Indoor climbing

That's what I was thinking. You make do with rental shoes, but why bother making do when you're getting your own.

What about harness? I could get a harness, so there's something there, and then say shoes too but you need to choose?

Again, there's differences in harness and fit. Not as much as shoes, but if she's going to be spending a large amount of time hanging in it, it better be comfortable.

You can always get her like the chalk bags, belay device etc... and a voucher for the shoes/harness .

Yeah, vouchers just seem like such a cop out...

Cool, just noticed this thread. I started climbing recently. been doing the occasional tuesday at The Castle. Be there tomorrow i'm sure. Say hello to the inept out of shape middle aged guy in a beastie boys tee shirt dicking round on the boulders.

Keep meaning to check out some of the other places in London.
*reads rest of thread.

Yeah, vouchers just seem like such a cop out...
If you're not too fussed about the surprise then take her down to the climbing shop and buy her a harness that fits well. Any half decent shop will have somewhere you can sit suspended in the harness for a couple of minutes to test for comfort.

for shoe sizing I'd take a look at this, the toe sizes thing is quite handy.

http://www.highinfatuation.com/blog/how-to-size-climbing-shoes/

i've always wore climbing shoes a half size too small, but go into a store and try some on, dont just buy straight from the net thinking your size 8 feet will fit nicely in a size 8 climbing shoe.

Anyone gonna be climbing at the Castle tomorrow eve? I'll be bouldering at a gentle pace after a good few months off the wall due to injury. If you see someone who doesn't warrant his fancy Moon trousers then that'll be me.

Ah, I'm there most days but tomorrow is get drunk with people from work day...
Will be there on Monday tho.

hey ho, no worries, catch you another time maybe.

Im selling a pair of La Sportiva Katanas in size 9.5

Worn once for an hour - I bought them after arriving at the castle and realising I'd forgot my shoes and didn't want to wear their rental ones. Got the guilt afterwards though, I just dont need em.

Basically mint.
£80

i'll spread the word, thats a good deal.

but buying a pair to avoid renting a pair? more money than sense springs to mind...

how about i buy them off you for £30?

Oh, its much worse than that - no sense and no money.

Are there any women who regularly climb at The Castle? I know a lot of blokes but I'd like to get to know more girls who are into climbing.

Er, I'm a girl. Thought I should say.

Had a great session yesterday. Finally felt back to full strength, overcame a couple of climbs that would have defeated me a few months ago- overhangs, etc.
Felt good- especially after a month off.

I made it up my first 7a+ on Monday, pretty chuffed despite it being regarded as easy for the grade on Climb Star. My first foray into the sevens!

Any mile end regulars? I am going to start climbing again and its just around the corner, I've had a good few years off because of a shoulder injury but it finally feels ok again.

Went to The Arch on Saturday.... I'm scared of heights, but once I had a few goes, I forgot about the height.... saw some dudes doing the underhangs and that was it... am now obsessed with conquering some of those.
Cant stop thinking about going again..... once my shoulders, tri's, lats and other parts stop hurting....
Found a couple of places near us in surrey too... :)

Going to Fairlop Waters for a little bouldering session in the cold tomorrow if anyone fancies it?

Oof. Have some rep for braving the cold at least.

Never been before, me and her both have the day off so thought we'd pop over and check it out.
Haven't climbed outside of work in a long time so should be a laugh.
Sure it won't be that cold really...

Fairlop Waters has outdoor bouldering? What about climbing?

http://www.cyclepdfs.co.uk/climb.pdf

Heading over now. Just boulders afaik but some have an anchor point if you want rope..

Cold as fuck but rad.
Lots of easy stuff and plenty of way harder bits too.
The fact it's free makes it even better.
Some of the boulders do have an eyelet for a toprope but tbh it's not really required for the most part. Design of the eyelet means your rope is running on the concrete surface a bit too much for my liking, next time will choke a sling round the eye and belay through a crab - Liz prefers being roped in so fair nuff.

Holds full of ice, freezing water and bird shit also help add to the realism..

Also just found out my Kong Robot has cleared customs and is on it's way, as is my Holdz training board for the hallway. Wanted a board since forever and now have a rad concrete beam to mount it to.
Not sure about the Robot for sport belaying, will have a go and see, haven't seen many reviews of it for this purpose as it's normally used for hauling and top belays. If it's no good it'll either end up on here for sells/swaps or in my treework kit as part of a SRT setup. Anyone on here got/used one previously?
Let the henchifying/weird belay/rigging options begin!