New Years Eve

So how was your 2008? For us it was pretty damn good. The Works has gone from strength to strength, we've built some new walls, set alot of circuits and held successful competitions like the C.W.I.F.

What will 2009 bring?? For starters...alot more circuits, competitions (including the C.W.I.F 2009), schizzle, good times and some interesting things that are currently being thrown into a big cauldron to see what comes out after a little brewing.

As for the last day of the year, our Irish half day is being extended so instead of being 10am - 4pm, we'll now close at 6pm. Our final gift to you this year.

Happy New Year!!!

The Climbing Works Gallery and Gritstone Action...

Hope you all had a great xmas, I know I certainly did, I ate my own body weight in food and enjoyed some quality time with mine and Lucinda's family.

You may have seen recently that we have just replaced some of the artwork in The Climbing Works Gallery (on the wall in front of the Scarpa slab). We have chosen some inspirational images from all over the the world to keep you psyched...

The weather has been pretty good over the last few weeks and I have been getting out on the grit, despatching some routes and boulder problems around the peak district. Check out my Scarpa blog for more details and pictures.

Hope you all enjoy some time off leading up to the new year and all the best for 2009.

Cheers, Sam

Cold Snap!

Well, contrary to what the British winter is normally like (warm and wet) it looks like we're in for a bit of a cold snap if the boffins at the Met Office are right. As our customers know, The Climbing Works is in a huge building, and we could never effectively heat the entire space without making a serious impact on the hole in the ozone layer. Whilst key areas have heating (changing rooms and changing areas) the rest of the centre is normally nice and cold. For those people thinking of visiting for the first time over the holidays, here is a little advice....
Wear plenty of clothes! If you are just spectating, bring a big coat asnd some spare change to get a hot drink. If you're climbing, wear plenty of thin layers whilst you warm up, and take plenty of time with your warm up. Once you're climbing, you'll be stripping off the layers before you know it as bouldering is one acticivy where cool ambient temperatures are a bonus!

Half days and holidays

Brian has posted our Christmas opening hours on the website, but has included a cryptic referral to Half Day opening..... As our phone lines have been jammed with confused boulderers this morning who don't understand the concept of the Irish Half day, here's the low down. Today (Christmas Eve) and New Years Eve we will open for half the day. The half of the day that Brian meant starts at 10am and finishes at 4pm! Sorry for the confusion, and I hope thats cleared things up.

All that remains is to wish all Climbing Works customers, staff, friends and family a very Happy Christmas! I hope everybody has a great time - we are open at 10am on the 27th for all of you who might have overdone it on the mince pies, etc. and feel an urge to climb it off... Have a good one!

Curry comedown.

Well, whilst a large quantity of Climbing Works staff sleep off last nights excesses after our staff curry, I thought I would give everybody a quick update on whats been going on at the wall this week. Sam and I have finally finished our red circuit - its evolved somewhat from Sams original plan of having a new Font 7a circuit, and now we have 38 problems between Font 6c and 7b+. It has already suprised a few of the British team members with the scope of skills required to get around the whole circuit in one go - Sams groove of dispair (or Pooh Corner as it should become known) as been the sight of a number of spectacular struggles by some very capable climbers - you have been warned!
And now the question on everybodies lips, "What is The Climbing Works going to give me for Christmas?"
And the answer is - wait and see! All I will say is that the big cheeses have been mulling over a plan for a new bit of wall, and it looks like it might happen in the new year. More details will be released when we have a more definate action plan, but needless to say, there's never a dull moment at The Works.
Last week Sam, Brian and I made a trip up to Newcastle to visit Andy Earl's new climbing wall, Climb Newcastle, and to drop off their consignment of Benky Grip Wash. Whilst Sam and Brian didn't climb (with pathetic excuses about injuries and rest days(!) ) I did the honourable thing and sampled their problems - or should that be allowed myself to be sandbagged by Andy for a bit. The verdict - a great wall that climbs really well, and should be on everybodies agenda for a visit next time you get rained off in the County. A quality venue for visiting boulderers and a breeding ground for the next generation of super strong Geordie climbers!

Shining A Little Light on the New Red Circuit

After our spring clean the other week we decided that it was about time that the windows got a bit of a clean too. For those who don't know the Works, that's a big job as we have a lot of windows!

This morning we've got a team of 5 in from South Yorkshire Window Cleaning Service (07968203316) who did an amazing job of getting the dust and dirt off both the inside & outside of the place. We were so impressed with the job getting done that Percy went to the dark side of the comp wall to get at the back windows, it wasn't pretty in there!!

