Happy New Year

As the clock ticks down to the end of 2010, we'll just like to say Happy New Year to all our customers who have helped make it a fantastic year for The Climbing Works.

While I'm here, I'll also say a big thank you to all the staff, instructors and route-setters who have helped make The Climbing Works everything it has been in 2010.

This year has been a hugely successful year for us and it had some amazing highlights (CWIF) and some interesting days (defrosting frozen pipes).

In 2011, we'll be striving to continue to make The Climbing Works the best bouldering facility in the World.  March will see the return of The CWIF 2011 with more on this in January, regarding entry etc...,on the website.

We don't generally talk about our 'charity' work but as it's the end of the year you, The Climbing Works customers, should know that you have helped support (either directly or indirectly through The Climbing Works donations):
Edale Mountain Rescue Team
Beth Monk Fund
Help for Heroes
NSPCC
Peak Bolt Fund
raising over £3,000 for these very deserving organisations.

As we're on the topic of numbers, the tally of bloc problems set this year within The Climbing Works adds up to a quite impressive 1500!! (give or take a few). These are tallied from the coloured circuits and Berghaus Competition wall resets. Not too shabby.

We're back open on Sunday 2nd January 2011 at our normal time of 10am. From this time the new admission prices will come into effect within The Climbing Works.

Remember that on Friday 7th January we'll be hosting R3 of The Climbing Works Winter bouldering league.

Have a great night and see you in 2011.

New Year's Eve Opening Times & Changes

It's been a busy few days in The Climbing Works with everyone determined to work off their Christmas pud's before the onset of 2011 and more celebrations.

Today and Tomorrow we're open as normal (midday to 10pm) while on New Year's eve we're open midday to 4pm. A short 4 hours to get in and thoroughly blasted before going out and getting totally...danced out. We'll be closed New Years Day and then open as normal Sunday 2nd January at 10am.

When you next visit in 2011, you will notice the changes in admission and membership prices. You can read all about the changes on our website page here.

With the new year, expect new circuits and new problems with first up, the Berghaus Competition wall getting reset for Round 3 of The Climbing Works Winter Bouldering League (supported by FiveTen) on Friday 7th January. The wall will be stripped on Wednesday 5th January so you only have a week to get your old projects sent.

You can watch the highlights video of Round 1 below:

A Bit of Rough....

Another Christmas pressie for you (as well as another new circuit today - Purple spotty, 6a - 6c) is the long awaited film from this years Mammut team visit to the Peak, which took place the week after this years CWIF.



Nice to see they even did one of my routes (Rowley Birkin QC)!

Brian's made it back to Norn Iron (Northern Island) for Christmas, so you'll have to make do with my 'special, festive' bologs for a few days. Don't forget we're open tomorrow, although we'll shut at 4pm as we have to go to the pub, so come on down for a last climb before you get irreversibly fatter!

Refresh

You know we like to keep things ever a changing in here, and that we like to refresh bits every now and then. Well, we've just done that with the website climbingworks.com.

We've got the great team at Hammer Designs to clean up the overall look and feel of the site so whether you're a first time visitor or a regular, you should be able to find your way around it and find the information you're looking for.

2011 will see further upgrades and new content so keep an eye on the website.

As for in the real world. We're still dealing with frozen pipes in here as best we can. We now have access to toilets for our customers (just ask the reception staff) and we're making brews in the tea urns.

Also being refreshed is another circuit. The purple spotty's came down on Monday with a new circuit of the same colour going up tomorrow.

And the good news is.......

.....the nights start getting shorter after today. And it's supposed to warm up after tonight as well.

The bad news is that we still have no mains water so we have limited toilets and brew making capability.

The men's urinals are functioning and we have access to 2 WC's in the small unit next to the fire escape - you will have to get the key from reception and walk round outside but it's better than nothing!!!!

You can go to the toilet now....

...seeing as we have finally defrosted our water pipes, and broken the ice in the disabled toilet! Sorry if you've had your legs crossed all morning waiting for the khazi's to work again, but now you have the all clear to relieve yourselves.... Just as well we haven't been able to make coffe and tea all morning because that would probably only have made the lack of loos worse!

Note to self: When Graeme and Brian say they've lagged the pipes, always check what they have actually acheived. The moral of todays story - 2 metres of foam lagging won't cover 105 metres of water pipes. You turn your back for 5 minutes........

