Am I a Competent Climber?
Our qualified staff define a Competent Climber as:
- A person who can demonstrate safe working practices when belaying and climbing on a top rope.
- A person who clearly understands the risks involved when climbing and can manage these risks for themselves and any novice climbers they are supervising
Skills include:
- Correctly fitting safe and recognised climbing equipment to themselves and others
- Using a safe and recognised climbing knot to tie in
- Adopting a safe technique to belay their climbing partner
- Bouldering with diligence and respect for other users
- Understanding the additional risks associated with the use of auto-belays and specific climbing equipment (lead climbing, training room apparatus etc).
Does this effect what I can do?
Yes.
Climbers will be checked by our team on arrival and asked to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. Successful 'climbers' are then Registered and permitted to use ALL of the centres OPEN facilities and supervise up to 2 novice climbers to do the same, including lead climbing, top rope climbing, bouldering and Low Ropes.
Can 'non competent climbers' use the centre?
Yes. But with some restrictions......
If you cannot demonstrate competency, we still allow non-registered climbers to supervise up to 2 novices, once our team has given them an induction briefing. They can ONLY use:
- Indoor Bouldering areas
- Kids Zone
- Woodlands
What about parents and on-lookers?
Parents who are supervising children (novices) must still register with us. The same supervision ratios and conditions apply and our team will brief each supervisor on what you can do safely on your visit. We only charge a day ticket for climbers (not supervisors or on-lookers).
What if I want to climb the big walls?
Registered climbers can use all of our open facilities and walls once inducted and safety checked. Non-competent climbers and novices MUST be directly supervised by an instructor, or by a competent climber.
