Social Distancing Update from 14/10/20

As of 14/10/20 Sheffield’s COVID-19 Alert Level is classified as High (or Tier 2).

The new restrictions change the existing the Rule of 6 which applies to Medium COVID Alert Level areas and state: “you must not socialise with anybody outside of your household or support bubble in any indoor setting, whether at home or in a public place”.  The intention is to reduce the rate of community transmission so that Sheffield can move back down from High Alert Level, at which point things get slightly less disruptive for everyone, so to help contribute to this:

Please do not climb with people outside of your household or support bubble while at The Climbing Works.

If supervising Novices (inexperienced over 14s, or any under 14s) you must be from the same household or support bubble.

We’d very much like to continue to stay open so that you can keep climbing here, as having to close again at this point in time without a substantial and unlikely government bailout would be catastrophic and we’d sorely miss seeing people enjoying their time climbing here.  For us to stay open we need your help; once you have signed in to the centre, we’ll need you, our centre users, to take personal responsibility for who you are climbing with and ensure that you are adhering to government rules and maintain good social distancing practices from those outside your household or support bubble.

Government Exemptions:

• Organised youth, disability or elite sport, and people who are working (e.g. coaches)
  • This means our regular internal U18 sessions and sessions for individuals or family groups can continue
  • This also applies to external coaches, but you must supply a risk assessment in advance

This based on government guidance about from here

Face Coverings Update from 13/10/20

Face coverings must now be worn while you are on the mats in between climbs / training sets, this is for the safety of all of our customers and is in line with emerging industry practices, and further necessitated by Sheffield heightened alert level.

At this time face coverings are mandatory at all times in the centre with the following exceptions:

• While climbing / training in the matted climbing / gym areas (but please wear one if you can)
  • Coverings must be worn while at rest (i.e. between climbs) and at all times while supervising / coaching on the mats
• Eating or drinking
  • You must be sat at a table or bench to do so.
• You are exempt from wearing a face covering
  • E.g. Under 11s or medical reasons. Full list on gov.uk here, along with further info about face coverings.

While you do not have to wear face coverings while actually climbing this is strongly advised as it means you are not putting them on and off repeatedly, which best practice guidance suggests should be kept to a minimum and done with clean, sanitised hands to reduce the risk of contamination.

Following clarification of the new UK Government guidance from the ABC & UK Active there are some new changes to our COVID policies and conditions of use.

Face Coverings

Must be worn at all times in the centre unless:

• Climbing in the matted climbing areas
  • If you are just supervising novices you should wear a covering
• Training in the matted training areas
• Eating or drinking (you must be sat at a table or bench to do so)
• You are exempt from wearing a face covering
  • List on gov.uk here

Rule of 6

You must follow the government's rule of 6 while using the centre.  Do not arrange to climb in large groups, or 'merge groups' when you are climbing socially.

The rule of 6 does not apply to instructed groups under the age of 18, but does apply to instructed sessions for over 18's. In either case coaches / instructors do not count towards the numbers as they are working.

Cafe  - eating and drinking

Due to new government guidance food and drink must now be consumed while sat down (otherwise you need to be wearing a mask).  After purchasing food or drinks please move away from the reception area to sit down and eat or drink.  We now have a reduced number of tables available for this.  Please wipe them down when you are finished, dispose of any litter and return mugs to reception for cleaning.

Thanks for your continued support and we hope to see you soon!

Young Climbers Festival 2020 Results are out!!!

Well done to everyone who entered our 2020 competition. We hope that it brought a little normality to your summer! 

Please see results below.

Medals and prizes will be sorted out in the next week or so, please keep an eye out on social media for further updates.

If you have any photos from the competition please email them to ruth@climbingworks.com

The Climbing Works Unit E: The new home of GB Climbing

We are very proud to announce that The Climbing Works’ Unit E is now the new home of GB Climbing following a successful bid for this exciting opportunity.  This collaboration will provide GB Climbing’s elite athletes with a dedicated space to focus on the increasingly complex movement patterns required to excel at the highest levels of international bouldering events.

Unit E will provide a safe & regulated environment for the athletes to return to training, which is particularly important in the COVID-19 era with the athletes only recently being able to resume specific training.  To facilitate this Unit E will be closed to the public between 9am & 5pm midweek, enabling GB Climbing to adhere to the UK Government’s COVID Secure guidance for elite athletes returning to training.  It will also enable them to carry out route setting & testing of the high-level boulder problems required for their development without having to work around other centre users.

