Is The Evolution of Indoor Bouldering Gyms CHANGING Climbing?

[@NathanBetts]

What did everyone think of the video style this week? We worked hard to try a storytelling style - and it’s awesome to see your comments around the climbing walls already. Thanks :)

[@nickkealiiclimbs]

dude this edit is amazing. noticed it immediately

[@Connor-s1k]

I really like it, very engaging. This wasn't a video for just entertainment, and that came across

[@gunnargrunke]

I like the edit. Hannahs voice is very fast could be slower, and when interviewing people let them speak till the end (show b-footage at the end of their sentence preferably of them climbing), let the statement breathe and then continue with Hannahs narration. The cut is too fast at certain times. At 10:03 for example. But I appreciate the effort. Formats like that require much more time editing so good job :)

[@wglao]

Loved this video! great editing, very interesting topic, and it's cool you got interviews with the CEOs of both mile end and climbing hangar

[@RedCabinet4793]

Amazing video, nailed the story telling!

[@GreenAlien2023]

Andy here! 👋 So impressed with the quality of this documentary you two. This is a quality piece of journalism. You must have put SO much work into it. As a 40+ yr old climber myself who remembers the climbing walls of the early 90s, and has seen the transition through to today, the old boys in this vid echo my own observations exactly. I think your analyses is spot on and the fact you two are relatively young yet have managed to capture and appreciate the old guard's viewpoints, plus layer on top well thought out "new" perspectives of your own is REALLY impressive. I found this a really engaging and thought provoking watch, and is the first of its kind I've seen - it was probably overdue. You should be super proud and I hope this vid gets loads of visibility.

[@RobQuinney]

What an amazing and lovely reply. I have nothing to do with this video, but I'd be very proud to receive such a comment. Props all round! 👏

[@Blujeanbb_]

“…a place to socialize, a set of puzzles to solve, a mindful haven, and a physical outlet.” Truly wise words on why many of us have fallen in love with the sport and community of climbing. Excellent video! I love this narrative style, and was captivated the entire way ❤

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Really pleased that you liked the video - climbing has always felt unique to me for varied, valuable the things it can offer people! ☺️

[@biroclouds5390]

The Iffley Bouldering wall est. 1979 is still very active. ~200 rock holds set into a brick wall with around 500 routes set in its own dedicated guidebook. It's never been reset so the routes that Johnny Dawes and his brother set back in the 80s can still be repeated. Most of the routes were set in the early 2000s and were very traditional in style, but in recent years there's been at least 150 new routes set on our little wall. Even beneath 45 years of chalk dust and rubber it's my favourite wall ever:)

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Ooh! I have to admit this didn’t come up in our research, but having just browsed the guidebook PDF I’m very curious - is it open to the public / non university? For this comparison, we made the decision to focus on commercially focussed, customer facing gyms but learning about other local spaces that climbers enjoyed as training grounds, and hearing about places I hadn’t before has been so interesting!

[@whydidthetilda]

@@hannahmorrisbouldering There's also another new gym in oxford that opened up just a month or two ago (gallery bouldering) so could be another good point of comparison! You have to be a member of OUMC to use the Iffley road wall, but you can join as a non student. I'd be curious to see it, I live around there but have never joined

[@durabelle]

The obvious thing would be to take Johnny back there! If he'd be up for another video. I know I'm not the only one who enjoyed seeing him in the previous ones 😊

[@alanwatsontravel]

@@hannahmorrisbouldering Before Mile End opened the Sobell Sports centre in Islington had a similar corridor wall which was very popular with what Alex MacIntyre (then of the BMC) labelled "brick edge cruisers". I used to climb there in the early 1980s when living in London for a while and away from the other 'good' walls of that period (Leeds University Corridor, Abraham Moss (Altrincham) and Richard Dunn in Bradford). You really should try and film at Iffley so that younger climbers can see just how basic the facilities were in those days. The consequence was that most of us spent a lot of the winter climbing outside in the rain. Ian Dunn was employed by the BMC as their climbing wall advisor in 1984 and wrote (in High 22, September 1984): "I personally believe that in an area where there is an availability of natural rock, then climbing walls should be developed only for existing climbers. Anyone wishing to learn to climb should do so in the natural environment rather than in a totally artificial classroom situation. Climbing walls need to be technically difficult to sustain any degree of interest and the over-concentration of novice techniques and lack of versatility is certainly the failing of many of the climbing walls". How things have changed!

