An advance preview of the new Redpoint Climbing Centre in Birmingham
Tonight was the unofficial preview night for particularly keen people to see what's been going on at the new soon-to-be-opened
Redpoint Climbing Centre in Birmingham's Gun Quarter (that's North East, near the Children's Hospital).
As with any creative work deadlines can sometimes slip, so rather than it being the 'grand opening night' that was in my diary, I managed to wangle a 1-week-before-launch advance preview of what the new place has on offer.
I stopped climbing at pretty much the same time as the Rock Face was closed over in Eastside and I've been waiting for a long time for something good to come along to fill its shoes. (Sorry - but a back-room of a skate-park doesn't really do it for me.) [Edit: Looks like despite going down there a few times for various non-climbing things, the upgrades at
Creation went well under my radar - possibly my 'new dad' status? Combine that with a series of bad experiences on the streets around that area (ask me about them sometime - I lived opposite for a few years). I guess I should really pop up there and do a comparison job at some point.]
To be honest I was pretty angry with the powers that be for allowing the Rock Face to close in the first place, and then to remain closed for around three years at the same time that money is being poured into getting people to locate in Eastside and trying to attract people to the area.
Anyway - politics aside - What does it look like? I had a tour from Andy and Phil (apologies if I've got your names wrong - I'm terrible), and they showed me some of the sights of the only-a-lick-of-paint-and-a-bolt-or-two finished article.
Here we go:
I've checked. This stuff is not going to fall on you. The space is visually impressive with huge constructed stalagtites taking the place of manufacturing machinery in an old factory. In fact one of the main stalagmites is actually constructed around the original crane which was kept in place and built around to provide strength and stability for the routes.
Everyone was really friendly and I think the place is going to do very well with that kind of attitude!
The walls get up to about 12m with around 125 separate routes, top-roped and mixed top-roped/lead. And there are routes for all levels of ability, so there's room to be inspired with what other people do as well as a way to move up gradually based on difficulty.
The bouldering room - continues to the left. They're still putting down the mats! The space has two bouldering areas, but the second one was still awaiting delivery so was nowhere to be seen. I heard that it took three days just to open the boxes for the holds there are that many across the whole place. There's a shop, a meeting room for clubs to hire out and hang out space here and there.
They've had some fun with the holds too - apparently there are all sorts of weird and wonderful mouldings now adorning the walls!
Yep. That is a large stalactite! And yes - I doubt I could climb it just yet! Give me a few months....
I came away impressed and I'm looking forward to it opening next week. For the last couple of years I haven't been climbing, so I'm going to push myself to get back into it, and if you've never tried it, they'll be organising classes and hooking up with local climbing clubs for novices to try it out without it being too expensive. Anyone interested in hooking up and popping down with me let me know.
Problem solving + physical exercise = fun
I'm really pleased we've finally got a space back in the city for some proper climbing. Another in a long run of good starts to the year!