Everybody loves slopers!

The surprising results of our 2022 survey are in

At Boulder Brighton we love making evidence-based decisions, and so this year we decided to commission a big survey of BB climbers to see if we can change things at the centre to give our climbers what they really want. The results are now in - and they might come as a surprise!

The first big result that jumped out at us was about climbing hold type preferences, with an overwhelming 41% of climbers listing slopers as their favourite type of climbing hold - almost twice as many as any other hold type! While there has always been anecdotal love for this kind of hold (as well as dual-texture holds where you have to stand on the shiny side), not everybody has always agreed, so it's great to have this proved by rigorous science. We'll be changing our route setting and holds orders to reflect this strong preference soon.

We also asked climbers which hot drinks they preferred to accompany their send sessions, and again the results were not what we expected. Although 26% of people said they enjoyed a Flat White made with locally roasted artisan beans, there was an overwhelming preference for instant coffee at 39% - something we've never actually served at Boulder Brighton! With the rising cost of electricity this survey gives us the confidence we needed to ditch the espresso machine in favour of a good old-fashioned kettle and a few jars of Nescafe. It's a true win-win. There was also some interest in the idea of a "send soup", with cabbage and lentil the preferred flavour - more to come on this soon.

Big thanks goes out to First Ask Knowledge Enterprises who we commissioned to run this survey. We were blown away by how fast they were able to turn around the results, with them somehow managing to speak to 1,035 registered Boulder Brighton climbers and report back results within less than 24 hours! The whole process was remarkably non-intrusive, it's like they weren't even there. They weren't cheap but the results speak for themselves, highly recommended.

We'll be spending the next few months really digging deep into the data and planning how to implement some of the ideas that are suggested here. There's a lot to mull over, but we think we'll be ready to ring in the changes by the same time next year, on April 1st.