In reply to UKC Gear:
You’ve got to think about the return on investment. Sure, it may be expensive... but with it I’ll be able to take on my local climbing walls business directly. I reckon if I charge £6 per entry, I should be able to get 6 entrants per day. As long as I space them out, it should be fine. That’s a monthly turnover of upwards of £1K. After three months, I should have broke even. I will then wait another three months, saving enough to get another one. By now, word will have spread of my new climbing institution, and I can start diversifying. I will run training classes, get a youth group, and run my own bouldering league competition. I will look into installing an autobelay on the sides for those inclined that way.
If I continue in this way, I reckon it should take no more than 5 years to have established a flat-full of power-stations, amassing enough profit to actually buy out my local climbing wall.
At that point, I have suceeded. Free climbing at my local wall. Pretty good return on investment if you ask me.