Suspense over as new climbing gym opens up
Anew climbing centre is due to open in Edinburgh next week, with the company behind it excited about their first Scottish venture.
The Climbing Hangar will open to the public on Monday in East Telferton, near Portobello. The business is on a mission to get as many people of all shapes, sizes and experience levels into the sport of climbing. They specialise in bouldering, the simplest, most dynamic and fastest growing discipline of climbing.
The Portobello centre, which will be the company’s ninth UK gym, will include a fully equipped strengthtraining gym area, plus hundreds of climbing routes and a cafe offering fresh food and drinks.
The Climbing Hangar general manager Nicola McMaster is delighted by the positive response from Edinburgh’s climbing community, with the gym’s VIP opening weekend already sold out, as local climbers clamour to be amongst the first on the new wall.
She explained: “We offer a low cost membership. Sign up and you can come as often as you like for £21.99 a month. But anyone that signs up before we open on the 25th of March will get a special offer price of £16.99 which covers the end of March and the whole of April. We think that’s an amazing deal: almost six weeks of unlimited climbing.
“The response from the Edinburgh climbing community has been immense. Our VIP opening weekend is fully booked, with 800-plus people coming on Saturday and Sunday. We can’t wait to show people around and introduce them to Hangar style climbing.
“We will offer hundreds of climbs, all just four metres high off the ground. But you can pack a lot of variety into these short climbing routes. Some are really tricky, others just take a bit of pulling power. There’s something for everyone. It’s a really special place.
“Bouldering is the most accessible way into climbing. You don’t need a harness or a partner or any special training. It’s simple and fun and anybody could try it.
“Our mission is to get people into climbing, and bouldering is the lowest barrier to access. The only real barrier is the special shoes needed to climb, but we offer free rentals of these shoes, so you don’t need any
You don’t need a harness or a partner or any special training. It’s simple and fun and anybody could try it
We create different routes, or as we call them new ‘problems’, every week so there’s always something new to experience
of your own equipment to take part. We see ourselves as a gateway to a whole world of climbing.”
A weights gym will also play a big part at Edinburgh Climbing Hangar. “We want to give people a gym so they can get stronger, and do a work-out, as well as climb,” said Nicola.
“It’s an alternative to a traditional gym as we have the bouldering as well. It’s very exciting and probably why so many people have already signed up.
“Even though the climbs are only four metres high, our staff create different new routes, or as we call them new ‘problems’, every week so there’s always something new to experience. Our problems make your body move in different ways, make you utilise different muscles and techniques. As a novice you can leap on to the mat and try it pretty much right away, but even as you progress there’ll always be a new challenge to test yourself against.
“Bouldering is a very fast-growing sport in its own right, and featured as part of the climbing programme at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, returning this year to the Olympic Games in Paris. One of our ambassadors, Shauna Coxsey, was the first person to ever represent Team GB at the Olympics in the sport.”
The Climbing Hangar’s founder Ged MacDomhnaill launched the first centre in Liverpool in 2011. Edinburgh will be gym number nine, more than doubling the company’s estate since the pandemic. Ged started the business to give him and his friends somewhere to meet up and climb together. Now the company is looking to continue to expand, with Ged keen to get as many people in Edinburgh climbing as possible.
He said: “We are excited to open our first Scottish venue in Edinburgh and we would like to open more here in Scotland in the future. We have made no secret of the fact that we want to expand. Because we love climbing and we want as many people to benefit from the sport as possible.
“Even after the pandemic we have continued to grow. Since 2021 we have grown from four gyms to Edinburgh being our ninth. Times are tough and we know that people might not have the spending power they used to. That’s why we’re focussed on offering a great value membership product, making it as affordable as possible to climb whenever you want.
“We just want more people to get into the sport and we think the combination of great value climbing, lovely employees and the lack of techy equipment required makes for the best way to get into climbing.”
Ged is also passionate about the Hangar cafe, which he says is unlike the climbing centre cafes of old. He added: “We made a decision as a business to pay as much attention to primo food and drink as we do our climbing, and we’re dedicated to working with a small number of carefully chosen and sustainable suppliers.
“We have a gorgeous café serving fresh, top notch coffee and bake our own sour dough pizzas and other fresh food options. We want as many people to climb as possible, but we’d love for people to just come along because they like the food too.”
■ For more information about The Climbing Hangar in Edinburgh click here. Visitors must be 7 years old and older to climb at TCH, and under 14’s require adult supervision at all times.