UKC

Once again last week at an indoor wall I did not hear my leader ask for a tight rope in order to take a rest. The noise of a heavy metal band shut out his call.
I have had to ask for the volume of music to be turned down on a number of occasions in the past,
I object to unsolicited background music anywhere.
I have asked around and not found anyone who actually asked for music to be played at an indoor wall.
I am interested in other climbers opinions on this matter

In reply to George Wright:

Can't see why you're getting dislikes. Personally I have nothing against music at a bouldering wall, although I can understand why people dislike it.

But at a lead wall it's surely a pretty obvious safety hazard?

In reply to George Wright:

If it's too loud to hear a call from a leader, it's a safety issue. Not good, no matter what the music and how much someone likes it.

T.

In reply to George Wright:

I've never been to a wall where the music is too loud to hear a shout from my partner. If that is indeed the case then perhaps it is too loud.

However "background" music at a volume that you can listen to seems to be appreciated by the majority of wall users, particularly those who come from a gym rather than climbing background. My own preference would be such a volume at I could hold a conversation with a person next to me without raising my voice but communicating with a climber near the top of the wall would require a shout.

In reply to George Wright:

I enjoy music at the wall. Depending on the layout of the wall, or how busy the staff are etc, it might not have occurred to them how loud it is. A simple request to turn it down is hardly difficult, and I'm sure they'll be happy to.

In ref to it being dangerous... If your leader shouted take, and you couldn't hear... Tell me how, in an indoor wall, that would be dangerous?
Consider first, that you should always be paying attention to your leader, with an appropriate amount of slack, ready to secure an unexpected fall at any moment.

In reply to Tomtom:


Not dangerous but really annoying, especially if you are working the route.

In reply to George Wright:

Why not just go to another wall?

In reply to George Wright:

one of the main reasons why I don't do walls!

In reply to George Wright:
It's a tricky one I think. On the one hand music can definitely add to the atmosphere and complete silence can leave a place rather cold. But music tastes are highly subjective, so what one person likes another may hate.

The three walls here in Sheffield I think have it just about right. Never too loud to be offensive but loud enough to add a nice atmosphere. And most of the music is pretty good in my opinion - more dance than heavy metal. So I think they just need to find that happy medium.

In reply to George Wright:
So if you were at a particularly blustery sea cliff, with noisy gulls around you what would you do?
I often don't hear my gf shout take, but it's a wall, there's no real danger, when she gets down and questions me about why I didn't take in I just ask her to shout a little louder.
Walls would be like morgues if they had no music, in my opinion, I think you may be consulting the wrong demographic!
At the end of the day, you don't have to go there do you?

In reply to stp:

It is, indeed, a tricky one.

I don't really mind music at the wall when it isn't too loud. I have experience communication problems, in the past, but normally due to gangs of kids running riot in addition to the 'tunes' and, then, only rarely.

But I tend to spend a long time at the wall and it's normally long enough to hear the repeat of the playlist. That really is aggravating. Particularly when the playlist is the same as it was a year ago.

Why not just turn it off when it runs out of stuff to play?

Actually, there's an idea: start the playlist at the beginning of rush-hour and let it end when all but the dedicated are long gone, anyway. This way, you please the crowds and don't annoy the people who're putting in a long session.

In reply to Tomtom:


Me too. Obviously it should be no more than background level, but on quite a few occasions I've heard something interesting and gone and found out what it is. Just as long as they are not pumping out the local commercial station.

And not been for a bit, but used to quite like go to the Works on a Friday evening when Sam got his decks out. Not the sort of music I would normally listen to, but it seemed to work.

In reply to the thread:

"Background" music is ok (or indeed welcome). Loud music is not.

Music is ok, but no talk! So nothing involving DJs. A big no-no is feeding from a trendy radio station; the "mood" they try to generate is nauseating.

Vary the play list! Don't repeat the same tracks a lot.

In reply to Tomtom:


While I utterly agree with you, I'd like to point out that you've used the magic word 'should'. Whenever people 'should' do something, you'll tend to find a sizeable proportion doing something quite different.

And so it is on climbing walls. The amount of shit belaying beggars belief.

If you can't hear your climbing partner (often the case on trad crags, especially on sea-cliffs) the danger level has just gone up, dramatically.

Nowadays, many people seem to regard sport crags as outdoor walls. They take their wall behaviour outside. And not being bothered about crag communication because of a controllable factor (such as music) isn't a behaviour that I'd wish to bring outside.

Lest you think I'm being theoretical/pedantic/nitpicking, consider this:

Recently someone told me a horrifying tale involving 'crap communication, but it doesn't really matter'. The guy on top (of a trad route, with belay slings round trees) thought he was going to get lowered ('cos I get lowered at the wall'). Those on the ground thought he was going to take the rope in, so they could come up ('cos it's a trad route). He stepped off and went the length of the route. As the (unbelayed) rope whipped out, it caught on a tree root and saved his life. He thought it was his mates pissing around, having a laff ('cos we do, indoors').

Mick

In reply to George Wright:

You should try Rock city in Hull. they very rarely have any music on. Its deathly quite in there so the atmosphere is crap,

In reply to Mick r:

So long as there is 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide in the climbing wall atmosphere I don't care less whether there's music on or not

In reply to George Wright:

I quite like music at the wall [and I am very old and from the Trad [not Jazz though] background]. Obviously tastes vary. At our latest wall at Fort William - the Three Wise Monkeys - they will add your choices to their playlists - very accommodating. They seem to be able to hit the correct level of volume [for me] too.

In reply to Xharlie:



Jeez, a playlist!! Where is this wall? I think someone needs to advice the staff about this new invention. It's called the internet and it allows you to stream unlimited amounts of music for free all day long.

In reply to George Wright:

Get yourself to TCA Glasgow. We have a 'quiet hour' on Monday and Friday morning's for those who enjoy silence to climb to. Nothing better to get you psyched up and ready to pull hard.

In reply to George Wright:

Why do you need to hear your partners call at the wall...they're either going upwards, or they're falling off, and surely you're prepared for either!

Shit music however....

In reply to George Wright:

My indoor climbing is limited to bouldering, and I rather like background music - the Depot in Leeds generally has a good mixed playlist: 90s/2000s indie, "post rock", older classics, modern cheese. The volume is key: loud enough to provide atmospheric "white noise", quite enough to ignore if you dislike it. I find walls with no music to have a cold, sterile ambience. It has to be purely music though - I dislike local radio - terrible chart hits, inane chatter, and adverts are not condusive to climbing.

In reply to George Wright:

Depends on the band.

In reply to George Wright:

You're entirely correct George: with the sole exception of Motorhead, heavy metal should never be played anywhere.

In reply to Lamb:


That's nice in theory but not I'm sure my employer would sanction it!

In reply to George Wright:

The comment Not hearing a call for a tight rope shouldn't matter if you're paying attention
Far more serious is how somehow the indoor venue, music, talking to other people when belaying somehow promotes an overelaxed atmosphere We've witnessed a few deck outs due to inattention/experience and there have been fatalities
Just the other day at Awesome Sheffield people from three different teams informed a belayer that she had too muck slack out which could result in an accident
She didn't seem concerned and carried on anyway Luckily the leader didn't fall so the belayer probably felt vindicated!