The Bristol Climbing Academy occupies 500m Sq and houses 750m sq of climbing. The facility is modern and aimed at today's multi sport activist challenging the old preconceptions of indoor climbing walls in a bright and airy facility with showers, WIFI access, cafe serving great food and coffee located in an easily accessible part of Bristol (less than a mile from the city centre) with parking space for over 80 cars.
Pit your strength against the colour coded circuits ranging from yellow (easy) to Blue (hard) additionally children can take on the challenge of any one of 15 climbs specifically designed for shorter reach and smaller holds for smaller hands! Each circuit has around 40 problems which will provide climbers with plenty of opportunity to develop their skill and strength. The circuits will be regularly changed.
In addition to problem circuits, we have a dedicated training area with three large endurance boards and a set of campus rungs.
New to the sport of bouldering?
Bouldering, low level climbing above crash mats, is probably the quickest growing branch of climbing. It suits people of all ages and all abilities and is attractive because of its simplicity of no ropes, no partner, no complicated safety arrangements, just the pleasure of movement. As a means to get fit and shake off the stresses of the day, it's second to none. The combination of physical movement, mental engagement and the sociable nature of bouldering explain the number and variety of people getting involved.
Events
There are a number of events that are happening at The Climbing Academy over the next few months. We'll keep this page regularly updated so you can get dates into your diary as soon as possible, and be adding more as time goes by.
More information about bouldering is available at www.theclimbingacademy.com
Opening Times
Monday - Friday. 12 midday - 10pm
Saturday & Sundays 10am - 6pm
Those completely new to climbing will need to complete an induction course lasting 1 1/2 hours costing £15. People with climbing experience will need to join - £5 and then they'll have a range of ways of paying.
TCA Ellis Brigham Youth Bouldering squad
Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports are pleased to announce our ongoing support of the TCA Youth Bouldering squad.
The TCA Ellis Brigham Bouldering Squad is made up of 15 young people aged 10-16. The squad train with some of the best coaches in the country and have a busy competition calendar culminating in their ultimate goal, to compete against the best boulderers in Britain at the British Bouldering Championships in 2011. We believe that we have some of the strongest young boulderers from Bristol and the South West and are proud to have them representing The Climbing Academy and Ellis Brigham at local, national and international bouldering competitions.
After a very busy first year the TCA Ellis Brigham Youth Bouldering squad has now been reselected for the 2010/11 season. Below are the names of this year's squad:
Hamish Potokar, James Squire, Leah Yeatman, Oli Edwards, Lucy Taylor, Hannah Slaney, Tom Pagon, Alec Fraser, Laurie Emerson, Clare Hunter, Jan Monks, Dave Broad, Caitlin Doyle, Ben Williams and Anna Donnan
**UPDATE**11th July 2011
The final round of the BMC Youth Climbing Series was held on Saturday 25th June at the Wolf Mountain Climbing Wall, in Wolverhampton. The competition consists of 3 regional rounds to determine regional teams and then a national final with over 180 competitors. Two girls from our youth squad, Hannah Slaney and Lucy Taylor, had qualified and joined 16 other climbers to represent the South West at the finals.
The South West Team has historically been a little weak in the climbing series, last year we had come 4th and that had been an incredible improvement on the usual 9th. This year, with Lucy and Hannah’s help, we came 2nd! Both girls placed high in their group, Hannah 7th, and Lucy 14th. This is an amazing result and both are rightly very proud of their achievements.
Last weekend the whole squad headed to the Peak for some grit stone joy. The weather was surprisingly kind and we had two days of glorious sunshine. James and Hamish had both climbed Brad Pitt early in the year and the boys were hopeful of some more hard ascents. Unfortunately, the hot weather meant greasy holds and so they had to settle for the easier grades. Even so James still managed 5 7a’s. The squad is almost finished for the summer, next year we hope to improve further, with Hamish and James looking strong for the British Bouldering Championships and the South West squad finally winning the BMC Youth Series.
4th May 2011
TCA Winter Bouldering Series
Congratulations to James, Hamish and Hannah for winning their respective age categories in the TCA winter league.
Undercover Rock Bouldering Series
Well done to Hamish for coming second overall and coming third in the open lead competition. Well done to James for coming 3rd in the bouldering, Dave 4th, Laurie 5th and Tom 6th. In the girls, Caitlin came 2nd, Hannah 5th and Clare 6th in the bouldering. In the open lead Hannah managed a very impressive 2nd and Isabella came 5th. In all a really good result for what has been a very busy period. The comp season is drawing to an end, with only the national finals in Wolverhampton left to go. The squad can now relax and look forward to the summer and some climbing on real ROCK!
Hamish Potokar has made a successful attempt of the classic Jerry’s Roof in North Wales. The problem is graded at V9 making this a truly outstanding achievement. Following this link to see the video: http://vimeo.com/22603090.
15th February 2011
Thankfully Round 2 of the BMC youth series was held at the Bristol Climbing Centre. So no early morning start, followed by a 2 hour drive in minibus!
After the bouldering round, Hannah and Lucy placed joint 2nd unfortunately it was with 3 other girls. This meant it all came down to the 3 top rope climbs. Lucy climbed strongly and fell off near the top, putting her in third. Although Kate Seabourne had won the bouldering, she fell off the final climb while dynoing for the last hold. Using fantastic technique and skill to do the final moves statically, Hannah was the only girl to top out, beating Kate in the climbing comp and placing second overall. Out of all the boys and girls in her aged category, Hannah was the only one to top out on the final and hardest climb. Another strong effort by both girls!
