Now you're confusing modern bolt on walls and too many volumes.
Modern plastic-pulling climbers are frequently massively strong and fit, yet there has been no increase in the median route grade climbed in the last 30 years. Modern walls are rubbish for training people to climb on real rock.
My experiences of going to climbing walls in London ... the guys behind the counter said that a large proportion of their custom is from people that have never climber outdoors.If climbing walls are to make a profit and therefore stay open and provide a training environment and resource for outdoor climbers as well, then they have to make sound business decisions. They have to cater for all their customers needs,
Quote from: nicboarder on March 09, 2013, 02:15:49 pm My experiences of going to climbing walls in London ... the guys behind the counter said that a large proportion of their custom is from people that have never climber outdoors.If climbing walls are to make a profit and therefore stay open and provide a training environment and resource for outdoor climbers as well, then they have to make sound business decisions. They have to cater for all their customers needs,Both of the above are true but IMO cant be used to justify the poor training facilities that London walls provide since these customers don't appear from thin air. Some London walls spend a great deal of time & money on marketing to people who might otherwise not show any interest in climbing. Their subsequent preferences are determined by what they are offerred/told by those same walls. There is then a feedback loop setup where people only want to climb on jugs because all they were offered on starting was ladders of jugs so that's what they're good at. The next generation then start on even larger jugs & so on...
Slightly (okay massively) off topic but you guys seem to know London walls quite well - gonna find myself in central London for the next few days for work and will likely have Tuesday evening free, so which wall is the best for a few hours bouldering entertainment - both in terms of access from Regents Park area and the quality of fun I can have?Cheers, Stu
Modern Walls depend on how good the setting is, and I I have to say I wish us climbers in Manchester had a massive lead wall like the one at Ratho, which is ace. Old skool concrete walls like the brilliant Broughton, have a draw which modern walls don't have. The permanence of the concrete holds mean that a climber can chart their progress over a long time, some current devotees have been cranking at Broughton for twenty years! Like other walls of its generation, it has become, in effect, an indoor crag. And it's pure class. You actually have to climb it, look for foot holds, use your climbing brain, get hold of real bits of rock, find resting positions, and use proper technique. It is a climbers climbing wall and for me offers the perfect antidote to pulling on plastic blobs, and will set anyone up in good stead for any British limestone crag. It's still open, just, and can be climbed on Tuesday evenings and daytime any other day.
Jim, with all due respect, you're talking balls about broughton
At Craggy2, they have a feature wall (3 in fact; Grit, Slate & Lime) and they barely get touched.