For those who've been on it, what's your opinion?

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massive punter

I can only really comment on the holds near the floor as I was only traversing. Some too gritty and a bit painful but otherwise ok, nt the most fun traversing ever as there are blank spots in places that cripples cant avoid. The mats are literally SO SOLID, may aswell be outside on the pavement HOWEVER some good looking routes as long as your really careful considering there has already been an injury. Still prefer the old room tho, but the overhangin wall is cool

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Resident climbing ninja

Just to point out, I pulled up to creation at the same time as an ambulance with flashing lights. There to carry out a customer who had a bone sticking 2inches out of his ankle..... Messy.


On arrival, the wall is painted in very bold colours and is definitely an attractive looking bouldering area. Although it doesn't have the appeal which centres like the TCA have on first arrival, it is not solely a bouldering venue so I wouldn't expect this.

Firstly the routes are set in 7 different circuits. Green, being the easiest working up to Black/grey being the hardest. Circuits have been very popular in other centres. They work particularly well at the Works and TCA.

Putting the excitement of having a brand new wall on my doorstep behind me, I was rather dissappointed with the diversity of the routes. Every circuit uses similar holds. For example the orange circuit, are all grippy/pinchy holds, and the blacks being mainly crimpers. One of the things I like most about other centres including Redpoint, is the variety of different holds. The most recent example of the broad set of holds they have over at the rival centre is the big orange and black blob route. These holds are huge but the climber has to find the best way to hold them in the circumstances. Makes for a really interesting battle.

I would assume that the holds will start to vary when some of the holds from the existing bouldering section and top-roped walls get intergrated into the new area.

One other dissappointment is the lack of screw-on's and screws in large holds(to stop them spinning.). Hopefully the 'screw-ban' will only be for a few months. I also hope to see some of the old volumes and some new ones on the walls in the coming months.

Most of the new routes seem to be like ladders(an obvious line of holds). You can see the way but your not strong enough to hold on to a certain hold. Other centres try to avoid this to try and make climbs as similar to routes outdoors where it depends on a certain technique/way of doing it, which is not obvious. This said, some of the routes on the new slab area are very good.

Lastly, the mats are currently brand new and therefore VERY solid. Infact I was more worried going for the last move @ creation then I usually am climbing high outside. Make sure you land well when climbing there and if your going for a hard last move, get a spotter!!

On saying all of this, there are still quite a good set of routes to try, loads of new shapes, and especially that huge new roof installed, makes for continually interesting campusing.

All in all, not bad, but I cannot wait for Redpoints new bouldering section to be unleashed. I think it's ridiculous that we get two great centres within 10minutes of each other. And at bargain price. Some of the London wall's cost £13 a session!!!

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massive punter

Hmm... the new wall. I think its pretty good, sorta like a poor man's version of the works (this is in no way an insult!). Agree about the holds but that n the route setting will only get better i'd have thought. The cave is bloody excellent, my new home until the moon board is reset. As regards the mats, they will soften up over time, they changed em at notts cc the other year n had the same problem (and the walls are probably higher there!). The variety of wall angle/shape is a lot better than in the old area, as much as i luv overhangs u do need vertical walls and slabs. New campus board aint that great, but otherwise much love.

yer i liked the cave too...can't comment much as it was my first time back after hurting my knee n the solid mats put me off going v high...the verdict is still out me thinks

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*Katy *

I havent set foot in creation since june last year, so I've no idea what anything is like.

BUT, do they have a stamia tunnel? - people keep talking about some kind of overhang, is it like the one at Wolf Mountain? or just a big cave?

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"I'm not mad, I just see things differently"
No longer VP : But still Vaguely Philippino
FYI: Actions speak louder than wombats

I am not the biggest fan of creation anyway........

There was a few good routes but they are diluted down by loads of really average ones. I really like the circuits but had to combine several at once to keep the diversity going.

Absolute pet hate (apart from nat) why do creation insist on making the sit start the hardest move?! On so many of the problems I could do all the moves apart from the sit start, which is really frustrating. I admit part of the problem is probably me and am interested if anyone else had the same problem especially on the red circuit.

Verdict: If I'm at creation I think I'll stick to massaging my climbing ego on overgraded leads, otherwise, redpoint anyone?

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Unlevel-headed member of team Gadd-vey

Cheif Scout

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Miss Jeanes

I'm not the biggest bouldering fan, I'm barely a bouldering fan at all, but Redpoint's new problems upstairs have definitely been keeping me happy recently

I've set three of the new routes upstairs at redpoint. Let me know what you think, it was the first time i've set problems.

Pink standing start, fluro yellow, and normal yellow, all LHS as you walk in.

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Great Free Blowies (men or women) - 07702218917

Oh, THAT'S why those routes are a load of crap

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la la laaa!

I

It's kinda like the old stamina tunnel in wolf mountain in that it's a long upwards tending roof with a wall next to it, but you'd be hard pressed to just traverse up the wall as the routes are mainly on the roof itself atm.



Cheer up Michaf C, yeah I have the same problem with the creation sitstarts too, which can be very frustrating at times but the simple solution; just start them as stands. The walls are now tall enough that you don't need an arbitrary sit start in all the routes for them to be long enough, so either stand start them or just do what I do most of the time and make stuff up, there's loads of awesome features on which to do this now (yay slabs etc.)

Most importantly though and what I think has been a major oversight on the part of the posters here so far: THE MOON WALL'S STILL THERE!?!?!??!?!?

Yes, I very much like the pinks! I thought it looked quite different (in a good way) and tricky at first but with some delicate manoeuvring of weight and sneaky matching i managed until the penultimate hold. It is possible to sit start (at a similar grade too) if you use the edge to the left also! - will definitely be trying it again tomorrow

i think there are two yellows on the LHS as well as fluro yel; one before the barrel and one after, but i'm getting the two mixed up and can't remember which is which.
Great effort

my one is the one after the barrel with only a few holds

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Great Free Blowies (men or women) - 07702218917

Me and Rosie headed down to creation today and to be honest were pretty dissapointed with the new wall, so much so that we went route climbing instead!

The actual wall itself is pretty cool, but the routes were shocking! it's a real shame cos it could be awesome! it's like they couldn't be arsed to set good routes and as jay said they only used one hold type, all the routes were really samey and pretty boring.

Also why do they use british tech grades? it doesn't make sense and i don't know of any other wall that doesn't use bouldering grades for bouldering...

It's redpoint all the way for me!

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Girls like three things: Danger, Boners and R1oss' guns.