being anoymous. Coward. I know you're from Durham Uni cos I study there as well. As you may be a student, I assume you come from area out of the NE. You may not have climbed in Aycliffe for long. I've climbed there for 7, 8 years. I can tell what's changed and what's not and how often.

Do you want to argue with me???

In reply to Skinny Kin:
No I don't want to argue with you. Have you tried making suggestions to the staff, or are you too a coward.

Remember, nobody is forcing you to climb there.

Yours,

ANONYMOUS

In reply to Anonymous: I think if you take a good look the holds on the old bouldering wall have been changed, paul willis also took the time to redo the problems folder with photographs of the wall showing the routes instead of the old drawing.... I know for certain that at least two panels have changed very recently, and when the problems were chaging often you all moaned about that as well. I would like to know which routes you find all these long rockover reaches because up to now ive done most of them and yes there are some big rockovers in the harder routes but not all the moves are like that, so which one?

In reply to : Oh forgot to add there wass a new routes log made after the first thread on here...its at the front.

In reply to Paul B:
Paul, don't bite on this thread. I'm sure it's only a wynd up!!!

Having said that why was the new bouldering wall stripped and cleaned only to have 10 problems put back up?

Also where is the long awaited fingerboard???

And finally, when is Rock Antics going to buy a campus board??

Scott

In reply to Anonymous: Errr three new ones other nite.. pinks black nd reds, im mid exams sorry cant set too many more, might do tonight but it depends if the thug is in or not...have u got my videos? high life and stonelove? You want some real problems come try the home board, all finished and steep, class problems on that

In reply to Anonymous: name yourself pleease. ra great talking of long reaches try Sunderland how tall is steve crow?

In reply to ScottA: hi Scott
Jane here - you know dangers of finger boards and campus board to kids - why the wind up ?

In reply to ScottA: Got the number of new routes wrong - try the ones set by Andy Earl
Jane

In reply to Scotty: Where are the features at sunderland - big isn't always better!!!!

In reply to Skinny Kin: Checked out the filthy bouldering wall at Sunderland lately. Checked out your hands after belaying on the ropes there too?
They havent changed a rope since it opened. Rock Antics do a daily check and change the ropes more frequently than required. At least its run by climbers what would Dean know.

In reply to Anonymous: and dont forget that rock antics have a greater supply of holds from jerry moffat, entre prise, bendacrete, wagna, rock works to name a few. or is that another reason you twisting you dont know how to use them

In reply to Anonymous: there has been about twenty new top rope routes put up in the old end of the over the last two weeks so there is plenty to be going at. the old bouldering wall has started being changed last week by colin and should be finished in the next few weeks along with a new bouldering guide with new routes on them

In reply to Anonymous:

Could you try not to be anonymous?
If I'm a coward, I wouldn't have registered my details on the site.
I have suggested some comments to the wall before. Only until recently they have begun to do something about it. In fact, the biggest improvement was the acquisation of the rest of the hall. Good job the back half (new wall) didn't turn into skate park. That'd be disasterous.

Yes, nobody is forcing me to climb. That's exactly the point. So I do not climb there if my friends don't drag me there. Only until they try to be more creative and alter their routes on a regular basis AND clean and replace the polished holds. I won't spend money there.

In reply to Anonymous:

That's because there's so much traffic in Sunderland. I worked there before so I know. A lot of the holds on the bouldering wall are being changed for competitions on regular intervals. You can't help the traffic there if it's so popular. Then, they were short on staff to maintain the wall. New problems or routes just about every other week. The dust comes from the ground to the ropes I suspect. You'll need a large supply of hovering facilities to do such a massive floor space. Yeah, I agree they do need to sort some cleaning out.

Dean isn't working there any more. He's gone on a long holiday trip round the world and given the manager duty to the four of them. Did you know that? The rest of the staff all climb and some of them are pretty good, experienced climbers. Did you know that?

In reply to Anonymous:

Jane,
All finger boards I have used in walls is endorsed by a warning notice about its danger. Kids only go to a wall with supervision of an adult or two. If the accompanying adults don't read the notices and adhere to them, that's their own fault. So I don't see the problem to have campus boards as I'd love to use it to train my fingers. To this end, I've even got a finger board at home, which I find I reap the benefit from it.

In reply to paul willis:

Nice one. Thanks for all the effort. That's what the customers want to hear a wall is doing something.
Went there 2 weeks ago. Noticed the new bouldering topo photos. Improvement.
Hope you guys can rescue some business from the competition.

In reply to Anonymous:

The features aren't there yet. It's one of the criticisms I have about Sunderland. Just plain panels and bolt-ons. Featured panels cost a great deal more. For the size of the walls, this means big money. As I said, the features not there yet because I've been told by John that they have a two year project to develop a fully featured, leading and two pitched, leader placed protection wall with belay stances on the empty wall next to the bouldering wall. After that, possibly an ice wall if there is a demand. Of course this costs money as well.

Did you know that?

In reply to Anonymous:

I'm 5ft 11 and a half inches. Oh and there are (were) only two routes that Karin hadn't climbed. The reachy F7c set by Ian Vickers (with an uncharacteristic jump) and the F8b by Andrew Earl.

Some of the routes may be too hard but they are NOT reachy, unless you are not flexable enough.

We will be seting more easier routes at Sunderland for the start of next winter and there will be three routes to a rope line by then with more variety of bolt on holds and maybe, just maybe, some large screw on features.

Ultimately, speak to the staff at the centre and let THEM know how you feel.

In reply to Anonymous: Im 5ft 7 and stupidly flexible but supposedly set very reachy routes and one of the previous route setters is about the same height and just as bendy, skinny kim type your real name not a nickname, if we change the problems more often like we used to you all moan then as well. People on here should climb more instead of spending all their time typing insults and slagging things off, maybe then some of the routes and boulder problems wouldnt be so difficult

In reply to Paul B:

I climb at the moment just 2/3 days a week. Is that not enough? Kin is my real name, not Kim. I have it for the last 29 years, 11 months and 6 days. If you don't believe it, it's up to you.

I'm not the one who complained the problems were hard. I complained problems not changed for a long time until recently and some places were filthy and polished. It's to your wall's own good to notice problems.

What kind of insults are you putting up with?
If the wall is dirty, then it IS dirty. There are no 2 ways about it. It's fact, not insult.

In reply to Skinny Kin: Strange I saw him on his bike yesterday !!

In reply to cussin:
Who are you? You saw me the other day on my bike. Possible. Where did you see me? I may have seen you at the same time. You never know.