Percy showing that he has a backup job in case things don't work out here

What this means for you is that you get a brighter, cleaner centre to climb in. It should also help you in tackling the new red circuit that Percy & Sam are currently working on. This replaces the old orange one with the grade range being pretty similar - c. Font 7a.

From this lot come the chosen few...

Can you say sloper...

We've also had a new delivery of holds from HRT which include a couple of interesting ones that have gone straight onto the new red circuit.

No, it's not a mould of Graeme's face on Saturday night...close resemblance though

New Red Circuit Going Up

The orange circuit has now been striped and cleaned but in its place will be the return of the red holds. Sam has stuck a few up this afternoon with Percy joining him tomorrow morning to hopefully have 40 problems done by tomorrow afternoon. Circuit range to be in and around the 7a mark.

A Long Weekend

You don't have many weekends like that...thankfully.

Friday night saw R2 of the Berghaus Bouldering League with another big attendence. After R1's unsent bonus problem, the cash prize was up to £150 with Dave Barrans coming over from Manchester especially to do battle.

Full results and more available on the website here>>

Saturday night saw The Works 2nd Birthday party take place in Sheffield city centre and it was a rather good night. Thanks to all for coming down and enjoying the late/early morning finish.

Special Offer on Stappal Tape Tonight Only!!

So the special offer is 25% OFF Strappal tape and it's only for tonight. Why only tonight? Well once you see some of the creations of Sam & Percy  you'll be running to the shop to get some tape. The word is 'Jam'. This word is going to be used on about 3 or 4 problems so make sure you pop into the shop to get your tape as you pick up your scorecard.

Competition starts at 7pm and ends at 10pm

Enjoy!!

Stripping

So with the comp wall now stripped, Sam & Percy have set to work on tomorrow's creation for R2 of the Bergahus Bouldering League.

As the 1st round had no 'winner' of the bonus problem, it's now up to £150 for the second round. 1st person to complete wins the cash prize.

The comp starts at 7pm and ends at 10pm. Scorecards are £2 + your normal entry fee. Sam & Harry will be warming up on the decks for our second birthday party so it'll be a great atmosophere in here. 

The comp wall holds cleaned 30mins after coming off the wall all thanks to Benky Grip Wash

A nice picture from yesterday...well, it is

Berghaus Bouldering League R2

This Friday see's R2 of the Berghaus Bouldering League. After a superb first round, R2 should be even more entertaining as the special bonus problem rolls over to a £150 cash prize.

All the details for the competition are on the website here>>

The comp wall will have 25 new problems on it which means that the current comp wall will be stripped this Thursday morning. So if you've got any projects on it, get them dispatched ASAP!

The Lurgy.....

Its been a while since I last blogged, or did anthing much in fact, but there are reasons for this which I'll come on to in a moment. Last weekend I had to go to Mechelen (a nice little town just outside Brussels in Belgium) to do my bit at the annual IFSC commissions meeting. Whilst eveybody in the UK enjoyed crispy grit weather, I was locked away in a sterile Belgian hotel conference room talking about routesetting at international competitions - whooppee!
Well, anyway, I awoke in my huge posh hotel room on the Sunday morning with a dodgy right eye - it seemed to be a bit infected and stuff, but I put it down to being locked in an air-conditioned environment all day (coupled with possible Duvel poisoning from a night in the bar with Jorg). So my Sunday was a morning of more meetings looking a lot like a red-eyed lab-rat, followed by a late flight home to a cold a frosty Snake Pass on the drive back from the airport.
Monday morning I awoke to darkness - not 'cos it was early, but because my eye had glued itself shut with goo. It was at this point I realised that I probably needed to go and see the doctor because eyes aren't supposed to glue themselves shut overnight, but work got in the way of actually doing this. By the evening I felt really rough, and Tuesday morning finally saw the dawning of realisation that - I WAS ILL! Unbelievable! I never get ill. Never, ever! I have never had even one sick day in all my working life, and the last time I was ill was when I was at school (this is a long time ago)!
Obviously, if you spend you whole life being the jammy sort of person who never gets much more than the odd cough or sniffle every now and again, actually being ill and stuck in bed is a real nightmare. So far I have been stuck in bed for a week - and have been an unbelievably bad patient for most of that time. Poor Lucy has had to cope with a grumpy, feverish Bishton who wants to get on with stuff but basically can't move, eat or do anything much except be a grump! I put this down to inexperience on my part - I just haven't had enough practise of this sort of thing. And I definately don't want any more.
So, things I learnt last week - planes are the finest way to travel (providing you like being trapped in small spaces and enjoy breathing loads of other passengers flu germs), Tonsilitis is no fun when you're a child (but its even less fun when you're an adult), it is possible to feel cold (even when your temperature is 103 degrees F), and I've never been so happy to start to feel better again in all my life.
So, hopefully at some point in the next few days I should get back to work. I'm not sure the half a stone of weight I have lost will mean that my climbing will benefit, seeing as I currently feel as weak as a kitten!