[@biroclouds5390]

Yeah you have to be a member of the Oxford university mountaineering club, but you don't have to be a student or anything and it's pretty cheap, especially for a single term. Also yeah the iffley wall wasn't built as a public gym, as you say, the history of earlier walls is hard to pin down. Donny Robinson Walls built the first UK ones, including the Leeds wall and Iffley, but many of them were for schools or unis and don't have huge amounts of info recorded. There's also the bendcrete boulders around the country, which are public but not really as usable for training. If you're interested in iffley I can put you in contact with the OUMC committee, they're already excited that you've now heard of our wall:)

[@nickemery3101]

First went to Mile End in 1988. Helped build the Monkey Room. Final session there was around 2001 when I moved away fro London. Great Wall. Spent many a happy hour in the boardroom.

[@stevewells4907]

We must have met, I used to go there 91 - 96, also help build the Monkey House.

[@thenayancat8802]

Gotta bring the left foot up Peter, either match feet or use the other small rail hand, then go up. It'll feel sketchy but if you trust the feet it'll be fine (probably)

[@CookieCreamCrumble]

fr petter just needed to jump for the hold, as a much shorter climber than him i was not having it hearing him complain about reach lmao

[@Ollie_1997]

​@CookieCreamCrumble When you are peters age, you'll be able to use the non-jump excuse as well!

[@thenayancat8802]

@@CookieCreamCrumble Nah it's slab, you can do it statically if you trust the feet

[@Echo-bx2py]

Had to drive 40 minutes to my climbing gym everytime I wanted to go. Last month a new gym just opened up 5 minutes away right on the docks and it's amazing. Has nice view of the docks and even has an outdoor climbing area which I haven't seen before!

[@joshold5840]

Chimera Chatham?

[@Echo-bx2py]

@@joshold5840 yep🤣

[@oliverclimbsV3]

This made me so nostalgic for my 21 year old climbing gym which closed in 2022 when the building we rented space in was sold. It also had varying wall heights and angles made to fit in an atypical space, along with molded aretes and cracks. It was a cramped but that made it feel more like home. I miss it so much.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Glad to hear it brought back some good memories! I think we always have a soft spot the first place we start climbing, no matter how rough around the edges it might have been then, or even more so for it!

[@conserve_climber]

I love the climbing wall next to a canal. I think the canals of England are something most visitors don't really get to see or appreciate. The first time I live in England I had a flat in Berkhamsted and I'd run along the canal...so cool.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

I totally agree! Lots of my favourite areas of the U.K. are close by to canals - and lots of climbing gyms too owing to the fact that gyms are generally in industrial areas. 😅

[@illustrationmaking]

I’m 54… climbing for 8 months. My sons got me climbing (18 and 22) and I love going with them. As a lifelong cyclist, but also decidacted weight lifter who has worn out their joints but still wants to be strong it’s the perfect hit - just wish it had been around when I was much younger. But it’s fantastic…. Though I too wish the last tops weren’t out of reach…. 😂 (Frome boulder room… brilliant place with regular route changes… feels like the gyms I used to train in back in the 80s. No frills, awesome, great team, wonderful coffee)

[@michael1]

Yeah, I'm often questioning why I didn't go climbing much earlier and then I realise that it didn't really exist - at least not in the form that I enjoy now. It's almost like if swimming were primarily done in outdoor bodies of water then I wouldn't have gone swimming as a kid and, later, regularly as a 20-something. I think I've paddled in the sea a few times and maybe swam in one river (until the other people we were with started coming out with leeches attached to them and we noped out of there) but swimming for us was chlorinated, heated pools indoors. Climbing gyms are more or less doing the same thing for climbing. I think there's another aspect to the climbing though I was so significantly afraid of heights that I certainly wouldn't have climbed as a kid if someone had taken me. I'd have struggled in my 20s or 30s. For whatever reason most of my phobias disappeared - I get triggered with a fear of falling occasionally but I'm very comfortable with heights now.