The Climbing Works has a strong history of involvement with competition climbing from the popularity of the Climbing Works International Festival (CWIF) to the long term involvement of two of our directors, Percy Bishton & Graeme Alderson, in international competition climbing.  Percy has operated as an IFSC Chief Route Setter since 2003 and was selected as the Chief Route Setter for Bouldering for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, while Graeme has operated as an IFSC Technical Delegate since 2010, so we’re pleased that their expertise may help to contribute to the continued growth and performance of GB Climbing.

GB Climbing Athlete & Rab CWIF 2020 winner Molly Thompson-Smith competing in the Rab CWIF 2020. Photo: Band of Birds

What does this mean for our customers?

GB Climbing’s chosen route setters, including their coaching team & GB Climbing athletes, will be given freedom to route set as required for their training, with regular setting of lots of new highly refined boulder problems ranging from individual test pieces to World Cup Qualification, Semi-Final & Final level circuits.  To allow facilitate a more bespoke setting schedule and adhere to the COVID Secure guidelines Unit E will be operating with reduced midweek public opening hours.

New Unit E opening times until further notice:

Monday to Friday 17:00 to 22:00

Saturday & Sunday 10:00 to 20:00

Within these public opening hours Climbing Works customers registered as Unsupervised Climbers (experienced adults and over 14s) will be able to access Unit E to attempt the boulders set by some of the country’s top international athletes in GB Climbing.

GB Climbing athlete Will Bosi competing in the Rab CWIF 2019. Photo: Band of birds

Percy Bishton, The Climbing Works Director & Tokyo 2020 Chief Route Setter said:
“I’m delighted that GB Climbing has chosen The Climbing Works to be its home and hope that we can share our combined resources and knowledge of competition climbing to help GB Climbing athletes achieve their goals.”

Daniel Waters, The Climbing Works Centre Manager said:
“We’re proud to be able to support GB Climbing’s development in a way that will also open up a unique climbing experience to our customers; the opportunity to climb and test themselves on GB Climbing’s highly refined competition-style boulders.”

Tom Greenall, GB Climbing Head Coach said:
“This is a fantastic opportunity and I am really looking forward to working with The Climbing Works to create a day to day training environment where our athletes can excel and thrive as we move forward.”

GB Climbing athlete & Rab CWIF 2019 winner Nathan Phillips competing in the Rab CWIF 2019. Photo: Band of Birds

We’re re-opening on Saturday 25^th July!

Please read below for some changes to our standard conditions of use following guidance and procedures from the ABC (Association of British Climbing Walls) in conjunction with UKActive, based on the government guidance on reopening the leisure sector.  All aspects of this are subject to change.  Certain services/options are currently suspended – we’re working on getting these back up and running as soon as possible; apologies if this impacts you but it’ll be due to complexity of these options not meshing well with our existing systems, or us simply having insufficient time to introduce appropriate controls required by our risk assessments which are required to reduce the risk to our staff and customers.

Please read it so you know what to expect and we look forward to seeing you back soon!

COVID symptoms

If you or anyone you have close contact with have any symptoms of COVID-19 please do not come climbing!  Follow government advice on isolation and social distance until government guidelines say you are safe to resume normal activity.

Suspended services

We have a number of temporarily suspended services; we will start these again as soon as we feel it is appropriate and we have the capacity to do so:

• Coached sessions
  • (including adult inductions and regular group sessions)
• Mini Works Supervisory Inductions
• ‘Family ticket’ entry prices
• No under 5s
• External coaching
• New registrations
  • (including Adult / Under 18 Novice ‘guests’)
• Supervision of Novices where you are unable to do so adhering to social distancing
• Brush sticks
• Borrowing chalk bags
• Pad hire
• Therapy room bookings
• Changing rooms
• Unit E Gym
• GB Team free entry
• Cash at the Mini Works
  • (currently card only with online pre-booking & 50p contactless minimum)

Capacity management

• Currently only registered unsupervised climbers and registered supervised U18s with an accompanying registered adult are allowed to sign in to the centre, no spectators are allowed
• Each building has a limited capacity per building

