Rock Gym

Wolverhampton Mountaineering Club

WOLVERHAMPTON ROCK GYM

Run by Wolverhampton Council in the Molineux Youth and Sports Centre,
it is adjacent to the Wolves football stadium. Built with funds from City
Challenge and Foundation for Sports & Arts.

The Bendcrete design works well for the mixture of users - a fully featured
concrete bouldering wall with mattress for established climbers friction
coated panels with top roping for instruction purposes, including a few
interesting harder problems.

The room opened to the public in April 1996, and since it has been a regular venue for members
and for instructed groups. The wall has certainly helped recruit new members to the WMC.

A ramp intended for wheel chair abseiling, actually provides good practice for beginners to trust
their feet. The height of the wall is limited by the room to only 4.5m. This means leading is not
viable. There were plans for an annex which would allow climbing to 13 metres, the full height
of the building. However the extra funding was not secured.

Unfortunately this wall is NOW CLOSING due to structural problems and the building is likely
to be demolished. SO WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF A WALL IN WOLVERHAMPTON?
This club is in consultation with officers at the council to draw up a specification for a new wall
at a different location. The council is committed to maintaining similar facilities, but the WMC
City Wall Report puts forward a good case for a tall wall.

Watch this space for the latest news If you would like to put forward your views on
a new wall for the City, please contact Joyce Robson joyrobson@dial.pipex.com

For other climbing walls around Wolverhampton, see the excellent BMC database at: www.thebmc.co.uk/indoor/walls/wall.asp