UKC

One way to address the potential infection problems of indoor climbing would be to open up some temporary outdoor climbing walls or even actual rock to be managed by local climbing wall staff and cater for beginners as well as experienced climbers.   Outside, should be inherently safer than inside due to more space, more air flow and UV light.

In other countries people have turned the outside of buildings into climbing walls (e.g. Flakturm in Vienna) and there are some walls in Germany where the outside of the building is one of the main lead walls e.g. DAV in Munich.  There are also walls which have built normal indoor plywood structures outside e.g. Imst.

There are also man-made concrete boulders in various parks e.g. in Glasgow and places within cities where roped climbing is banned but in the current crisis it might be possible to persuade government to allow it temporarily to protect the climbing-wall industry e.g. the quarry off the Radical Road in Edinburgh.   If we could put our own trad vs sport politics aside for a few months some of these locations could be equipped with lower-offs and bolts on a temporary basis this summer and run like climbing walls so indoor climbers can get their fix safely and the staff of indoor walls can get some work.

Indoor climbing will come back just like pubs, cinemas, restaurants and everything else that people like to do socially indoors. It will reopen slowly, it'll be more expensive, there will probably be some annoying online queing system. It won't be half as fun, but you'll appreciate it twice as much.

"To cater for beginners as well as experienced climbers" ???

Beginners possibly but, if it is dry enough to climb outside why would experienced climbers not just go to the crag? 

because the crag might be more than 5 miles away.

You can hire an instructor already, and I'm sure those instructors, including ones that normally work for indoor climbing walls, would be glad of that business.

Fair point. Sorry I'm forgetting that it's different beyond the borders of England. 

Not a problem in England

I'm not sure.  If indoor climbing was more expensive *and* less fun that I wouldn't just switch back to running and hill walking.

I also think the point is moot because unless it is pretty much as much fun as it is now and not much more expensive than it is now they will lose the business of 'uncommitted' climbers, childrens parties etc and the economics won't add up.   Very likely people will have less disposable income and be looking to cut back on discretionary spending - a proposition like 'we are going to give you a worse experience for more money' isn't going to fly.

Not really, it's a completely different proposition economically to hire an instructor for a whole day to go to a crag a fair distance away than to book an hour or two session shared with other people at a local wall.   You'd pay more for one day than for a block booking for a 10 week session of 'kids club' or 'youth squad'.

I think there is a place for convenient, outdoor climbing on artificial structures within or close to cities.  Particularly large cities which don't have a lot of good outdoor climbing nearby.   Artificial structures can provide climbs at the grades which people, including sh*t climbers and beginners want, with rock you take what you get.  They can also be engineered for safety.   Outdoor 'indoor' climbing can be very pleasant on a summers evening, especially if the wall provides barbecue food (and if you are in Germany, beer)  - that's why many walls in Europe have some outdoor structures.   Some temporary artificial structures could be a way of 'saving' the summer/autumn season for climbing walls when there are heath issues about climbing indoors.

I've been waiting for Awesome Walls Stockport to bolt the massive chimney outside the main wall

Because you have to drive there and not everyone has the time or motivation to do that after work (to the extent people are still working). An outdoor climbing wall is a good idea in the current environment.

This would be a great idea down here in the South East. Our very limited and fragile crags are currently overwhelmed by people who'd rather be at a climbing wall.