With 750 square metres of roped climbing, and up to 450 square metres of bouldering, The Reach has plenty to offer all climbers, from those talking their first beginners courses, up to the most focused technicians. Here is a overview of our climbing facilities.

 

Slabs

 

The Slab

 

The slab is part of a cantilevered buttress 11 metres high at a 30 degree angle, which is unusual for indoor climbing, and has lead bolts. At the easier grades novice climbers can gain confidence and build skills without needing upper body strength. For the top end grades climbers would need to utilise smearing techniques and balance.

 

 

 

The Marathon Wall

 

The Marathon slab is about 15 degrees and is a 10.5 metre top roped wall. The lines are route set from grades 4 to 7a, setters often have a tendency for balancy, mantleshelf type moves.

 

 

The Dervish

 

The Dervish is part of a freestanding buttress; it's top roped and bolted and can therefore be lead climbed. It's a two tiered slab, with a 15 degree slope stepping to a twenty degree slope. We often cycle several large volumes to create some interesting climbing problems. One of the volumes creates overhang, bridging and a mantleshelf, the other volume means an increased committed step up over the edge. 

 

 

Vertical

 

The Green Wall

 

This vertical side wall is 8.5 metres and bolted for leading. Line 5 has an arête edge, useful for layback routes. The grades on the Green Wall vary from 3 to 6c.

 

 

The Prow

 

Next to the Green wall, the prow has a large volume that happens to be shaped as a ships prow. As an overhanging arête on line 2, gives a lot of climbing variety including bridging and an overhanging edge. All the routes on the prow are lead bolted and grades range from 4 to 7a.

 

 

 

Black Slabbath

 

Black Slabbath is a vertical wall 10 metres high with volumes for layback routes, corner climbs and line 1 has a hand jam crack. Top roped and lead bolted this section of wall is graded from 4 to 7a.

 

 

 

Razzle Dazzle

 

Our new wall inspired by the Colorado Mountains.

 

The Tower and Feature Wall

 

The tower is a freestanding structure with vertical walls. Two faces and 4 lines are old school featured wall, kindly donated by Hackney Free school, and 3 faces and 4 lines are plywood with small volumes dotted about. This section of wall is top roped and grades on the featured section are between 5 and 6a, the ply lines have grades from 4 to 6c.

 

 

 

 

 

Overhanging Walls

 

The Red Wall

 

This 10 degree overhanging wall has a large volume across two lines to increase the over hang to 25 degrees for the final 3 metres. There are two more large volumes giving a high variation in surface. This is a mainly lead wall with routes from 5 to 7b and is about 10.5 metres high.

 

 

 

The Reverse Marathon

 

The overhang is about 10 degrees, financed by the London Marathon Trust, it has a unique system that can allow wheelchair users to climb assisted by counterbalanced weights, made smooth and flexible by a series of flywheels. This is probable the only system of its kind in the UK. Living Stone designed and built the wall and the Aircraft Circus, our neighbours, fine-tuned the system. For our regular climbers the climbs are graded from 5 – 7b. 

 

The Nose

 

A sustained 20 to 25 degree angled overhanging lead wall, called the Nose because its large volume sticks out like one! As well as the large volume we’ve dotted smaller volumes to give a faceted climbing surface. The step in the angle of the wall makes for some interesting undercutting moves. Line 1 leads up to the roof arch and has 13 metres of lead climbing. Line 5 is next to a corner, and setters often put funky overhanging bridging routes. Grades on the Nose tend to range from the odd 5 up to 8a.

 

 

The Overhang

 

Our fearsome lead wall has two angled facets at 35 degrees and 25 degrees, with 3 large volumes and a roof arch. This a popular challenging lead wall between 11 and 13 metres of climbing. Routes are graded 5 to 8a.

 

 

Bouldering

 

Mezzanine Bouldering

 

We have two main bouldering areas on the Mezzanine - our original bouldering area with a central boulder and cave, surrounded by a range of surfaces from slabs through vertical to overhanging, and next door our new, Karma Climbing designed and built "Lounge", featuring a large cave and a variety of walls and volumes. All areas are running circuits, so similar grade ranges are all featured in one colour - making it easy to tackle the problems in your target grade.

 

Free-standing Boulder

 

The boulder is 4.5 metres high, with massive overhanging edge, faceted sides and a slab section. Sitting routes start from underneath the lower edge and can prove interesting. Routes from V0 – V9. 

 

Other

 

Training Room

 

The training room is also a Karma Climbing-designed facility, and features all the training aids you'd expect for those really wanting to push their grades. Moon board, campus boards, and dedicated training routes, with a dedicated iPod facility so you can put on your own music to train to.

 

Traverse Wall

 

Great for warm ups and also for the kids, the traverse wall is a low-ball wall for practicing technique, stretching and just getting going.