• Climbing Works – Max 95 climbers
  • Standard entry up to capacity on a first come first served basis (capacity listed on front page of our website so you can check before travelling – try to come off-peak if you can)
  • Please give your name to reception staff as you leave so we can check you out

• Unit E – Max 40 climbing & 4 in gym
  • Peak time (midweek from 5pm and weekends) only
  • Sign in at main reception as normal, then inform staff when you want to go to unit E so we can update our headcounts for each area
    • If you want to climb in the main centre after this you’ll need to queue (if required) at reception again so we can update the main centre capacity (it might be best to finish your session over there!)
  • Return to main reception to sign out as you leave
  • Gym currently closed
• Mini Works – Max 40 customers (includes supervising adults)
  • 1 hour 45 minute time slots, pre booked online only (barring technical issues bookings will go live by 5:00 on 23/07/2020). Supervising adults must book in too & Novices must be supervised by the adult named on the booking as per the standard conditions of use
  • Sign out at end of session
  • Over 5s only (temporarily!)
  • No family ticket option
  • Card payments only
  • Temporary pricing changes 5-17 year old novice Weekend £6.50, Midweek £5.50, U18 shoe hire £1
• Shop – 1 customer at a time
  • Ask staff if you want to enter the shop and you must wear a face covering (if able to do so) and sanitise your hands first
• Recommended session time: 2 hours
  • Due to our limited capacity please try to keep your session time to a minimum, including leaving promptly when you’ve finished; with our currently much reduced capacity longer sessions will impact others’ ability to climb. Remember to inform staff as you leave so we can open up more capacity for other customers
  • If having a drink towards the end of your session please get a take away to help us manage capacity
  • A session is a single entry – you cannot sign out and then come back in later

Social Distancing

• You must maintain a 2m distance from other centre users outside your own household (or household bubble where applicable) at all times
  • If you are concerned that another centre user keeps entering your space please inform a member of staff so they can have a polite word to reiterate social distancing etiquette
  • If an area of the wall is busy, please head to quieter area & come back to it when there is more space
• Adhere to signage around the centres, including distance markers at queuing areas and room capacity notices
• Receptions have safety screen to protect our staff – please don’t try to circumvent them
• Café seating is extremely limited in both centres

Hygiene measures

• Hand hygiene – sanitise or wash your hands:
  • On arrival and leaving the centre
  • Before & after eating or drinking
  • Periodically though-out your session
  • Liquid chalk *might* help, but isn’t a substitute for hand sanitiser or soap
• Face coverings:
  • Preferred (if you are able to do so) at reception & when ordering café items
  • Are mandatory (where customers are able to wear them) in our shop
  • Are welcomed while climbing, particularly at peak times
• Please try to use contactless card payments
• Arrive in your climbing clothes and store your belongings in a locker / cubby hole
• Bring your own water bottle (the water fountain will be out of use)
• Clean signed training equipment before and after use with provided alcohol wipes
• Shop stock and hire items that are returned or tried on will be quarantined for 48 hours or sanitised as appropriate
• Dispose of all waste in the provided bins yourself & return used cups to the collection points at reception
• We have conducted a thorough clean of all 3 centres prior to reopening
• We have scheduled regular cleaning of high contact areas throughout the day
• We have also brought our out of hours cleaning in house to give us a greater degree of control and care over this
• Our centres are well ventilated with numerous windows, and a large extraction system in the main (busiest) centre. Please do not close them!

Track and trace

• As a leisure business we may be required to share occupant details with the government’s track and trace network in the event of confirmed cases of COVID-19 on our premises
• This is a legal requirement for us as a business and as such does not require your consent under GDPR (our privacy policy which registering customers agree to includes sharing of data where we are legally required to do so)
• If you are uncomfortable with the idea of your data being shared with track and trace then please do not visit the centre at this time

We're pleased to announce that we'll be reopening on Saturday 25th of July!