[@ontheballcity71]

Yeah. I took it up when I was 47. I'm 52 now. My latest hobby seems to be ridiculous dynos, which I'm terrible at.

[@LatticeTraining]

Absolutely loved this video Hannah and Nathan! Well done guys!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Thanks folks! Appreciated. We had fun learning about some climbing history. 🤓

[@dubi799]

I love the sneaky Mike Boyd cameo haha

[@diab2901]

I spotted this one too I was so shocked

[@cern1999sb]

And Shauna Coxey and Stefano Ghisolfi

[@Diektj]

I love those overhang climbs on the ceiling in the old gym

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Super cool! I bet there are some super impressive endurance routes made up in the Monkey House!

[@invincaspartan]

The largest shift I've seen over the years is moving away from climbing moves you may find outdoors to more Dynamic Parkour jumps.

[@breezyillo2101]

Holy shit. Since the slow death of the climbing mag, I've really been missing something. This is exactly it. I live for the lore! I live in the Southwest US though so my exposure is typically to the stories of Red Rock, Tahquitz, and the Eastern Sierra. Please give us all the local lore of the UK scene!!!!!

[@ryanfitzalan8634]

at the end you touched on the capitalist side of where climbing gyms are and may be headed. I think we should get ahead of this problem now, and begin to advocate for gyms to become employee/customer owned cooperatives, at the very least employee owned. We don't want to get the the inevitable capitalist future for climbing, where most gyms are mega-gyms, with all sorts of high end luxuries inserted in, and you pay $50 bucks per visit for non members, and memberships are many hundreds per month. nor do we want big fitness centers to merge or acquire climbing gyms, and suddenly its LA Fitness and Ascent. The owners who started the gyms get their pay out, build a big house and a private climbing facility in their mansion, the rest of us get piss poor facilities, mixed with work out gym bros and predatory membership packages. Lets reject that outright now, and convert what we have now to cooperatives.

[@GreenAlien2023]

These are great ideas and is an accurate prediction I think

[@ryanfitzalan8634]

@@GreenAlien2023 Thanks!

[@Ten_Thousand_Locusts]

Yeah, that's not gonna happen. Enjoy it while it lasts. Climbing is only getting bigger, and since we live in a capitalist hellhole, exactly what you proposed and worse WILL happen. I wish it weren't true, but sadly, that's just reality now.

[@dominic508]

The editing of that intro is some masterful work. And I know nothing about video making but like, that dolly shot with the train going by, 10/10.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

thanks so much, really appreciate the nice feedback :)

[@edwardshelley3488]

Much love for the Mile End. I used to love a short run away and it was my regular sanctuary for my last couple of years in London. Back then it used to have very high boulder routes, the breezeblock traverse, and a red slab of moulded panels that never changed, but you could draw your own routes in a folder for others to try. I'm back in London for a couple of days next month for work, and the ONLY thing on my to-do list is to pop back in to the MECW

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Dean showed us some of the photos from when the bouldering walls were much higher - bananas stuff! Especially over such thin matting. Hope you enjoy your session when you visit again! 😅

[@duncanmahon3324]

Awesome video, really like the video essay kinda style for this one :D Also I can attest that the route setting at mile end is particularly good!

[@krystalgomez7313]

Great video, Hannah! I LOVED hearing all the amazing perspectives from everyone in your video. Now I can't stop thinking about how much climbing has change since I started climbing and what else might change in the industry over the next few years.

[@drglobule8a]

Great documentary, well documented and constructed, the storytelling is really captivating. I started climbing in 2002 and climbing gyms have changed so much, from the dusty hangars to these clean facilities offering a wide range of tools to train, work out, eat and chill. I love the saunas, but I miss the spray walls. Most bouldering gyms nowadays do without and it was such a great tool ! I also am not such a big fan of modern parkour-style bouldering, but as long as it doesn't take over entirely, it's an interesting new challenge.

