Newcastle Upon Tyne is about to get its own world class
dedicated bouldering centre with the opening scheduled for
later this year, 2008.
Climb Newcastle has been masterminded by former British
Bouldering Champion and World Cup winner Andy Earl along with two
other talented local climbers and is located in Byker, just one mile east of
the city centre for easy access and just 100 yard from Byker Metro
station.
The facility will have a main room set up for circuits and
competition problems which, the organisers say, will be comparable
with the excellent Climbing Works in Sheffield, but it will be
supplemented with a maze of a dozen smaller rooms spread across three
floors of what used to be Byker Swimming Pool.
These will include dedicated rooms for kids, coaching, training
and stretching along with a cellar cave room for that authentic
cellar dweller ambience, changing facilities, an office. lecture
theatre, shops and cafe.
The building has been abandoned for 15 years, so there's a lot of
serious work to be done, but it looks like a fantastic project that
should make a great local facility for north eastern climbers.
The gritty local team behind Climb Newcastle consists of Andy
Earl, who was British Bouldering Champion for three consecutive years
from 2003-06 and competed for Great Britain. Chris Graham, also a
former British Bouldering Team member and Darren Stevenson, who has
climbed up to E7.
Loads more information at www.climbnewcastle.com
where you can see images of the team's progress, sign up for a
monthly newsletter and already shop for bouldering kit, clothing and
guides on line.
