Offering imaginative, weird, and completely wacky vertical climbing challenges, Crazy Climb is the latest indoor climbing innovation from Beacon Climbing Walls.

The modular system can be tailored to fit any size of building or facility and can be installed as an exciting alternative to a traditional indoor climbing wall or as an innovative way of adding serious amounts of fun to an existing climbing wall installation. Full information available on the Beacon Climbing Walls website here.

Visit The Climbing Village at the London Outdoor Show in January 2012 to participate in the Crazy Climb Official Launch!

And look out for an exciting Crazy Climb installation at the new Beacon Climbing Centre in North Wales, due for completion in Spring 2012! More information coming soon!

Winter is coming and we now have Alpkit Figfour Dry Tools available for hire at Beacon for only £1.50 per session.

Designed to allow climbers to replicate the physical action of using winter ice tools, Alpkit Figfours allow indoor training without damaging indoor climbing holds or the wall panels. We've even set 3 dedicated boulder problems for use with the tools - look for the climbing holds with the red FigFour logo tags.

Winner of the “Innovation for Extremes Award” in 2009 and voted as one of the top 50 most innovative outdoor products in the last 50 years, the Figfours are a great way to train winter climbing muscles and damn good fun!

If you just fancy doing something completely different at the climbing wall, they also present much lower stresses on finger tendons and use completely different muscle groups compared to regular indoor climbing. Why not have a go?

Find out more at www.alpkit.com/dryice

Held on 4th December, the Trials is a fun event organised by the Beacon Climbing Centre on behalf of the North Wales Youth Climbing Academy, and is for young climbers aged between 8 and 17 on the day of the trial who are resident in North Wales (see the PDF info sheet below for details).

Registration for the event must be done in advance through the North Wales Youth Climbing Academy. Please complete the registration form below and return to the Beacon Climbing Centre prior to 4th December.

The event will cost £7 per competitor, paid at Beacon on the day. Competitors will be expected to arrive at 9:30am on the day of the event, climbing will start at 10:00am.

Information and registration form here.

The winter bouldering aggregates are proving incredibly popular with hundreds of competitors across Big Rock, Climb Rochdale and Beacon Climbing Centres.

Taking part is an excellent way to increase your motivation and improve your overall climbing ability. And it's still not too late to get started!

With plenty of bouldering problems of every grade and a regular rotation of the problems, the aggregates are a great way to really get involved with indoor climbing over winter.


82 problems spread throughout the bouldering arena with more problems due to be set this week!

Currently 100 problems spread throughout the centre with 15 new reds and yellows added this week.

Problems 1-20 have now been removed with new additions bringing the aggregate up to problem 121.

November scores will be posted onto each website during the first week of December so you'll be able to check your ranking!

Finally, please remember the aggregate works numerically. The lowest numbers will be taken down first so get these ticked off prior to attempting the newer problems. Good luck everyone!

Whether you have a few lingering aches and pains, stiffness in your shoulders, or back pain, sports massage therapy helps to aid recovery and reduce the risk of injuries.

Climb Rochdale has teamed up with Matt Bulmer from Bodypoint (www.bodypoint.co.uk) to offer sports massage sessions at Climb Rochdale on Tuesday 13th December.

Matt will be available to offer treatments from 5:30pm-10:00pm and can provide 15 min sessions for £5, 30 mins for £10 and 60 mins for £20.

Please phone Climb Rochdale on 01706 524 450 to book.

Climbing slang for failing miserably as in: "that route spanked me".

The resulting ego battering can be alleviated by an intense training regime including 100s of hours of specific training and eating a highly nutritious diet containing a lot of vegetables. Please note, chips don’t count as vegetables.

Alternatively, simply justify your failure by using one of our carefully selected excuses...

1. Cake
2. The holds are too far away
3. That man in really small, baggy shorts put me off
4. That woman in really small, tight shorts put me off
5. My belay bunny has myxomatosis

Please note the opening times for your local climbing centre during the Christmas holiday period. An ideal time to visit to offset the consumption of 12,000 calories on Christmas day...

The Big Rock Youth Climbing Competition hosted on 11th November proved incredibly popular with 135 youngsters competing across the age categories.

Luke O'Hara years 6 and under boys winner
Sam Roberts years 7 to 9 boys winner
Edward Hawes years 10 to 11 boys winner
Steve Cox Hawes years 12 to 13 boys winner

Lydia Wright years 6 and under girls winner
Yasmin Roberts years 7 to 9 girls winner
Harriet Pentland years 10 to 11 girls winner
Hannah Jessup years 12 to 13 girls winner

A Team Trophy was also available for teams of 3 or more competitors, with the Big Rock Youth Squad and Sharnbrook Upper School achieving a joint first place and Royal Latin School in third place.

Check out the competition gallery on the Big Rock website here for loads of fantastic images courtesy of Tony Lovatt.

Big Rock would like to give a special thanks to all the volunteers who helped during the event and to the parents and families who travelled to support their children.

Download the full score sheets here.

We've just revamped the structure of our Rockhopper Clubs for kids at Climb Rochdale, and these sessions now offer great value for money at only £8.50 for 1.5 hours of tuition (payable in half termly instalments).

Rockhopper Clubs are an excellent way to introduce children to the sport of climbing and are a great way to dispel the myth that exercise is boring!

With help from our friendly and experienced instructors, young climbers can learn about indoor climbing, keep fit, meet new friends and have loads of fun.

ClimbUK also offers a great selection of climbing clubs and sessions for youngsters from age 3+ at Big Rock and from age 5+ at Beacon Climbing Centres.

...and don't forget that the Winter Bouldering Aggregates continue to run throughout December at each centre offering loads of new boulder problems to try!