[@kaelball]

In Leicestershire we have two modern bouldering centres (Climbing Station and Social Bouldering), but an oft overlooked one is at a local leisure centre in Beaumont Leys (a fairly deprived suburb of the the city). It's pretty old, but it's moulded plastic plastic walls has a mix of modern holds and feature routes - moulded flakes, arêtes, cracks, ledges and so on that you just don't get on a plywood wall.

[@juliabristow1579]

I really love this style of video, almost like an instigative / journalistic view on the climbing culture and industry! Would love to see more, and really appreciate the production quality and research that must have gone into something like this. Great job!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Thanks so much Julia, great to hear you liked the style. We’re hoping to do more in the future if people enjoy this one ☺️

[@ediblemanager]

Great video doc, and brings back a lot of memories! I started bouldering around 2003, and my local was basically a cupboard at the end of a corridor with gymnastic mats scrawled with the word "Condemned" as the fall protection. Was absolutely hooked and found myself in love with the sport.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Hahaha I love that! Climbing is definitely changing where facilities are concerned, though there was a certain charm to the dusty cupboards!

[@terryfonte3655]

The quality of this video is beyond impressive. This topic was done so proper. You can bet I’m checking out more of your content

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

I appreciate that! Hope you enjoy some more videos :)

[@JD-cl9nw]

TCH Edinburgh is my local and gave me climbing bug (been climbing now for 2 months) I love the place and they've done great to give a sense of community there from the get go. Mile end looks grand too.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

So nice to hear you’re loving TCH Edinburgh. We really enjoyed getting to climb the opening sets there, and hopefully we’ll get the opportunity to head back soon

[@robertpepper5256]

I love this video, and wish that there was a deeper dive into climbing wall history in the UK. Abraham Moss Center 1975 had a roped climbing wall at one end of the gym. I think there were 4 or 5 ropes, people drove literally 2 1/2 hours to climb there during bad weather, I was 16. More interestingly there was a 7m long sculpted tile wall in the foyer of Broughton Baths Salford that climbers “practiced” on circa 1970ish I recall climbing on it probably sometime around 1973. There must be other walls, and or roped climbing that existed at that time.

[@stevewells4907]

This is an amazing video. I helped build the Monkey house back in 1991 or 92. I used to bunk off college on a Wednesday afternoon to help out. I remember the swimming pool, can't remember any pool parties. I live in Spain now and a couple of years ago when I was back in London I went back for a tour. I think the manager was called Terry back then that ran the place.

[@mikel.mp4]

respect for the mile end climbing wall, I can see how much refurbishments they've made on this video even if I didn't visit that long ago (the plywood wall on the left at 6:49 didn't exist, there was an old school grey wall that imitated the shape of a rock wall). the ability to change and adapt for a business that has been running for so long is something they should get praise for. I rarely get to top out routes indoors and this is the first ever time I got to do that, super satisfying!

[@andenmal6735]

Great video. The storytelling style was nice and informative. But for me personally, even more important was that you touched on some very good thinking points. Climbing as a whole has really evolved. Whether it is gym climbing, trad, sport, bouldering, or even the route development and stewardship of outside crags, things have changed and will continue to change. Have the "ethics" or the mindsets changed, or has the "mettle' of the recent generations that have embraced climbing as an actual attainable activity changed? As a community we can either embrace the changes or fight them. Work together to help others enjoy climbing as a hobby, as a sport, as a way to push oneself personally or as a lifestyle. It is really a challenge for climbing gyms to present an experience that balances the climbing community culture with the "business" aspect of things. So props to those gyms that are trying to encompass both.

[@sp_danger1729]

I feel the sense of community in the older climbing gyms is unmatched and it would certainly take a lot for a new gym to form it's own community. I found this video really interesting and thought provoking! Well done and keep up the great work!

