March Gym Round Up
March has been a veritable gold mine for gym announcements, developments. With 15 countries’ worth of news bites to sift through, you had best grab a hot drink and find out what’s been going on across Europe.
As always, if you have announcements to share with the industry, be sure to tag/email/DM us. Don’t forget our FREE job listings.
Austria
Appeared in a Flash
A new entrant to the Vienna climbing scene has shown their build progress. Das Flash is being built in the north of the city by ArtRock Climbing and features a 35m long competition wall and large 45deg spray wall. We look forward to learning more!
Belgium
Isatis Makes Three
On 22nd March, Isatis in Liege opened to the public marking the third site for the budding Belgian chain. The compact site features a small restaurant/bar, retail space, and an adjustable KilterBoard, and is a short distance from its sibling sites - l’Elephant and Top Rock.
Onyx Found in Brugge
The team at Onyx Boulder has revealed the finished wall build of their boulder gym in Brugge. The spacious, bright 600sqm facility has been built by DreamWall, and features a unique, large snake-like wall running down the middle on the gym. It also includes Moon and KilterBoards, large bistro space, climbing shop, kids zone, and training space. The gym will open to the public on Friday 11th April.
Bulgaria
Sports Complex Upgrade
Climbing Wall Plovdiv has completed the build of their boulder and lead facility, as part of a wider sports complex. Not much can be found about the facility, there are approx 25 blocs and 35 lead routes.
Denmark
Bison gets Bigger
Bison Boulders has announced their second Copenhagen site, in Kødbyen. The Blocz Climbing-built gym features full-height walls and an impressive range of angles. We shall update this section once we have heard back from the Bison team.
Estonia
A Double Expansion
Tallinn, Estonia, based gym Ronimis Ministeerium has announced it is developing not one, but two new sites in the city - One roped and one bouldering. Owner Mikael shared with us that the roped centre, when fully finished, will consist of 1140sqm wall space, up to 11.7m including 6.8m kid/beginner friendly walls, and the first Walltopia Fun Walls zone in the Baltics.
The bouldering gym includes 800qm of wall space and will be situated within three 12m-wide arches with a 5.8m apex, creating a unique design challenge and interesting climbing spaces. The walls will be built in cooperation with Falkors Group.
Finland
Kiipeilyareena 3.0
The Helsinki based gym has announced its second site (3.0 because the original site was expanded to a second floor) in the city with a massive, bright 2000sqm space. Designed by Altline Studio and built by Walltopia, this gym will feature extensive bouldering walls, multiple adjustable training boards, sauna, and cafe space overseeing the seafront
France
Bloc Session #23
Large French chain Bloc Session opened their 23rd site in Salon de Provence. The bright and spacious EP-built , Tyyny Sport Loisirs-matted, gym features a large bouldering space, cafe, and training area,
…and #24!
On 15th March Bloc Session announced their 24th site, now known to be in central Lyon. We will report further when we known more but for now it is described as an XXL boulder gym!
Unibloc Carcassonne
Unibloc has opened their first bouldering gym in Carcassonne, southern France. The 700sqm facility, built by Pane Escalade and matted by Instalaciones Poti, includes an open-plan layout with a large central island, with cafe space, spraywall, campus boards and an outdoor social area.
Arkose Completes Paris Circle
Arkose has announced its St Denis site, and 26th overall, within the Olympic Aquatic Centre. Claiming to be the largest bouldering gym within the Ile de France, it will boast 1000sqm of wall space, the staple La Cantine restaurant and a welcoming terrace. Opening is expected toward the end of May.
Arkose’s First French Franchise
Squeaking out on the 31st March, we spotted a new account, Arkose Angers. They replied letting us know that a team of 3 entrepreneurs had signed up to become the first Arkose franchise for a site in Angers, western France. The site will have 1000sqm of bouldering walls, a dedicated kids zone, and a bar/restaurant serving drinks and quality local food.
Germany
3 Monkeys!
Bouldering chain MonkeySpot has opened their third site, in Monchengladbach - in the west of the country. The light, spacious and colourful gym opened on 15th March, and features a moving KilterBoard and training space, cafe/bar, ‘Monkey’ retail space, and a kids specific area to be completed in the near future. The wall was built by T-Wall.
Bad Orb Blessed
Wall builder ProblemKind has completed a gym for Boulder Church, in the spa town of Bad Orb, east of Frankfurt. Matting was provided by Polskok. The impressive site retains the extensive stained glass windows, paired with dark walls, creates an ethereal climbing experience. The gym also features a cafe and social space, and will open their doors on April 14th.
Aim for the Top!
The city of Renningen will soon be welcoming Top Boulder; scheduled to open in May, the wall has been designed by Christoph Bucher and is being built by Walltopia.
Italy
Arco Prepares to Welcome New Boulder Gym
Northern climbing paradise, Arco, will soon welcome a new bouldering gym with Arena Boulder. The spacious, bright, 400sqm facility includes a large kids specific zone, one of the first commercial Walltopia Quantum Board XL, circuit and spray boards and a stretching/warm-up space. Arena aims to open in April.
