UKC

The new Awesome Walls in Sheffield is set to be the first National Performance Centre for climbing when it opens at the end of September.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/news.php?id=5766

In reply to UKC Gear:

Really? Sheffield already has The Foundry, The Edge, The Matrix and The Works, plus at least 4 decent free outdoor boulders. It's just going to put extra strain on the existing leading walls.
This is no different to Sainsbury's opening a store where there are already 3 smaller stores (as has recently happened in Broomhill). One shop there has already closed. The same goes for sandwich shops in Highfield. Money has been put into a bright new shop within a quarter of a mile of 3 established smaller ones which are being drained of business. It's a "we're bigger and we don't care" attitude and I hate it.
Si.

In reply to UKC Gear: Great quote from Ed Hamer "It's the largest wall I've ever seen and I've seen quite a few from my travels!" - he must have had his eyes closed every time he has been to Ratho or Imst

In reply to Graeme Alderson:
I was thinking the same, 12.5 m isn't that big, perhaps it's the overhang that makes it look so big.
I went to the DAV centre in Stuttgart and that had 16 m walls indoors and an amazing 14 m featured wall outside.

In reply to gethin_allen:
Hi Gethin, The tallest walls are 16m with the majority at just under 15m. By the time you add the actual route length in many of the lines are 18+m with the competition wall been 23.5m long.
Thanks for the interest.
Dave D.

In reply to Graeme Alderson: I think the words 'one of' may have been lost somewhere down the line but it's still pretty impressive as is The Works.
Dave D.

In reply to simes303:

Come on, it's totally different, the next logical place to put one is here. They're not trying to put the others out of business or they wouldn't have built it miles away.

In reply to UKC Gear:
Interesting. How many other National Performance Centres do we have in the UK? If this is the 'first' then presumably no other wall in the UK meets the criteria?

In reply to andyathome: Its a BMC designation so presumably it only applies to England and Wales rather than the UK.

In reply to simes303: Si, I think this is a very different proposition to the existing walls which serve prob the most dense constituency of climbers in the UK across S6, 7, 8, 10 and 11. All of the walls you mention have a real community feel about them. My guess is that this AW sited alongside the M1 is a very different beast with a very different constituency, and not really in competition. Why would you drive from Nether Edge to go climbing at Meadowhall? Or from getting rained off at Burbage?

In reply to simes303:

People have said that about every wall built in Sheffield since the Foundry. Sheffield just seems to soak it up.

In reply to Jonny2vests:

I won't even go to those walls during peak times because there's so many people, just feels like a waste of money.

In reply to Dave Douglas: Awesome Walls:

Up here in Sunderland Wall we have 14 rope lines that are 23m high and the 4 central lines overhang by an forearm pumping 8 metres. Now that's awesome!

(see www.sunderlandwall.co.uk)

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Time will tell.
I hope I'm wrong.
Si.

In reply to simes303:

Don't forget The Picture House.

If someone is going to open a BMC NPC then surely the requirements of the BMC automatically mean they must be reasonably well funded? The parking spaces, the spectator viewing, the competition wall that can be permanently reserved, all add to the size and hence cost of the building, I would expect.

Aewsome may be well funded but they are hardly Sainsbury's or Tesco.

Obviously if the set up cost is enhanced for an NPC then there may be pressure on pricing to recover the costs, if not initially, perhaps later on. It will be interesting to see if the pricing matches the current walls or if Awesome think that Sheffield's Yorkshiremen will easily parted from their cash.

In reply to Jonny2vests:

So true. Both other lead walls are busy, and AW customers will come from a much wider catchment.

In reply to simes303:
More importantly than anything else, no other wall will ever have the wave, and thus the Foundry will always be king.

The thing I find funny is this: ".. an important role in providing training facilities for GB Team members and top-end climbers." No doubt the first part of that statement is true (thinking of the youth lead team) but very few of the 'top-end' climbers I can think of in Sheffield spend a significant amount of their indoor time with a rope on.

In reply to winhill:

May as well forget it for now, at least until it's actually under construction.

In reply to UKC Gear:

I'm liking the look of the featured wall. A bit of indoor jamming would be good to keep the 'grit skin' in shape over the Winter

In reply to all:

Thanks for all your comments folks- kind or curious!

It's still a bit 'wow, is this really happening?' for me!

I'm certainly no Tesco's or big brand. I'm just lil' old me who's lucky enough to run a few walls, work with some great staff and make many climbers happy!

If anyone's got any burning questions please email me direct as it's getting a bit hard to keep up with all these threads!

Thanks,

Dave D.