[@ryanleung9369]

Love the documentary style of this video! During my last trip to London, I only visited Mile End Climbing Wall. Love that place!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Awesome! Thank you! Mile End is super characterful. We enjoyed out visits ☺️

[@rosierosereads]

This was an amazing video!!!! My husband and I started climbing in January and your channels been so helpful. This look into the history of bouldering gyms vs the now was fascinating!!!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Really nice to hear that the videos have been helpful for you 🥰

[@nikhoward]

Hi Hannah, just wanted to say that this was an excellent film. I used to climb at Mile End almost 30 years ago when I was on business in London selling climbing gear. It was a fab nostalgia trip for me and clearly remember the moulded concrete holds (I first ever climbed at the Ackers in Birmingham in the 80s so remember that as the norm). I don’t climb as much these days but still get out. Thanks for a great film.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Really glad you enjoyed it. 🤗

[@adiannadar7548]

Omg mile end finally. Also, i saw you on the day and you were so lovely, and im really happy witb what you put together to make this cool vid

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

So nice to hear! Hope you enjoyed the video and had a good session at Mile End 🎉

[@carlosdumbratzen6332]

my first climbing gym has been destroyed for over 8 years now. It was in the back of our school gym behind old mats. The holds were mostly crimps and some of them were just from random wooden pieces. The hall since 2016 has been broken down and replaced with a new gym and I have not climbed in the new one, because I left the town in 2014. The first time climbing for me was in the mountains, but that was my training area. When I look for new spots I like places that have the same vibe of selfmade routes.

[@MrSooty14]

My local has become increasingly commercialised so far to the point we lost a training area in favour of more walls, when asked if there would be scope to re introduce one. I was basically told “sounds like you have a good idea for a climbing gym yourself”. Unfortunatley a lot are cash cows now with more interest in numbers in the door than being for climbers

[@lil_swarlette]

This was a really thought provoking video! Starting climbing here in London at the start of the year, I've been lucky to try out a lot of walls, including Mile End! My personal favourite is Yonder, its a beautifully designed (+ independent!) space and they do a lot of stuff with underrepresented groups which i appreciate a lot. Their grading feels hard as nails as a beginner but their V1s always make me think! And the cafe is awesome. Compared with other nearby gyms, the way the space feels and their efforts to open it up makes it my favourite. After going to other gyms, it feels like coming home :)

[@solomonreinman7452]

This is really great. Amazing to interface with the history of climbing in such a tangible and relatable way. Relevant to beginners and experienced climbers across the decades.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for leaving a comment ☺️

[@glow64]

Great video! Always nice to take a walk through the history of a space/place; learned a lot about the history of Mile End and climbing in general. My take on the beta for Peter at 7:58: left hand pressing on the left volume as you place the right foot on the hold next to his left knee. Stand up and use your right hand to look for the upper-left volume that looks like an undercling, focusing on your left hand press and right foot to be the main forces holding you up. Once there, I think stepping up to get the left foot on the volume makes it easy to reach the finish hold.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Glad you enjoyed the video, and I’m sure Peter will be psyched on the beta too hehe 🥳

[@MisterChappy]

fantastic !! really apprecaite the insights shared by the newer gym owner and the comparing and contrasting that you presented

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Glad you enjoyed it! 🥹

[@LarsFL]

Great storytelling! You bring up some really interesting points, and I can clearly see both sides of the story. As it stands, i'm just happy that the sport is now accessible that so many new people are sharing this passion

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Really glad you enjoyed the video - thanks for watching and commenting. It’s really fun to see so many people finding climbing recently. It does raise some tricky questions about how the sport can retain its core values going forwards with increased participation, I guess always a process with any growing sport! ☺️

[@tylerq3679]

What a brilliant concept for a video. So smart to pay homage to the history and most modern indoor spaces of the sport. This new and creative style of video is exactly why I'm subscribed! Digital high five Hannah!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Thanks so much for the great feedback - really glad to hear you enjoyed it! We enjoyed working in a slightly different way to produce this, so hopefully more in this style coming soon ☺️