Hopefully you've all managed to stay safe and well while we've been in lockdown and sorry that we've been quiet over lock down. Unfortunately as we've been furloughed to safeguard the future of the centre it left us able to do very little without abusing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Further details of what we're doing to keep our staff and customers as safe as possible on reopening will follow in the coming days, but following the government & ABC (Associated of British Climbing Walls) guidance for leisure facilities it will involve increased hygiene measures, physical distancing measures like screens at our receptions and strict capacity management for different areas most likely:

• Entry up to a capacity of 135 in the main Climbing Works including Unit E - we'll have an online widget looking something like this:

• Bookable timed slots (capacity of 40, including supervisors and any coached groups) at the Mini Works

Our top priority is to reopen our core business, the main Climbing Works, in a safe and welcoming way on Saturday 25th July.  We are also aiming to reopen the Mini Works at the same time if possible, but it may be shortly afterwards due to the added complexities of aligning the required covid-secure capacity management across our 3 separate areas with the new customer entry and management system we introduced in May 2019.  Other parts of the business including our coached sessions will restart soon after this again following the appropriate guidance, for example more experienced coached groups will return before one-off novice sessions.

Looking forward to seeing you all again,

The Climbing Works Team

Wall closure due to COVID 19 (Coronavirus) from 22:00 on 19/03/2020

Some things in life are certain – it will always stop raining at some point, a wet dog will always traipse muddy paw-prints over your new bouldering mat, and the Climbing Works is always open 362 days of the year (apart from Christmas Day, Boxing Day & New Years Day).  This is how life for us has been since we first opened in 2006.

Now we have a new challenge in the coronavirus – it is our social responsibility to close now and remain shut as long as advised to do so by the Government. We don’t know how long this closure will last for – publishing a reopening date at this stage seems a bit presumptuous, so stay tuned to our website / social media for updates on when we might re-open.

We are a small business, started by climbers, for climbers. Our innovation and gamble back in 2006 spawned the modern generation of big bouldering centres which can now be found across the globe. This closure has far reaching ramifications for all of our staff and customers, and we hope that any disruption will be short and our business will be able to reopen in the near future.

Any members with a pre-paid membership or pre-paid entries – your membership will be paused from the closure date until we reopen.  Further details about memberships including those paid by standing order will be added to the website as soon as we can write it all down, along with some suggested ways you might be able to help support us in this difficult time for those able to do so.

In the meanwhile, please look after yourselves and anybody who needs help. Be kind to one another, don’t panic buy useless stuff, be considerate, and we’ll see you all on the other side!

Graeme, Percy, Sam & the rest of the Climbing Works Team

FAQs & options to help support us

What happens with my pre-paid membership?
As previously stated we're freezing all pre-paid memberships until we are advised we can safely reopen.

I have a pre-paid membership; what can I do to help?
Thanks for your support!  Either you can let us know you don't want to pause, which will be helpful for our cash flow when we are able to reopen, or you could buy something from our online shop.

How do I pause my monthly membership payments?
We understand that this time is difficult for everyone.  If you are paying by standing order so you need to understand that YOU need to pause the payments with you bank; we can't do it for you!  Please drop us an email to memberships@climbingworks.com to confirm that you are doing this and include your name and DoB so we can link it to your account.

How do I continue to pay my membership?
If you are in a sufficiently stable financial position to do so and would like to continue your standing order even though you can't climb then that would be greatly appreciated.  You have set up a standing order with you bank, so you don't need to do anything for it to continue.  It is, however, important that you understand that at this time we do not know when (and therefore if) we will be able to reopen.  Please drop us an email to memberships@climbingworks.com to confirm that you are doing this and include your name and DoB so we can link it to your account.

I don't think I can afford / justify the full monthly amount while you are closed but I still want to support you; what can I do?
Thanks for your support!  If you want to keep up regular payments at a lower amount then you just need to adjust your standing order with the bank.  It is, however, important that you understand that at this time we do not know when (and therefore if) we will be able to reopen.  Please drop us an email to memberships@climbingworks.com to confirm that you are doing this and include your name and DoB so we can link it to your account. 

How else can I support the centre?
For anyone else who would like to support us in some way you can find options for pre-paid membership, entries and gift voucher here.  The rest of the online store selling physical items is currently offline as we stay home to help the NHS, but once it's appropriate for us to do so we'll put it back online; we'll also run an offer with 25% off online Benky Grip Wash orders, aimed at other walls who are getting on with maintenance while they are still closed to the public.

Can I hire pads to climb outside?
Unfortunately we won't be offering pad hire at this time.  We feel that we have a societal responsibility to limit any further strain on the NHS, so as climbing is an activity with a risk of injury and with rural areas having a higher proportion of more vulnerable age groups, our view is that an influx of climbers with more free time into these areas is counter productive to the current social distancing recommendations, which falls in line with the guidance in many other popular climbing areas in Europe.

