Posted on Wed, 11 Jan 2017, 18:44
More space, more frequent setting, new holds!
We're kicking off 2017 with a few exciting changes to our route setting schedule. We've noticed things getting a little crowded on the walls, and we'd love to have space for some new, bigger holds. So we made a plan - strip a few circuits, ramp up the route-setting frequency, and buy some holds! Here's how it will all work:
You may have already noticed that the Orange Circuit has been down for a few weeks. Over the next few weeks we'll also be taking down the Yellow and Yurple Circuits, and these colours (one easy, one medium, one hard) will be given a rest to make space on the walls. In the future this means we can swap these back in for other circuits, changing up the hold sets if we get bored of any of the other colours.
To make sure there are no grade gaps once those three circuits go, we'll be tweaking the grade ranges for many of the remaining circuits, with some going a little harder, and some a little easier. For example, the Mint Circuit used to take in grades 3C-4C, and it's now moved to 4A-5A. So don't worry if a colour you used to climb now feels hard - it's probably just a result of these tweaks. Click the pic below for the old and new grade ranges:
To make sure fewer climbs on the wall at any one time doesn't mean less climbing, we're increasing the number of route sets we'll be doing every month. We'll now be setting two circuits every week, plus the occasional extras. This means we'll have about 130 new climbs to try across the grade ranges every month, which is about a 20% increase. We used to reset circuits every 12 weeks - this will now move to 8 weeks. Still enough time to work your projects, but not so long that we get bored of the climbs by the end. More space, more new problems, more fun!
We're putting in orders for new exciting holds as there are some great looking shapes on the market at the moment. Look out for some new grips coming to your favourite circuit over the next few months!
You can see more details on what sets are coming up soon on our revamped Route Setting Calendar page - search into the future or see what's happened recently, via the miracle of modern technology.
30 new competition blocs to try from Thursday evening