Local Walls

The nearest and biggest wall within walking/cycling distance of uni, and the most popular choice on Wednesday afternoons.

There’s lots of Bouldering with plywood walls of differing angles (mostly steep upstairs, easier angled downstairs), and an overhanging resin featured wall. The holds are generally fairly clean and the problems are changed fairly frequently (but not really enough). The grades (if you’re trying to compare them to other walls) are pretty stiff so don’t be put off by them, also the problems can sometimes be set very awkward and frustrating. The matting however is very good, with a nice carpet finish, meaning that Bouldering here can sometimes turn into a bit of a mothers meeting. They hold a monthly Bouldering comp in the winter, which although they claim is for everyone, is actually nails.

As for routes, there’s a decent amount of leading including what’s meant to be the highest lead wall in the country at 20m and a wide variety of angles including steep overhangs and slabs (quite unusual for leading). Holds are clean and the routes are generally quite good, apart from the stopper moves at the last clip on some of them (hopefully they’ll sort that out). There is extensive top roping as well with the many shorter walls being well suited to beginners.

The wall also has a café, a small version of Outside and a viewing balcony thing. Entry is £4 before 4pm and £5.50 after with student card and membership (lifetime is £18) add a quid on if you don’t have either of those things.

How to get there:
Walking or cycling are the best ways, you can get a bus from Piccadilly as well. From uni go down Brunswick street (down the side of the Chinese supermarket) to the end and turn right at the roundabout onto the A57 (Hyde road). Go down there for a bit then turn left onto Bennett Street, down there is a big church which is MCC (20 mins walk from the union).

Until MCC was built this was the MUMC wall of choice, and it is still popular now. It’s all Bouldering but it is a unique wall, being built out of concrete with rock inserts. This is better than it sounds and provides an endless supply of problems at all grades. The climbing tends to be crimpy and as such climbing here gets your fingers strong! In contrast there is also a plywood wall with conventional plastic holds which tends to be generally slopers, and a very steep woody and campus board for the already strong to get stronger.

Climbing at Broughton can be really good, especially when there are a lot of people there, and there are well over a thousand problems for the keen to go at, or you can just go and do your own thing. Entry is £4.50 with student card.

How to get there:
By far the best way is to cycle which takes about 20 mins from uni. Alternatively get the train as for Salford, walk straight past the door of Salford, turn left at the end, follow the road round left, turn right onto the main road at the end (camp street). Walk down this road for about ten minutes and the centre is on your right (Broughton leisure centre). This is best done in a group and quickly as the locals can be less than friendly.

If you can do English 5b moves then this is far and away the best wall in the area. A bit hard to get to but well worth it for the quality of the Bouldering.

Blackburn is purely a Bouldering wall but the problems are set by some of the best route setters in the country and as such the wall is awesome. The problems are predominantly fairly steep and low grade problems are quite limited but don’t let this put you off as the problems are all interesting and you’ll probably find you can climb harder than you think. Good holds, good mats, quality problems. Go there!

There are no real facilities except a sort of lounge area full of climbing magazines and the people featured in the magazines. Entry is £4 with student card.

How to get there:
Train from Victoria to Blackburn, turn left out of the station and sort of go straight on and rightish, its near a church and a salvation army hostel and it really doesn’t look like a climbing wall (it also always looks closed). Best to get a map off multimap first and follow that, it’s only a 10 minute walk though, and well worth it.

The 2nd closest wall to uni is inside Salford uni’s leisure centre. It’s cheap and quiet during the day, but can get busy in the evenings.

Salford has a lot of Bouldering, mainly on vertical resin panels with a couple of overhangs and a face-grating slab. The panels are lightly featured but the features are pretty polished and not a great deal of fun to use, and matting is barely adequate (falling from the top hurts –try not to do it). The problems are ok but are changed once a year so become very greasy. The advantage is you can work on the problems and they have a Bouldering competition which is on-going throughout the year, just get a card and try to do as many problems as you can.