The Climbing Works Entry Policy Due to Coronavirus (Updated 17/03/20)

The Climbing Works takes the health and wellbeing of our customers and staff very seriously, and we consider ourselves to be a socially responsible company. Due to the current ongoing situation with COVID-19 (coronavirus) we are constantly looking at the most up to date Government advice and adapting our company policies to fit with current best practice.

In light of the most recent advice (16/03/2020) we currently have the following restrictions in place:

The Mini Works is currently closed & all coached sessions are postponed:

Following government advice on social distancing we want to protect both our staff and customers, and we identified coached sessions as one of the most difficult areas to control this in. Without the regular coached sessions, the reception staff in Mini Works are better utilized doing additional cleaning in the main center.

The Climbing Works & Unit E are currently open as normal with the following restrictions:

YOU MUST NOT COME TO THE CLIMBING WORKS IF:

• You feel unwell, have a persistent cough or a high temperature
• You are currently self-isolating
• You are over 70 years of age, or suffer from any medical condition which puts you in a group considered to be particularly vulnerable to the effects of the COVID-19 virus, or if you have regular close contact with individuals in this group. Details of vulnerable groups can be found on the government website – www.gov.uk/coronavirus/

Measures we are taking:

• We will monitor and limit climber numbers within each building below a total occupancy level of 100 people in the Climbing Works & 50 in Unit E
• Our staff and our cleaners have increased the frequency at which they clean high use surfaces

The situation regarding coronavirus is changing almost daily, and we are committed to work within the framework of best advice provided by the government to protect our staff and customers.

Currently, we are happy for climbers to use our facilities if they are well, and do not fall in restricted groups mentioned above.  However, we stress to any users of our facilities to practice good hygiene as outlined in the posters at our front desk and around the wall.

We will update this information as and when the situation changes.

Many thanks,

The Climbing Works Team

The Climbing Works Entry Policy Due to Coronavirus

The Climbing Works takes the health and wellbeing of our customers and staff very seriously, and we consider ourselves to be a socially responsible company. Due to the current ongoing situation with COVID-19 (coronavirus) we are constantly looking at the most up to date Government advice and adapting our company policy to fit with current best practice.

In light of the most recent advice (16/03/2020) we currently have the following restrictions in place:

The Climbing Works is open as normal.

HOWEVER, YOU MUST NOT COME TO THE CLIMBING WORKS IF:

• You feel unwell, have a persistent cough or a high temperature

• You are currently self-isolating

• You are over 70 years of age, or suffer from any medical condition which puts you in a group considered to be particularly vulnerable to the effects of the COVID-19 virus, or if you have regular close contact with individuals in this group. Details of vulnerable groups can be found on the government website – www.gov.uk/coronavirus/

As an additional measure, we will monitor and limit climber numbers within each building (Main Works, Mini Works and Unit E) below an occupancy level of 100 people.  Both our staff and our cleaners have increased the frequency at which they clean high use surfaces.

The situation regarding coronavirus is changing almost daily, and we are committed to work within the framework of best advice provided by the government to best protect our staff and customers.

Currently, we are happy for climbers to use our facilities if they are well, and do not fall in restricted groups mentioned above.  However, we stress to any users of our facilities to practice good hygiene practice as outlined in the posters at our front desk and around the wall.

We will update this information as and when the situation changes.

Many thanks,

The Climbing Works Team

As well as being a busy climbing wall used by locals and climbers from further afield we also run a variety of events, from local festivals to international climbing competitions.

At present, all of our organised events are going ahead as planned, and we are monitoring the situation on a daily basis.

For detailed information about Coronavirus, visit the Gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

The government has also published an action plan. This advises that there's presently no rationale to close or cancel sporting events, but this may change as the situation evolves.

Planning on climbing here or attending an event?

• We encourage all our customers & attendees to maintain good personal, hand and respiratory hygiene by following the NHS guidelines on the Coronavirus overview page: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

• If you’ve travelled from other countries outside of the UK. please follow the guidance under the section entitled “Returning travellers” on the Gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

• If you’ve had contact with infected people, please do not visit the centre following the standard guidance on self isolation

• Anyone with flu-like symptoms should avoid the risk of spreading their infection, whatever that infection may be, by staying at home and recovering

Pre-Paid Members

• If you are advised to self isolate please let us know and we'll add the period on to the end of your membership.