Marylebone Mountaineering Club Climbing

Climbing The club's climbing activities revolve around the regular monthly meets as well as more informal weekend trips. The MMC climbs throughout the UK, from Cornwall to Scotland, as well as venturing to Europe in search of winter sunshine or summer alpinism. In the winter, the emphasis moves to mountaineering and ice climbing. For the last couple of years, members have organised ice climbing trips to places like the Les Ecrins, Chamonix and Colorado, as well as making the occasional foray in to Scotland when conditions are good. For indoor climbing, members meet at the Westway and The Castle (see opposite) on Tuesday evenings and Sunday afternoons. Please try and arrange that you have a climbing partner if you come to the wall as we cannot guarantee that there will be someone free to climb with you otherwise. Also, we recommend that if you are a complete beginner that you attend a basic course showing you how to tie in and belay safely. These are available at the West Way and the Castle. Climbing Safety The MMC Guide to Climbing Jargon Equipment Life	London Climbing Walls WestWay This is by the far the biggest and best leading wall in London. It's situated in Crowthorn Road, North Kensington, W10. A number of members go there on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. If you are interested in this contact Nick Kemp for the Tuesday session or Simon Menzies-Conacher for Thursday . The Castle Extensive leading and top roping walls built inside a Victorian Pumping Station. From Manor House tube head south down Green Lanes. Some members meet here on Sunday afternoons. Contact Patrick Regnault. Crystal Palace It's a tough bouldering wall in South London and it's cheap. Contact Nick Checkout Mikhaylo Shalagin, champion Ukrainian Boulderer climbing at the Palace here. The Arch The only wall really in central London, it is in a railway arch at London Bridge. There is only bouldering but it is quite good. It costs £10 per visit at peak times but a lock of 10 visits is only £65 and with the BMC discount it comes down to £55. So at £5.50 per visit it is pretty good value. They occasionally have lectures too. Mile End (NLRC) London's premier bouldering venue. Haverfield Road, E3. Craggy Island, Guildford Nothing to do with Father Ted. The South's newest climbing wall is now regularly frequented by the MMC. Swiss Cottage NW3 3NR This is a somewhat unique indoor climbing environment with no windows, which I presume were designed to keep the place cool in summer, but in the winter it leaves the wall open to the elements and sideways-rain can get to you if you are unlucky. The climbing itself varies from the ridiculously easy to the insanely impossible The far right hand wall on the upper tier has a few challenging routes which require some thinking but overall is easy. The bouldering, which is on the lower tier and has a small overhang is quite a nice feature which can occupy you for no more than 2 hours max I’d say. The super over-hanging walls which dominate the view from the road is very impressive on entering the centre; it it slanted at what appears to be a 30 degree wall from the vertical and some of the routes on it are very hard, more so because of its great height – it requires a lot of stamina. I would guess it is between 15 and 20 metres high. Summary: A good wall for a few sessions until you’ve done almost every route, but it gets very boring after that since the routes don’t change frequently enough and because of the relatively small size of the complex. Review by Paras Seymour Leisure Centre W1H5TJ The wall is less than ten minurtes walk from Baker St. Station and is operated by High Sports, one of the leading climbing wall suppliers in the south of the country. It's been a long time in the building stage, but it finally opened to the public on 16 March. There is a 13 Metre lead wall with 9 lines and a 7 metre wall with 4 lines. All lines have top ropes in place but you can lead if you bring your own lead rope and 11 q'draws. All lines have two or three routes on, with grades ranging from 5 (french) through to 7b. Routes set by Steve McClure and other High Sports staff. There is quite substantial bouldering area, with grades from V0- to V9, set by Mark Pretty, and other High Sports staff and also a campus board and associated panels.
Readers are reminded that climbing, hill walking and mountaineering are activities with a danger of personal injury or death. Participants in these activities should be aware of and accept these risks and be responsible for their own actions and involvement.