[Oldmanmatt]

I know mate, hence the Wink emoji...

[Oldmanmatt]

I don’t know if any of you follow “Route Setters Anonymous” on Facebook, but, by coincidence this debate has just started there.
Incidentally, Seb and I are not serious about “Mopping” the mats.
We had a roof leak, that pooled unbeknownst to us under the mats, until it was too late.

A Facebook group worth following:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/routesettersanonymous/permalink/10156156274546848/

[Oldmanmatt]

If you can’t be arsed with Farcebuck, this US perspective on the debate just cropped up. Apparently they consider us ahead, because we actually have a standard:

http://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/a-line-is-drawn-for-flooring-standards/

[highrepute]

So we shouldn't be looking at replacing the mats in main Works next summer? Maybe just new covers and mats?

Monitor the rate at which injuries associated with falling onto too soft matting occur. When the rate increases you should have got new mats.

[Oldmanmatt]

I’ve just bought some bright yellow, mini gymnastic crash mats (114x80x10cm), for the cautious.
Bright yellow, because we let someone bring the spare 8’ x 4’ x 10” blue crash mat, from our training room, on Friday. It was colour matched to the new matting.
People tripped over it...

I haven’t put these out yet.

Any opinions on this? Would you prefer to have the option of an extra crash mat?
 Can’t see 10cm being too deep (as a soft mat) to twist an ankle, but would it take some of the sting out of awkward landing?

Or is it just a trip hazard?

[dunnyg]

multiple levels of mats sounds like a way of spannering ankles to me. Doesnt take much to roll them. Think I would purpously avoid these at a wall. Guess it depends how soft they are though. Just my 2p

[shurt]

Yep, bouldering above a damp beer towel certainly sharpened the fucking mind and the people you were going to fall on...

Damp? Damp! Mine were bone dry! Luxury, etc.

Everything ended up damp at Almscliffe eventually. Bouldering mats clearly one of the best inventions ever but it's hard to resist harking back to days of yore...

[Oldmanmatt]

Yep, bouldering above a damp beer towel certainly sharpened the fucking mind and the people you were going to fall on...

Damp? Damp! Mine were bone dry! Luxury, etc.

Everything ended up damp at Almscliffe eventually. Bouldering mats clearly one of the best inventions ever but it's hard to resist harking back to days of yore...

Yep. I was so proud of the “Old Speckled Hen” towel I pinched from the Dolphin in Pompey.
Font was such an ace place, in the 80’s, because of the sandy landings. You could almost not worry about broken ankles...

[shurt]

Yep, bouldering above a damp beer towel certainly sharpened the fucking mind and the people you were going to fall on...

Damp? Damp! Mine were bone dry! Luxury, etc.

Everything ended up damp at Almscliffe eventually. Bouldering mats clearly one of the best inventions ever but it's hard to resist harking back to days of yore...

Yep. I was so proud of the “Old Speckled Hen” towel I pinched from the Dolphin in Pompey.
Font was such an ace place, in the 80’s, because of the sandy landings. You could almost not worry about broken ankles...

Yep, a different world from UK bouldering. Such a great eye opener when I first went. Early 2000s for me rather than 80s though!!!

[Bonjoy]

I suspect hard mats make people modify their risk... down climb more ... more likely to ask for a spot. That would be a good thing in risk reduction. I certainly wouldn't consider jumping off at the top of the new Macclesfield facility.. very hard mats and high feeling.  I started bouldering outdoors with no mats and back then we were much more cautious and better practiced at spotting.

Downclimbing the sort of problems that are in Unit E is not an option and there are no juggy filler in probs.

Personally I think the mat hardness in the main and mini  Works is spot on and after years of going there I've never had a problem with going over on my ankles or heard anyone else complain of it.
Doesn't seem like a hard call to me. if it isn't broke, don't try to fix it.
I suspect if any acute injury is avoided by using harder mats it would come at the cost of less easily attributable chronic damage.

Spot on, would agree that the mats in the main works are pretty much ideal. Have been to walls with much softer matting and found that fine too though. I'm surprised no one has mentioned the foundry, I think the mats there are too hard.

So we shouldn't be looking at replacing the mats in main Works next summer? Maybe just new covers and mats?

Sounds good to me.

[Duncan campbell]

I find with soft matting my heel will dig in deeper than my forefoot as that’s where most of the weight goes. This often feels like I’m close to doing some damage if I’m honest.

I find the matting in Unit E to be firm but certainly not too bad. I jumped down from the top of every problem I did there a few days ago. I’m sure it will soften up in time. All the walls I know that have got hard matting have it soften up nicely after a time.

The mats in the Main works seem good but I guess you need to think about when they may need replacing, Graeme? Maybe they will last through til next summer, but if they don’t, would it be massively disruptive to your cash flow to do it in winter? Seems like you are basically printing money 24/7 but I guess you must get more folk in in the winter?

Maybe get new mats in in the summer and let the folk that are in there on perfect days break the pads in for the rest of us?