Netherlands
Massive National Training Centre
Dutch gym chain Mountain Network has announced a truly enormous, 5100sqm, National Training Centre in Nieuwegein. As a reference Kletterzentrum Innsbruck boasts 5750sqm. The facility will include state of the art training facilities, speed walls, routes and boulders accessible to everyone, an open plaza for social events and competitions, and an athlete’s residence for visiting Dutch and international climbers.
Block13 Plus a Bit!
Dutch boulder gym Block13 opened a 250sqm expansion to their Tilburg site. The increased wall space featuring top-out section, mezzanine and a large island will allow more climbers from the town to enjoy this rapidly growing sport at peak times.
Roest Turns up the Heat
The Roest chain of gyms has nearly completed their 8th site with Boulderhal Vrijhaven in Deventer. Aiming to open in June, the large, bright, open-plan gym features extensive walls including 4 islands and a top-out section, and a welcoming bar/cafe space.
Slovakia
The country’s largest bouldering gym, Spot Climbing Gym, has opened a mezzanine expansion to their existing gym, along with a kids zone. Along with a stretch of new bouldering wall, there is now a strength and conditioning area, and soon a KilterBoard will be installed to complete the new setup.
Slovenia
Bolder Scena Surprise
Slovenian Boulder gym Bolder Scena broke cover on their second site in the historic IFSC World Cup city of Kranj. The gym will open on April 12th with a large bouldering competition. The extensive facility includes full height walls, a huge range of angles suitable for everyone and presumably large cafe/retail/training spaces.
Spain
Quality Climbing Acquires Indian Rock
Cantabria-based Quality Climbing has acquired Santander gym Indian Rock. The 3-year old full service-gym has assumed the Quality Climbing Santander name and branding.
Prepare for Valhalla
Valhalla Block has teased their compact gym in Écija. We look forward to learning more about the gym and their opening date!
Skala Roco goes Big
Burgos-based Skala Roco has announced their second site in Valladolid. Their first site, opening only 18 months ago, is an extensive, purpose built, €6million full-service gym. Site #2 tops this further with a €6.5million full-service facility built on a 4800sqm plot and also includes paddle tennis courts.
BlocDistrict Expands Training Space
BlocDistrict’s Tetuan site in Barcelona will be receiving a large training space upgrade courtesy of DreamWall. The space will include large campus board, fixed digital board and large spraywall
Fanatic Re-Opens
As we mentioned last month, Fanatic Llieda was forced to close its doors for issues relating to a lack of fire hydrant access. The site is now back open to a very enthusiastic public and forging ahead with building a strong climbing community in the town.
Switzerland
The North-Swiss town of Appenzell has welcomed a compact new bouldering gym. On March 8th Chletterai opened their doors to an enthusiastic audience. Matting was installed by Flipp Crashpads.
To the Baar!
As we eluded to in a previous Round Up, Boulder Baar has opened their second, purple-accented gym on March 8th in the town of Baar. The Adam Fidler-designed, Benky-built, gym features extensive bouldering across 2 islands and side walls, an adjustable KilterBoard, fixed MoonBoard, training space and cafe/social space.
Prepare for Orbit
Orbit Interlaken in central Switzerland opened their doors on 29th March. The impressive, ground up built facility was founded by Ski Mountaineer Nicole Steck (wife of Ueli Steck), and includes Chief Routesetter Johannes Bucher. Orbit includes extensive bouldering and roped walls totalling 850sqm, built by BlocForm and matted by Flipp Crashpads. The gym makes full utility of being a new-build with ample seating areas throughout, large dedicated training room, plenty of natural light through large windows and comfortable cafe/social space.
UK
Glenmore Lodge Expands
The National Outdoor Training Centre in Aviemore, Scotland has expanded its indoor climbing and drytooling offering with a purpose built expansion to its existing facilities. Built by Kong Climbing Walls, the compact space will allow groups to improve their skills when the Scottish weather refuses to cooperate!
Climbing Hangar Continues Splashing the Cash
With the announcement of their central Bristol site, this brings Hangar’s site-count to 11 across the country. The huge, 26000sqft floorspace, gym will include 2 floors of bouldering encompassing ~300 blocs, a 50deg KilterBoard, a 40deg TensionBoard2, and comprehensive training, retail and café spaces. We’ve also seen news of site 12 being granted planning permission in Nottingham - more on that soon.
LCC Expands…and Then Some!
As recently reported, Lakeland Climbing Centres has acquired Rainbow Rocket (1 site + 1 under construction) in Cambridge, and Big Rock (2 sites) in Milton Keynes. It was revealed at the end of March that Jeremy Wilson, owner of LCC, had made one more purchase, this time of Beacon Climbing in Caernarfon, North Wales. This brings the chain to a heady 16 sites, and currently the largest in the UK.
