After many months of hard work, we couldn’t be more excited to say that we’re finally opening our brand new bouldering centre THIS WEEKEND! Hooray!
Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen what was once an empty room completely transform into a state-of-the-art bouldering centre in North Devon, with the uniquely-shaped walls installed and painted, specialist matting put down and our brilliant Euroholds climbing holds set in various fun and challenging routes!
We have even stripped back our training room, re-painted it, given all the holds a good wash and re-set the famous 45-degree ‘woody’ to satisfy all of your intensive training needs!
If you’re a long-time Rock and Rapid Adventures customer, you will be impressed at how much of a makeover we’ve given the centre, from the outside to the inside. We’re using the new centre as an excuse to have a bit of an early New Year’s renewal, which you will see soon, with new events, clubs and activities on offer.
But, for now, it’s all eyes on the new bouldering centre! If you’re itching to know exactly what’s going on over the grand opening weekend, and during Half Term week, here’s all of the insider info. There’s a lot to tell you, so get a cuppa and get comfy!
What you Need to Know
With so much happening over the next week or so from the unveiling of our new bouldering room, you’ll want to know the ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’ (and ‘how much’!) of everything that is to come!
A note on pricing…
To reflect the fact that we have invested in building a brand new, world-class bouldering facility at Rock and Rapid Adventures, our pricing will be changing slightly as of Saturday 19th. Entrance prices will be set at £8.50 for the whole centre (for members, or £9.50 for non-members, £6 for kids and £6.50 for concessions). This will be the same whether you are using the new bouldering centre or using the roped climbing. We will explain more about individual session prices and so on in due course, but this is the main thing to note for the weekend!
Bouldering Centre Grand Opening Weekend
We are celebrating the opening of the new bouldering centre in style this weekend, with an epic weekend of bouldering competitions. On Saturday, we will host an adults’ comp, with 60 problems at varying grades in the Font system (don’t worry, there’s a very clear explanation of this in the centre for those of you who don’t know the deal!)
Competition grading
Each route represents 100 points. This will be divided between the number of people who complete the route. So if two people top the route, they will each get 50 points, and so on. This will mean that easier climbs that more people are likely to complete will be worth fewer points than difficult ones with fewer people topping out. All you have do is tick every route you complete on your scorecard, and we will work out the points at the end to find a winner in each category (see below for more on this). There are no different point levels for projecting, onsighting or flash attempts – it’s just whether you get to the top or not.
Categories
To make things as fair as possible, there will be a few categories for both the adults’ competition and the kids’ comp. For the adults’ competition, the categories are as follows:
- Men’s 17+
- Men’s 40+
- Women’s 17+
- Women’s 40+
For the kids’ comp, the categories are:
- 6-9 years
- 10-13 years
- 14-16 years
Don’t worry – there will be posters explaining all of this, too. And remember, we’re always on hand to help!
If you plan to enter our adults’ or kids’ bouldering competition this weekend, the entry cost is just £10 – this includes your entry to the centre and scorecard.
Prizes
There are lots of fantastic prizes to be won in every category of both the adults’ and kids’ bouldering competitions. Compete for cash top prizes, 10-free-climb cards, gear and accessories from brands such as Pongoose, Five Ten, Psychi, Water-to-Go and Climbers Against Cancer, and prizes donated by local artists.
We are also holding a raffle in aid of Climbers Against Cancer, which you can buy tickets for throughout the week, and will be drawn on Sunday 27th with a live stream.
Weekend schedule and events
Here is a basic schedule of the opening weekend from Saturday 19th to Sunday 27th October:
Saturday 19th
- Centre opens at 10 am
- Kids’ Club 10 am to 1 pm
- Adults’ competition registration opens at 12 pm
- BBQ at 12 pm
- Adults’ competition ends at 7 pm
- Bar opens at 7 pm
Sunday 20th
- Centre opens at 10 am
- Kids’ Club 10 am to 1 pm
- Kids’ competition registration opens at 12 pm
- Kids’ competition ends at 4 pm
- From 4 pm, parents can pay to boulder during scoring
- BBQ from 12 pm to 6 pm
What’s on Over Half Term?
However, the fun doesn’t end on the weekend! The Half Term week is chock-a-block with exciting activities for all ages and climbing levels. Mel in the office has made this handy calendar to show exactly what’s on across the Half Term week, which is on our social media and displayed around the centre for you to check.
As you can see, there’s something for everyone happening over the Half Term week. Here’s a bit more about what we’re up to throughout the week.
Bouldering workshops and yoga for climbers
We are holding various drop-in bouldering workshops and boulder improver workshops for those who are looking to improve their skills on Tuesday 22nd and Sunday 27th, as well as a specialist Ladies’ Night bouldering workshop with our very own award-winning climber, Ruby Petch.
On Tuesday night, we’re running a totally new Yoga for Climbers session at 6 pm, where professional yoga instructor, Chelsea Wills, will take over the boulder cave and show climbers how to improve their game with balance, core strengthening, flexibility and much more.
These awesome events are at no additional cost to your entry.
Children’s sessions, clubs and squad
For the little ones, we’re trialling a brand new toddler group. ‘Cheeky Chimps’ will debut on Monday 21st from 10-11 am. Led by professional child development practitioner, Emma Rowles, this session will be held in the bouldering centre, and will involve a selection of specially-chosen sensory activities and games for 2-4 year olds and their parents. From obstacles to parachute games, low-level traversing to song and dance, it’s going to be a fantastic bonding opportunity for all. This all costs just £5! Because they are so little, though, it is paramount that parents participate actively with every element of their child’s session.
The slightly-less-little ones can come along to our regular Little Lemurs sessions on Thursday 24th from 4-5 pm. For just £6, your child aged 4-6 could enjoy an hour of introductory climbing activities with our instructors, building their balance, agility and confidence with a group of other young budding climbers.
Besides this, we are also running our usual Kids’ Club on the weekend, plus an Introduction to NICAS drop-in session on Wednesday 23rd, from 4:30-6 pm. This is ideal for keen young climbers who would like to develop their skills with the National Indoor Climbing Association accredited scheme, to eventually join our Kids’ Club.
We are also relaunching our Youth Squad on Thursday 24th from 6-8 pm, for those talented young climbers who want to hone their skills to potentially compete in the future.
Fun for all the family
There will also be lots of fun events for all ages during the week. On Friday 25th, we are hosting a ‘Pizza and Climb Night’, where, for just £12, you can come along and climb for as long as you like after 5 pm – on either the ropes or the boulder walls – and enjoy a tasty pizza for just £12 in total!
On Saturday 26th, we’re holding an epic ‘Floor is Lava’ obstacle course. Now, this isn’t just an event for kids – it’s going to be a huge amount of fun for adults, too! There will be several boulder problems that you need to climb in different areas of the room. Your challenge is to not only climb them, but also to get between them without touching the floor! It is lava, after all! Instead, you’ll use everything from slacklines to nets, rope swings to ‘river crossings’, novelty slippers to tricycles to reach your next route! But don’t worry, there’s a soft landing! This is going to be a real laugh, and is at no additional cost to entry!
We will also draw our raffle in aid of Climbers Against Cancer on Sunday 27th, with some great prizes from brands and local businesses!
So, are you ready for the best week of bouldering ever?! Put it all in your diary – we can’t wait too see you soon!
If you’d like any more information about any of our events, feel free to give us a call on 01769 309 003.
