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Blue Spider Climbing
Opening hours
| Monday | 10:00 - 22:00 |
| Tuesday | 10:00 - 22:00 |
| Wednesday | 10:00 - 22:00 |
| Thursday | 10:00 - 22:00 |
| Friday | 10:00 - 22:00 |
| Saturday | 10:00 - 18:30 |
| Sunday | 10:00 - 18:30 |
Prices
Peak Entry: Adults £13, Kids/Concessions £10.00
Off Peak Entry: Adults £10.00, Kids/Concessions £8.00
This wall is a dedicated climbing centre and ABC member
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Last updated on
12/Dec/2022
Overview
Well in excess of 1,000 sq m of climbing. 86 lines and 100s of routes on a variety of surfaces up to 10m. A large bouldering area and traverse wall. Top quality climbing for all abilities plus instruction and courses. In-house café overlooking the climbing arena.
Blue Spider Climbing has established itself as a main player in the indoor world since opening in sept 04. The regular route setting, the friendly staff, the comprehensive courses and coaching, the shop and the great café all add up to a terrific experience and excellent value for money.
There is a friendly atmosphere throughout the centre especially on the bouldering mats. The main climbing structures are free standing in the centre of the hall, with an array of features mostly built from ply, however the unique main arch is sculpted as are a number of other areas, providing a huge variety of climbs.
There are 86 rope lines with 54 top ropes and 32 lead averaging 3 routes per line. There is a good sized bouldering area under the café mezzanine with approx 50 routes, half set on a ply comp section and half on a featured wall. There is a good woodie and a child only bouldering wall in addition to a long traverse.
Highly recommended.
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Reviews
To: Christopher Bate: Whilst I respect your opinion...they have every right to come over and check your belay technique whatever your ability. Regarding the friendliness of the wall staff I can't disagree with you more, but I generally find with life if general that you receive the friendliness that you give out.
As a regular to the wall I find the staff friendly and helpful, and sure if they have a queue of people waiting to pay and climb I wouldn't expect them to hang around chatting - they need to process the queue. Membership for the year is not very much and significanly reduces the entry charge (you can make the membership charge good in a few visits). They've just launched unlimited monthly climbing and other benefits via their 3* membership. Yes the grades are set hard compared to almost every other local wall (but The Barn in the southwest is *way* harder)....I guess you should either climb harder of work lower grades when at Craggy :-).
If you're stuck for a partner at Craggy one evening drop me a mail via my profile, I live really close and would be happy to belay you (even with the staff watching).
With every good wish
Andy Haynes
christopher bate
24 Feb, 2010
I was in the area on buisness and had a free evening so went on to UKC and found "Craggy Island" as the nearest wall. On arrival i was greeted by a very unpersonable young lady, 1 of 3 dedicated "Reception" staff,each with a computer, processing people like cattle. I was then subject to this young lady testing my ability to don a harness , tie in and belay a climber (all of which i have no objection to) its just the way it was conducted and the manner in which i was spoken to "DISGRACEFUL", and during my session she even came round to check on me and stood there observing my technique. As an experianced climber i found this behavour outrageous. The wall is a cold money making machine that doesnt have the feel of all the other climbing walls i go to, with what i can only describe as a very negative/corporate lets make as much money as we can) feel to it. The price tag of £10 for a non member is high and the only thing i can say that im glad about is that its not my local wall and i will probably never have to go there again, Not the way a climbing wall should be run...
grades are all over the shop (mostly harder than the proposed), and after the initial wow facter i was left a bit disappointed... just didn't really enjoy the majority of the climbs, many were just unpleasent to climb- something you dont expect from an indoor wall. liked the social aspect....music was lacking though.... maybe the bigger walls struggle to keep the quality consistent, (but beacon manage it), and the clear overgrading is so frustrating as you tire quickly. £8.00 now. liked the bouldering although not as much as my local.
WinnieM
11 Sep, 2006
Been there twice now, it's nice and big, with quite a lot of nice routes,
But one thing that i don't like is that all the routes are set by one person, who's obviously a lot taller than avarage climbers, and makes all the routes really stretchy.
Would be good if the routes were set by more persons, or by one who's capable of setting different styles of routes so not every route you climb is the same...
