Indoor climbing

The castle is dope!
its not my closest wall but its my wall of choice and what I consider my local.

Like you said bouldering central.

Hey, I'm in Potters Bar too. Who'd have thought it, there's more than one person living outside of London!
The Castle is great for bouldering and also has very nice grounds and cafe as extras. It's not cheap though, but then none of them are really.

I'm looking to buy some shoes this weekend.

For sport shoes I always go to shops. I had a look in the Castle, but I thought that a bigger store might have more stock across a wider price range and cheaper.

Does anyone have any suggestions of where to go in London, that a) has a good selection; and b) has people who know what they are talking about?

First thought is to go to the covt garden snow&rock as the guys there were pretty good on snowboarding stuff.

The Castle is my wall of choice, if you're going to go regularly (i.e. once a week or more) they do various deals for monthly and annual passes which make it a lot cheaper.

I'm looking to buy some shoes this weekend.

For sport shoes I always go to shops. I had a look in the Castle, but I thought that a bigger store might have more stock across a wider price range and cheaper.

Does anyone have any suggestions of where to go in London, that a) has a good selection; and b) has people who know what they are talking about?

First thought is to go to the covt garden snow&rock as the guys there were pretty good on snowboarding stuff.

They have a bigger selection in the castle than they do in the cov garden snow and rock store when it comes to shoes. But like you said I believe snow and rock might be a tad cheaper and may have more sizes of the few styles they have. As for the staff they are helpful... one guy ended up passing on the details of a re-soler as I couldn't get the the shoes I wanted in there.

Cheers, I'm surprised but that's def worth knowing.

I guess I'll have a look at the on-line stock for london stores. I was hoping for something around the £60 mark and the castle only really seemed to 1 pair for that, and then another pretty hardcore/pro looking pair on sale.

I know from my cycling shoes that sometimes it's better to pay a bit more now, but equally my £60 shimano road shoes are still plently good enough.

I'll also do some googling.

Oh and ^^ and v I think it's £40 per month - so not cheap if you go once a month, but twice a week and it's good value. Basically like a gym.

Nice one, once the fingers are sorted I'll be up for climbing a couple of times a week. It'd make sense to get a season ticket or similar as soon as I know I'm back in the game again.

sorry hugo7 forgot to mention...
google "ellis brigham" they have a few stores around london. I've never been to one but they have a large selection on their website?

Awesome!

Even better they are almost in the City.

Any advice or BS detection tips?

Hugo7 - I'm assuming you're male? (Can't be doing with checking profiles) Just in case you're a girl with size 5 feet I've a pair of not much used Red Chilli Spirit Lady available. Worn with socks too, which is pretty rare!

I'm not a girl with size 5 feet, and this isn't really a sale post either, just tryin' to help a brutha out.

The Castle is probably one of the more knowledgable shops in London (and one of few places where I was able to find La Sportiva shoes last time I looked), though I've had an assistant at Snow and Rock be very helpful in the past.

It's worth not getting rock boots sold by a numpty, even if they're a few quid more expensive, or you will definitely be sold some that are too small as "everyone wears them so they're slightly uncomfortable". This advice is terrible for the day that you have to walk back down a mountain in them.

edit: also, I've personally not benefited from the times I've bought 'technical' (expensive) shoes, though most of my climbing is outdoors rather than tricksy bouldering stuff. Entry level stuff has always served me pretty well.

You shouldn't really be walking back down the mountain in your climbing shoes unless something has gone wrong!

I agree though, novice's shoes should be snug but not uncomfortable. It's worth noting that shoes with leather uppers will stretch up to 1 size, whereas shoes with a synthetic upper will stretch half a size max.

Up until this year you used to be able to get a pretty good pair of shoes for £60, but all of the companies have bumped their prices.

As with cycling shoes/kit in general, the most important thing with climbing shoes is fit. It's definitely worth trying as many different models on as you can, and finding out which fits your foot shape best.

I would say it's also worth trying some on in a shop, and then looking online at shops like Rock and Run http://www.rockrun.com/categories/Footwear/Rock-Shoes/ to see if you can save yourself a few quid.

HTH

Real climbing/bouldering is where it's at. Mallorca is awesome.

Certainly is, unfortunately it's a bit far from Hackney for the evening!

My favourite destination is Bishop, California.

Cheers. For the tips. Especially

everyone wears them so they're slightly uncomfortable
type comments.

I'm not too bothered about saving the extra tenner by ordering online. Plus with technical footwear I don't believe they're always the same. I lost my walking boots in Costa Rica and had to get another pair sent. Identical boots, but they weren't *quite *as good a fit as the previous ones.

I just want a good stock, so I don't have to spend £90 because they're more comfortable. Anyway. I'll stop with all the questions and get on with making my own decisions.

Thanks again.

You shouldn't really be walking back down the mountain in your climbing shoes unless something has gone wrong!
HTH

Sort of agree, I've carried flip flops or trainers up on my rack in the past, or carried a back, but equally for some 4-5 pitch routes where I've still carried a pretty big full rack I've not bothered and come down in rock boots (all depending on route down, weather, etc etc .)

edit: perhaps 'mountain' was the wrong description for a 4-5 pitch route :)

Certainly is, unfortunately it's a bit far from Hackney for the evening!

My favourite destination is Bishop, California.

That's somewhere I'd love to climb one day. We should organise an lfgss climbing expedition.
I've been out in Mallorca for the past 4 months, either sport climbing, deep waster soloing, or bouldering 6 days a week. Unfortunately, I'm away from land until October now, so the only climbing I'm doing is on the rigging.

As far as shoes go, I have a few different pairs for different types of climbing. For super technical stuff, I have a pair of LaSportiva Miuras, which I really rate, but they would destroy my feet if I was doing an epic multi-pitch, so I've got some nicely worn-in, old 5-tens which are super floppy. They would be horrible for bouldering, but I can keep them on all day without any discomfort. I've also got an old pair I keep just for Psicobloc, so I don't trash my nice ones.

sorry hugo7 forgot to mention...
google "ellis brigham" they have a few stores around london. I've never been to one but they have a large selection on their website?

Betty of this parish (http://www.lfgss.com/member14156.html) used to work in the Covent Garden branch of Ellis Brigham, so may be able to help you out.

I'm not climbing for another few weeks yet due to a wicked tendonitis, but I'm about 10 miles from Castle Climbing wall (I'm in Potters Bar). How do people rate it for bouldering? There seems to be a good few people using Castle, might catch up with you sometime.

EDIT - scratch that, just found their on-line vid, bouldering central. Come on fingers!

EDIT - Come on fingers? that won't help.

Potters Bar?...not too far from here then?
http://www.phaselswood.org.uk/climbingwall.html

used to go here loads...really must get back into climbing...

Can anyone recommend (or otherwise) the sports centre wall in Hatfield? It's cheap and nearish to me, I know there's some Herts-ites using the forum.

I've started climbing at the castle again after a one year hiatus of laziness. Mostly into bouldering but if any-one here frequents there, it'd be nice to get the ropes out again...

I finally got round to visiting the wall at Hatfield, it's ok, very small but adequate bouldering area with plenty of variation but the grading was a bit iffy. There's a rope climbing area too, but I didn't climb there.

Just restarted climbing (mostly bouldering) at the Nottingham wall after a couple of years away.
Feels good to have the blisters and lost skin.
I've really missed it.
@ well is it, Miss_socks works there I think.

Took a couple of weeks, but I'm beginning to remember how to control the muscles, callouses nicely forming.
Its such good fun.