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Climbing Gym Review: Glasgow Climbing Centre

Climbing Gym Review: Glasgow Climbing Centre

Hive Surrey staffer, Taryn, made a stop at a very unique climbing gym in Glasgow on her recent travels in Scotland. She came back with a review of this gym and it gave us a little wanderlust! Check out what she had to say about it 👇

The Glasgow Climbing Centre lies in an old church that was built in 1867 which was used for worship until the early ‘90s before it was converted into an indoor climbing facility in 1994 by the Church Buildings Renewal Trust (CBRT). “The CBRT is a registered charity and company set up by Glasgow City Council to promote, for the public benefit, the conservation of church buildings of architectural merit or historic interest which have ceased to be used for religious purposes.”

 

When you walk through the front doors the front desk is immediately to your left where you can get rentals and sign yourself up. For new climbers to the gym that have climbing experience, they give you a multiple choice quiz as your ‘safety orientation’ which you can complete upstairs while you have a coffee in the cafe. When you’re all done you bring it back down for them to grade and if you pass you can start climbing!

 

Beside their front desk on the left of the entrance hall is a small Pro Shop, after which the hallway ends and you enter to the ground floor area of the gym: their roped climbing area. The climbing here extends all the way to church ceiling! A majority of the church walls and windows are covered by climbing walls but the church archways are still exposed across the ceiling.

A spiral staircase connects to the upper balcony cafe which sits above the area where the front desk and Pro Shop are, overlooking the roped climbing area. There was decent coffee, great tea, and good looking baked goods & sandwiches with some seating options.

Taryn and her group ended up just bouldering to save time which is located below the main area in the basement. “The whole bouldering area’s mats are set up similarly to Hive Vancouver’s, and the grading is done in the British system; I didn’t really understand it but tried a couple climbs and figured I was around 6b- 6c. They really made good use of space for their bouldering area with a small slab wall and lots of other features including a couple aretes. I really enjoyed their routesetting! There was a great variety of climbs including two crack climbs which were v hard and I couldn’t do but still fun to try! They didn’t have a whole lot of volumes, and the volumes the had were on the smaller side, but there was a good density of climbs (not over-packed but still lots to choose from).”

In addition to the routes they also have a Beastmaker systems board with all wooden holds on what looked to be either 40 or 45 degree angle. “Aside from that, there wasn’t a whole lot of training space other than a couple pull up bars upstairs and some plates, but they did the best with the space they have available.”

“Lastly all their staff were super friendly and helpful! The gym had a nice community feel and some good vibes all around.”

 

If you ever find yourself in Glasgow, make sure to hit up this climbing gym and let us know how you like it!

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