UKC

Back at my mum’s for the weekend in Northampton. Where do I go for a bouldering session? Pinnacle in Northampton, The Weedon Projext or head down to MK to Big Rock? 

I have never been to any of them so feedback welcome.

Best nearest - Weedon, it's ace but it's tiny

Most problems - Big Rock Bond in Bletchly

Old school, Pinnacle or Big Rock Hub

There is also a centre in Corby, but I've not been yet. 

Further afield there is Climbing Station in Loughbourgh has loads to go at and great setting, Social Climbing (looks ace but I've not been) in Leicester, and if you like ninja warrior stuff Ape Index also in Leicester.  

Basically Weedon if you only have a couple of hours, BR Hub if you have all day.

I live in Northampton and travel to Milton Keynes to Big Rock for bouldering/training. 

It has far greater variety and volume of bouldering than the other options. If you aren't aware, there are now 2 Big Rocks a 5 minute drive apart. Bond is the newer centre and has better training facilities and fewer children's parties.

Weedon is good but small and lacks any hard problems.

Pinnacle is better than Big Rock for lead climbing but the bouldering area at Pinnacle is small, gets very crowded in the evenings and you will probably complete all the problems in a session. 

Cheers. Only had a small window so went to Weedon. Nice wall, small but enjoyed it. Might be back this weekend.....

Never been to Weedon, but both Big Rocks are better for bouldering than the Pinnacle (the Pinnacle really wins out for leading; it was built at the time when bouldering was really just a warm up/cool down activity and not really a thing in its own right to the same extent as it is now).

They each have a bouldering area almost as big as the best of the dedicated bouldering centres, though Bond's is slightly bigger and also has a top-out boulder.  As others have said Big Rock Hub (Kingston) is older and so the wall isn't as modern, Bond is new-build (only been open a few months) but the quality of problems is there at both and the staff are nice and friendly.

Talking of Big Rock, is there any other town/city where the same company has two centres with mixed types of climbing (top rope, lead and bouldering) at both of them?

MK did need more capacity - Hub was getting way too busy and parking problems were developing.  I suspect they opened it to keep the likes of Awesome Walls out.  But it's great having the two centres owned by the same company because as a member I can go to whichever happens to suit.  (Some would say more competition would help, but generally climbing walls don't take the mick on pricing and quality anyway, so the monopoly is no massive issue).

Bond probably also has a slightly different catchment as it's right next to the A5 junction.  Hub is ideal if you're coming from the east or M1, Bond more from the south.

The New bouldering Wall in Corby would be another option.

If the DAV counts as a company, it has three mixed lead & bouldering walls in the Munich area. And Boulderwelt has two bouldering centres. The DAV has a hundred thousand members in the area, and they're all queuing up for my proj every bloody Wednesday evening!

Thanks for taking the time to write an informed post regarding Big Rock Neil. Grab yourself a free coffee on our behalf next time you’re climbing – just show the staff this message!

Cheers

The DAV is an interesting one...can anyone imagine the idea of the BMC being a major wall operator in the UK?

Well, the DAV is more like the BMC, YHA & Ramblers all in one.

The big sections, like Munich, franchise out the actual running of the walls. But afaik they do actually own them.

Is DJH (Deutsche Jugendherbergen - their YHA equivalent) part of DAV?  Or do they have their own separate hostels?

No, I was thinking more of all the alpine huts.

Ah.