The final lead route for the senior boys and girls was quite long! The girls went first Leah and Clare climbed well, but Clare had the edge making it cleanly across the arch and falling trying to reach the feature.
The boy’s final route was around 7c. They all made it across the arch, but Alec, Jan and Ben then fell. Dave and Laurie made it to the bottom of the second fang, Dave got a little further but fell trying to pull onto the head wall. Dave came 4th and Laurie 5th.
Full results can be found here, they include Saturday’s results and their position overall.
It was another top day, with another strong effort from the squad. There is now a month until the regional final.
Current Rankings
1st Hannah Slaney
3rd Lucy Taylor
4th Clare Hunter
4th David Broad
On another note...
One of the squad members, Hamish Potokar has made the youngest ascent of Brad Pit, a Stanage 7c+ test piece. http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=60241
2nd February 2011
The first round of the BMC Youth Climbing Series took place over the weekend of the 22nd / 23rd consist of 3 regional competitions and then a national final to decide the best climbing area and youth climber. The only catch is that the events include top-roping and lead climbing. As a bouldering squad, with no top-roping, let alone lead climbing, facilities it was going to be a hard comp.
However, the junior girls were cranking! Lucy Taylor won the bouldering, and Hannah came second. With the first two climbs cleaned, they were separated by the other top girls by a few points. The final route was hard, so hard that Ben West (Bristol Climbing Centre Team coach and a qualified national route setter) insisted the competition organisers modified the route. Lucy went first, climbing confidently she fell just short of the top. Hannah climbed strongly making it to the last few holds, but lacking the height to make the last move, she fell. However, Hannah had done enough, winning the first round, with Lucy coming in 3rd, an outstanding effort for a pair of dedicated boulderers.
It was always a gamble taking a bouldering squad to a national climbing competition. But they dominated the event, making their presents clearly felt. They are the team to beat in the next 2 rounds!
Results from the 1st Round
1st Hannah Slaney (junior girls cat)
3rd Lucy Taylor (junior girls cat)
4th Dave Broad (senior boys cat)
24th January 2011
6.30am on a Sunday morning is very early, but we had to be in London for 9am, for the British Bouldering Champs (BBCs)! Although it's meant to be an annual event, Hamish Potokar, James Squire and Oli Edwards last competed in the BBCs in July, but the British Mountaineering Council has moved the competition to coincide with The Outdoor Show at London's Excel arena. So with the addition of Dave Broad, we were off to London to see if we could improve from 6 months ago.
The competition format is slightly different from what we are use to. First there is a qualifier round; the competitors get 2.5hrs to complete 10 problems, with 4 attempts being permitted on each problem. The top eight climbers go through to the final round.
The boys quickly worked out which were the easier problems and dispatched them with little fuss. The remaining problems were hard, and it soon became impossible to tell how the boys were doing compared to the other 40 competitors. With the qualifiers finished we waited to find out the results.
Dave placed 27th, Oli 16th and James 12th. This was an amazing improvement on the July competition. Hamish, however, was through! With 84 points he was joint 5th.
The final consists of 4 problems. The competitors are kept in isolation while the problems are set. They then get five minutes on each of the four problems. They can have as many goes as they like, but in the event that 2 or more climbers complete all of the problems, the winner is decided by the climber who made the least number of attempts.
Hamish was in the second group of climbers to try the problems. The first problem consisted of a dyno to 2 poor holds. Being the shortest climber he was at disadvantage, and after 10 attempts it looked like he wouldn't get it. Then he latched the holds, spinning widely it looked like he was coming off, but he held it. The crowd went wild, getting his feet back on he causally finished the last 2 moves and the problem was in the bag. The next problem was hard, and after getting to the bonus and then falling short of the top, Hamish bagged it to save his energy, a very shrewd move!
The next two problems were dispatched relatively easily, and again we were left waiting! Hamish finished 4th overall. This is was breathtaking achievement, considering he was the youngest in the final and especially considering the size of Oscar Krumlinde.
The boys all climbed like legends. It's an incredibly hard and intimidating competition, made harder still by the large age category, 12-17yrs. This means that James Squire was one the youngest climbers in the field, which makes his overall position even more impressive.
It was an amazing team effort!
December 2010
The Undercover Rock Climbing (UCR) festival was the first competition the 2011 squad had attended and marked the start of a very busy winter period, which includes the BMC Youth Climbing Series and the British Bouldering Open in January. UCR's youth squad was also competing, and with the home advantage everyone felt pretty nervous. To make matters worse, the climbing festival included a single category leading competition and as a bouldering squad we were at a obvious disadvantage. The problems in the bouldering competition were great, Ben West the UCR chief route setter felt they were the best he had ever set. The squad certainly seem to enjoy them and all climbed well. Results are below:
Youth Female
2nd Caitlin Doyle, 5th Clare Hunter, 6th Hannah Slaney, 8th Lucy Taylor, 10th Leah Yeatman
Youth Male
1st Hamish Potokar, 3rd James Squire, 4th David Broad, 5th Oliver Edwards, 6th Laurie Emerson, 8th Alec Fraser , 10th Ben Williams.
The lead competition had no age categories, but even so Hamish was keen to show his school teacher, prolific local climber Rich Smith, who was best. Hamish managed to on-sight the first two routes, with pressure mounting he started his attempt on the 7c. He quickly dispatched the steep head wall and made his way to the overhang. Climbing confidently, he made the overhang look easy, but 2 clips from the top he fell. To almost on-sight 7c at the humble age of 14 is a fantastic achievement. In the end he came joint 3rd, and with the top 5 all over 20 years of age, felt pretty pleased. Rich better watch out for next year!
The next comp: South West Schools Bouldering League Dec 13th.