On a slightly more up-beat note, I did a little work in recruiting some members for the Climbing Works team for the 2009 CWIF event. If you remember, last years Team WAD were recruited from the Dutch bouldering team, but this year I have slightly upped the ante by pulling together what I like to think of as a 'dream team' of Katja Vidmar, Anna Stohr, Killian Fischuber and Jorg Verhoven. Whilst this team is not yet confirmed, now the CWIF is on the international competition calendar, there should be a bit more interest in foreign climbers coming over for a peice of the action. More details on the CWIF 2009 event is on our website here>>

Happy Birthday to Us

Today The Climbing Works turns 2.

It amazes us how fast the time has gone and it's weird to think how this was all a pipe dream just 3 years ago.

The empty building and the Cheese's

We'll like to take this opportunity to thank you, our customers, for coming back time and again. Without you we wouldn't be the place we are. We'll also like to thank our many staff and instructors for doing a fantastic job. Finally we'll like to thank our sponsors Scarpa, Berghaus, Cotswold, The Clinic, Moon, Climb & our other suppliers for supporting us in our endeavour to make the best bouldering centre in the World.

As most of you know, we're throwing a huge birthday party at Club Shh on Saturday 13th December. Its going to be a cracking night so we hope you can make it.

Building the Competition Wall

Thanks again to everyone for the support. You can expect some more changes, advances and interesting days in our third year.

Jacky Godoffe setting the infamous first purple circuit

Some of our first customers on Dec 6th 2006

Spring Clean

We're so far ahead of ourselves here that we went for a major spring clean 3 months ahead of the usual time. 

Sam getting rid of a lot of unnecessary rubbish up top. It was a very, very dirty job

As a customer you won't notice much of a difference as the rubbish we cleared out was in our storage space on top of the offices / shop. Some of this stuff has been up there since we opened 2 years ago and it was amazing what you sometimes find. 

Only part of the crap that came off the top

It won't make too much difference to your climbing experience but it certainly made the cheeses and staff happier.

2nd Birthday Party

The Works turns 2 this weekend and its a case of mixed feelings, with 'time has flown by!!' countered by that feeling of 'we're 2, really??'

As it's our Birthday we'll be celebrating with a big party to be held on Saturday 13th December at Club Shh. This is the same venue as last year's birthday party and that was an absolute cracker of a night so don't miss out on this years. Tickets are available on the front reception desk, they're FREE and only 2 are available per member. These tickets will go pretty fast so be quick in getting yours sorted. The night will run from 10pm till the early hours.

Other going ons this week include a Dave Pickford lecture this Sunday (7th Dec) night at The Climbing Works. Doors open at 8pm and tickets cost £7/£6 concession. You can read more about the lecture on our website>>

The new topo for the wall circuits is now online as is our Christmas opening times.

One last thing is that the Comp Wall will be getting restripped on Wednesday for the next round of the Climbing Works Berghaus Bouldering League which will be held next Friday.

Smelly Climbing Shoes

Everyone has them, it's just part of the sport. Sweaty smelly climbing shoes. The bane of your non-climbing partner, mother, housemate as they stink out the house. Leave them in your car on a sunny day and you'll not have too many people asking you for a lift.

We have the issue of smelly climbing shoes that we hire out. Fabreeze only goes so far. Looking into a solution we found Klenz shoe sanitiser. Basically it cleans / sanitise's / zaps your shoes with nano silver ions and ozone (no we don't understand it either) that kills the bacteria in your shoe that causes the smell. 

We've had a machine in for a few weeks and for most of the cheeses and staff we've noticed a fair difference in the effect on your shoes. Personally i've used it on all my shoes and have noticed a huge difference especially in an old pair of 5.10's. 2 cycles and a bit of fabreeze (for cosmetic purposes) and you're good to go.

So why am I telling you all this? Because we're opening it to you, our members. Usually this service costs about £2 for a clean but we like to give something back so it's FREE for Climbing Works members. 

Just ask a member of staff for details, give them your smelly shoes, wait 7mins and bob's your uncle.