Top-roping at Salford is fairly extensive on vertical walls with a decent grade range (English tech 4a-6b/c). Leading is on an overhanging wall which normally has top ropes in situ, but these can be pulled and the routes become lead routes (bring your own rope). The wall is steeper than it looks and the harder routes are fierce. Incidentally, the top rope walls can be lead if you bring your own quick draws, and, when quiet, the place is ideal for practicing rope-work (i learnt to prussic by jugging up the lead wall). The staff aren’t climbers so don’t tend to stop you, but don’t blame me if you get it wrong!

Entry is £4 with student card.

How to get there:
Easiest way is train from oxford road to Salford crescent (takes about 15 mins), then walk down the road (turn left out of the station and follow the road) for about 3 or 4 minutes to the centre. Alternatively cycle, get to Salford crescent station then go from there.

Warrington is a big wall, close to the train station, with decent problems and routes. However the place suffers from overcrowding and overpricing.

The Bouldering at NWF is pretty small and cramped, but apart from that, the problems are quite good, if a bit over-fingery sometimes. The mats are good but you generally land on top of an innocent bystander so that doesn’t matter, the holds are ok but take a brush as they get quite greasy.

NWF is a good choice for top roping, with a lot of it throughout the grades, including some of the longest top ropes around. Leading is also good and quite varied however the holds can get very greasy sometimes, and the concrete floor is intimidating for some. Perhaps we’re just spoilt by the newness of MCC, warrington used to be where the indoor freshers meets were held.

There is an expensive gear shop, an expensive café, and a viewing area. Entry is £7 or £8 depending on time. If you go in a group of five or more students there’s some sort of discount. Including the price of a train ticket on top of this makes NWF pretty expensive.

How to get there:
Train from Piccadilly/oxford road to Warrington Central. Turn right out of the station and walk to the stadium, continue past towards tesco’s and it’s in a church next to tesco. 5 minutes walk.

Rochdale is another pretty new wall with a friendly atmosphere and only 5 minutes walk from the train station. Rochdale is a good wall for beginners and improvers with lots of easy boulder problems and routes, as well as harder ones.

There is extensive Bouldering at Rochdale, with something for everyone. It has both vertical and overhanging walls, made of both resin and plywood. The problems are pretty decent and the mats are generally very good. The holds are clean and rough to the point that a long session here will trash your skin.

For routes there is plenty of top roping, mainly a bit longer than Manchester, and most of the routes are leadable with your own Quickdraws. The leading wall is alright, but a bit of a bad design in that you get rope drag over the bulges on parts of it.

There is also a reasonably sized gear shop but no café. Entry is £5.50 with student card.

How to get there:
Get the train from Victoria station to Rochdale. Walk straight out of the station then keep walking for about five minutes until you get there, it’s down a side street on the left and is easy to find.

Other walls for the keen

A good wall, similar to warrington but bigger, with more of everything except top-roping, and especially Bouldering. Boulder problems are very good, especially the (very) steep problems in the crypt, and grades can be ridiculously soft if you’re after an ego boost. Entry £6 with student card, make it a day trip – there’s lots to do here.

How to get there:
Train from Piccadilly/Oxford Road to Liverpool Lime Street, get a map and a bike. It’s about 20 minutes cycle from the station and you will get lost if you’re not very carefull. It’s also possible to use the Underground to get there as there’s a station around the corner.

The best all round wall in the country? Massive, great Bouldering at all grades, great routes, including some awesome leading, a café and a gear shop. Excellent winter Bouldering competitions on great problems and with a good atmosphere. Entry £5.80 with student card.

How to get there:
Drive! Or alternatively see the directions on their website for how to get there by train and bus.

Another two big walls both with extensive routes and Bouldering, along with good facilities. Both also fairly hard to get to from the train station, a bike is useful just don’t get lost on the ringroad