What I like: very good top-roping, bouldering and traversing (overall Westway is better though). Some excellent route setting. Friendly staff. Auto belay machines (two at the moment). What I don't like: Not a lot of leading on non-overhanging walls. No monthly/yearly payment scheme. Some of the top ropes seem really old and handle really badly (in particular when using a Grigri).
In response to Robbo38: there normally are heavy black belay-bags. Grades are maybe slightly harder than Westway e.g., but I lead a grade harder in Craggy than in Portland.
Robbo38
21 Aug, 2006
Just checked it out last week. Awesome wall, reasonably priced and lots of interesting routes, friendly staff, and appears to be well run.
Only 2 gripes:
Some of the routes that we tried appeared to be under-graded (Or maybe I'm just crap!). Secondly, there appeared no way to secure a belayer who is belaying a fat-bastard like myself (Yeah, ok, lose the weight - I know I know I know.......)
Robbo38
21 Aug, 2006
Just checked it out last week. Awesome wall, reasonably priced and lots of interesting routes, friendly staff, and appears to be well run.
Only 2 gripes:
Some of the routes that we tried appeared to be under-graded (Or maybe I'm just crap!). Secondly, there appeared no way to secure a belayer who is belaying a fat-bastard like myself (Yeah, ok, lose the weight - I know I know I know.......)
Ben Burfoot
24 Jun, 2006
In my opinion one of the best walls in the country. When it first opened I thought it was a bit short, but having climbed there regularly now for a while I can say that the regularly changed routes, the interesting walls (overhangs arches and features) together with the friendly staff and good cafe make up for this and you dont really miss the taller walls. You meet people from quite far away there which clearly indicates how far people are prepared to travel for a decent wall.
Ben Burfoot
24 Jun, 2006
In my opinion one of the best walls in the country. When it first opened I thought it was a bit short, but having climbed there regularly now for a while I can say that the regularly changed routes, the interesting walls (overhangs arches and features) together with the friendly staff and good cafe make up for this and you dont really miss the taller walls. You meet people from quite far away there which clearly indicates how far people are prepared to travel for a decent wall.
jvacher
12 May, 2006
Great wall, top facilities, friendly and helpful staff and a well placed and stocked cafe. My only two gripes, which are both enough to put me off going as regulary as I would like to a venue like this are, firstly the routes can be a little random in the lower grades, for example I spent an afternoon teaching my nephew to climb, he managed to climb a 5c and a 5b but couldnt get more than a metre high on a grade 5 slab. Second gripe is the obvious £7.50 price tag for a climb, OUCH!
A great wall, long over due in the surrey/berkshire area. £7.50 is not expensive when you consider what your getting for your money. One small gripe though, how nice would it be to have a smoothie after you finish climbing? the cafe closes at about 9:00 !!!
Very modern (aka Westway) when compaired to the University wall, but then alot more money.
Some of the routes are graded a bit weirdly i climbed a 6c but failed a 3 (maybe just cause i'm a shortarse).
In general they've done well and aslong as they get the direct debit payment scheme sorted out then everyone's happy. Still might be worthwhile going to the uni wall once in a while as the tumbleweeds must be blowing around there nowadays :)
jammybob
14 Oct, 2004
A fantastic wall, very well designed and built and a well thought out centre over all. The only bad points are that there is some inconsistancy with the grading of many of the routes and also the obvious price thing, £7.50 a go is expensive!
Tom Ford
12 Oct, 2004
An exerlant centre, good bouldering both on compatition walls and imatation rock. varst aray of top rope routs and plenty of good lead routs. Well werth a visit.
frostyone
27 Sep, 2004
Not on the colossal scale of the Westway. But a nice wall with allot of varied and interesting routes. The staff are friendly and the short entrance exam is reassuring. About 30% of the wall is the new sculpted type. Routes and grades are very clearly marked up on two large blackboards. The shop is small but looked well stocked. My only gripes (on a Saturday) too many noisy kids! Which nowadays seem to have invaded every wall in the south! And maybe a few too many high grade routes. But overall a nice wall, and a welcome addition to the area.
Michael Ferry
29 Jul, 2004
I know it hasn't opened yet, but I've had a look around and it certainly has the wow factor. It's miles ahead of anything available in the Guildford/Woking area of Surrey and is easily accessible from the A3 and M25. My advice; get down there and see for yourself - its due to open in early September- if you're not impressed, there's something wrong with you!
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