Down Jacket Offer

With the temperatures set to plummet again this weekend, we've decided to offer all our customers an early Christmas present and offer 15% OFF OR down jackets for this week only.

OR are the company that have supplied the down jackets for our staff. Through the last cold spell, they helped keep our staff warm and cosy during their shifts. Keep the cold at bay, and grab yourself an early Christmas present, with this offer at The Climbing Works.

You can see the Men's range online here and the Women's here

Winter Bouldering League R2 results

In spite of the cold, icy conditions, a big crowd turned out for Round 2 of The Climbing Works Winter Bouldering League. The usual suspects were there vying for the cash problems with Ned Feehally doing a fine job of first figuring out the beta, and then dispatching in a relatively quick time.

The £125 looked like an early Christmas present for Ned but unbeknownst to us, for the second round in a row, we had a visiting WAD in our presence. Arjan de Kock from South Africa may not be a familiar name on the UK climbing scene but he's 'done a bit' as Percy would say. Arjan played Scrooge and made Ned frown by dispatching the cash problem but no matter how many others manned up, nobody else matched the final hold.

On the Women's problem Katy Whittaker got stuck in but was left struggling to figure out the beta for the last 2 moves. With time running out Katy got herself sorted and was reaching for the final hold.....but no joy this time. The Women's cash prize now rolls over for the next round which will take place on the 7th January.

You can see the full scores for round 2 on the website. Also here is the standings after 2 rounds and a link to a ton of photos on our facebook page (all coutresy of dr-photography.co.uk).

The 2 winners of the round 2 raffle - a free pair of FiveTen shoes of their choice - are Ste Bond and Joe Broadhead. A very nice early Christmas present from us and Five Ten. Just get in touch at info@climbingworks.com and we'll get your prizes sorted.

Christmas & New Year Opening Times

As we're now into the countdown for Christmas and New Year, you can now plan your training / recovery / new year resolutions around our opening times:

Christmas Eve:  Close at 4pm

Christmas Day: CLOSED

Boxing Day: CLOSED

Open as usual Monday 27th to Thursday 30th: Noon to 10pm

 

New Years Eve: Close at 4pm

New Years Day: CLOSED

Open as normal Sunday 2nd Jan 2011: 10am - 8pm

Open as normal Monday 3rd onwards: Noon-10pm

Have a great Christmas and remember, always climb safe.

Have a bit of Fred

Everybody needs a bit of Fred in their lives, so here's some for you. One of the nicest and most humble climbing superstars I've ever met, (and with forearms bigger than my thighs), Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Frederick Julian Nicole.

Comps, comps, comps.....

Well, as Bri has already mentioned, this Friday is round 2 of our bouldering league. Then I saw this film made by Udo Neumann (climber, writer, German Bouldering team manager, film maker, eccentric and all round nice guy) of a small local competition I set for a few months back in Austria. As ever, Udo's films are so good if you're into bouldering comps and want to see how the best climbers in the world tackle some of the hardest comp problems in the world. The split screen shots he puts together are such a great tool for analysing how climbers solve problems in different ways - no wonder the German bouldering team is improving at such a fast rate with training tools like this available to them.

Be warned, there is a little bit (only a couple of minutes) of "lead climbing" at the start of the film, but don't let this put you off. There's plenty of bouldering footage to watch after - just don't nod off while you're waiting!

Those of you who may in the past have tackled a 'Percy Special' in one of our bouldering leagues may note that its not just you lot I subject to such abuse. There's just a little bit of my special magic in each of the problems in the film - some a bit more than others (the last bloc in the mens final for example). There's not many men who've reduced Adam Ondra to tears, but I knew I had it in me..... Enjoy!

Winter Bouldering League - Highlights Film

Round 2 of the Winter Bouldering League is this Friday night so to get you psyched, watch the highlights film of Round 1 below:
You can also view results from Round 1 on the website here. If you notice something amiss (you're in the wrong category) then let us know so we can change it for this weeks round.

Bouldering League R2 - Friday Night

Round 2 of our Winter Bouldering League will take place this Friday night. This means that the Berghaus Competition Wall will be stripped this Thursday so if you have any projects on there, time to get them sent.

As usual, there will be 2 cash prize problems of £125 for both Male & Female, 2 pairs of FiveTen shoes for everyone who hands in their scorecard, and a lot of high quality problems.

You can read about the competition on the website here and view a whole load of pictures from Round 1(courtesy of Dom Worrall) on our facebook page.