The Arch
Bouldering: The Arch is entirely focused on bouldering, and does it very well! Interesting problems for the lower grades can normally be found on the back two vertical walls, and good use is made of the corners. A good balance is struck between interest and ‘do-ability’, and short climbers are well catered for. The Arch has plenty to offer if you climb harder than V5 too. There are normally a few V6s and V7s in the front section on the moderately overhanging wall. Round the back they have a ~30 degree section where they have set up to V10... Also there's a training board if you need to work on specific weaknesses or have just ticked all the hard 'set' problems! A softly lit warm up area with calming ambience completes the venue, and regular re-sets keep life interesting.
Roping: None, but this is the best wall for bouldering in London!
Drinking: For pubs there is The Shipwright’s Arms about 100m from the entrance, normally full of suit wearing city folk. Plenty more pubs on Borough high street. If you need food there is a good Chinese, The Great Wall, opposite and Costcutter is a 5 minute walk.
Pricing: Students get in on Wednesday’s 1pm till 8pm for £5. Otherwise fairly reasonable (although due to rise to cover costs of expansion), £5.50 for students before 4pm on weekdays. A 10 entry pass or investing in 1, 2, 3 or 6 months membership is the cheapest option if you go down more than twice a week.
Opening: The earliest open wall in London! 6am-10.30pm weekdays, 11am-10pm weekends.
Location: Very close to London Bridge station, built under a railway arch (hence the name). Perfect for students at Guy’s Hospital.
Developments? Huge expansion planned into the neighbouring railway arch. Very exciting!
The Castle
Bouldering: Plenty of various styles and grades, spread across three levels. Slabs, roof area, lots of vertical and three steep overhanging areas. The top level has a feature area with plenty for the lower grades. Grades will feel harder than at either Mile End or The Arch - an informal survey of KCLMC reviewers found that there is some consensus that problems are under graded here. A V3 at the Castle can often feel more similar to V4/5 at other walls. Don’t let this get you down! The Castle runs a monthly ‘boulder ladder’ competition in which points are awarded for improvement. The Mezz and the Pen are where you'll find the hard routes. The middle section offers, among other things, technical slab problems and a savage roof bouldering section for training power and endurance! Make sure you bring your guns...
Roping: Lots of top-roping, and a fair amount of leading. Slabs, vertical, cracks, overhangs, corners, features... Most of the walls are quite small, meaning that hard moves are often set near the ground, where you don’t want to be falling off! Upstairs offers a few taller walls, both top roping with features and good lead walls. Can feel claustrophobic when busy. Downstairs the routes tend to be more technical, while upstairs the routes are more power and endurance based.
Drinking: The Brownswood (turn left out of The Castle and cross the road). Pleasant traditional pub serving decent ale and tasty Thai food. Has a beer garden and pool table. Chip shop next door and you can take food into the Brownswood.
Pricing: A recent price increase makes The Castle the most expensive wall in London. £7.50 for students and this only applies at off-peak times (before 4pm Monday-Thursday, all day Friday and before 12pm Saturday).
Opening: 2pm-10pm weekdays, 10am-7pm weekends.
Location: Manor House (Piccadilly Line), Hackney. Built inside a Victorian water pumping station.
Developments? The Castle is always in the process of making itself more environmentally friendly. It currently boasts a vegetable garden, compost heap and generator. Whether this makes it a better climbing wall is debatable!
Mile End Climbing Wall
Bouldering: Lots! Bouldering is the main attraction here, and it is extensive and varied. A lot of it (but not all of it) is quite high-ball, meaning high off the ground. Outdoors is ‘The Secret Garden’ which offers interesting V0-3 problems on a traverse wall and featured wall in an atmospheric setting with pebbles underfoot. Other non-highball includes some steep walls offering a good selection of V5-7 problems, and the monkey room which has some challenging yet encouraging routes for those who are not expert roof climbers.
Roping: Limited, there is one small room offering some leading and top roping, but it can get busy. Almost entirely vertical routes, with some steep sections. Don’t come unless you want to do lots of bouldering!
Drinking: The Palm Tree, Haverfield Road. Turn left out of the Wall and it’s next to the canal. If it’s sunny you can take your drinks outside and sit on the grass. There is a sign on the door prohibiting large rucksacks, but KCLMC reviewers ignored this and were not hassled.
Pricing: The cheapest rope climbing venue in London. No restrictive peak/off-peak times, £5 student entry.
Opening: 12-9.30pm Monday-Thursday, 12-9pm Friday, 10am-6pm weekends.
Location: Mile End, set in a pleasant grassy park next to Regent’s Canal.
Developments? Significant development of the Secret Garden area scheduled for Winter 2010/11.
Westway
www.westwaysportscentre.org.uk/climbing
Climbing: Lets face it, it's all about the competition wall! This lead wall is the biggest in London and is perfect for those who like steep, technical yet powerful climbing. There are normally routes in the F6c region on the main wall, but routes here go up to F8a/b. The other lead walls in the Westway also feature excellent hard routes, with around half the walls being higher than the highest at the Castle. One could argue that the Westway routes focus too much on power with their abundance of steep walls, but you can find technical slab climbing in places.
Bouldering: Hard bouldering at the Westway is to be found in the back room. They have campus boards, finger boards and LOTS of hardcore routes. Definitely a place for the experienced boulderer, these back walls have some seriously hard problems. There is also a dedicated training room with more fingerboards and a training board for setting your own problems. Easier bouldering is found on the feature wall opposite the competition wall, so in the break between climbing you can watch people leading!
Pricing: £6.50 student entry, no off-peak restrictions.
Opening: 9.30am to 10pm Monday-Wednesday and Friday, 8am to 10pm Thursday, 10am to 8pm weekends.
Location: Out in West London. Nearest tubes are Latimer Road (Hammersmith and City Line) or White City (Circle Line).
By Claire Field and Martin Davies