[@Natalanium]

loved this video!! Always nailing the documentary style videos on this channel, very enjoyable and informative

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Thanks so much, really glad you enjoyed the video 😀😀

[@graydeotto2820]

This is a great new style Hannah, almost documentary. Loved it

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Glad you like it! We want to do more videos in this ‘commentary, journalistic storytelling’ style so this was a bit of a first experiment 🥹

[@graydeotto2820]

@@hannahmorrisbouldering awesome! Im looking forward to it 😊, great first go

[@ST-vt4nu]

I moved recently and luckily around that time a new gym opened up near my new area. The community there is amazing. I know the people that work there and most of the regulars. I would even call some of them friends already. We do silly things, like go around seeing how many things we can bathang on. But we also help each other on our projects. The other gym in the area doesn't have that same community feeling. My old gym I had a bit of community, but nowhere near as much as in this new gym. It also helps that the gym is quite small and is usually not too busy.

[@raholdstock]

This is a Fantastic video Hannah. Not only did it educate me on some of the history and culture of bouldering, making a lot of sense to me.......but I frequent Mile End climbing wall and my best bud who now lives in Edinburgh frequents that new climbing hangar. I've shared teh video with him. We have also debated whether chalk is cheating or not lol. Oh and Yonder is my main gym. I recognise some of the problems from each gym and even some people. Felt like home. I must have just missed you at Mile End recently. Would love to say hi in person. :)

[@tinatiel3765]

This was really cool! I thoroughly enjoyed your storytelling here, and it changed my perspective on climbing a bit. Thank you!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Really glad to hear it! Thanks for watching. 😅

[@niallhardie]

Really enjoy your content; this is your best video yet - great storytelling, really nice editing, but still personal. You made it look easy and natural - but I bet it actually took a massive amount of work. Really well done.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Wow, thank you! Really glad you like the videos, and this one in particular. We really enjoyed putting this one together and learning some climbing history throughout the process. 🥹

[@vhuttyu]

Loved that boulder cave - brought me straight back to schooldays spent at the (then only) Awesome Walls in Liverpool

[@snake_plant]

I think many of the newer facilities in the UK, whilst well-equipped, can unfortunately be a bit soulless. Part of the problem is so many are retro-fitted into large boxy warehouses (which is understandable given the cost), rather than being purpose built from the ground up, or in more unusual settings like older gyms (churches, mixed-use buildings). Wall and mat colour, lighting, lack of windows all impact (so many look identical). I'd love to see more built with more of a unique and creative identity, like the Blockhelden gyms or gyms in Oslo for example. Definitely more bringing the outside in even if just decoratively - planting, greenery, real rock etc - the Mile End outdoor space for example looks lovely.

[@anon95274]

Really excellent video Hannah! I definitely can tell that it was made with a lot of love and thoughtfulness and care. I learned a lot ❤

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

I’m so glad you liked it. It was definitely a long process with a few more moving parts than usual, but we really enjoyed producing this video and learning about climbing history along the way. 🤩

[@PeakDistrictBouldering]

Nice to see the Mile End profile. I climbed there a lot back in 1998. I recognise the Monkey House but most of it looks unrecognisable now. For the better I’m sure. I used to enjoy the traverse warm up wall opposite the entrance desk, the concrete cracks in the main room and the pretty scary height in there. Good times.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Some of the photos we were shown of the highball bouldering above teeny pads are ace! I reckon there’s a few more macros in the Monkey House now, certainly! 😅

[@mikamoonbeam]

Absolutely great little documentary. Love this new style. Watched beginning to end and thoroughly enjoyed it!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Really glad you enjoyed it 🥹

[@GorillaGripChris]

16:28 omg that’s Mike! Love seeing him!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Good spot ☺️☺️

[@codynova]

I usually climb 3 times a week but I always look forward to my Sunday sessions the most - it's when I feel the strongest and most relaxed. I absolutely love when you release a video on Sunday morning! It always gets me more hyped to go to the gym and try hard. I can feel myself getting psyched as I watch!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Yessssss, so glad to be able to help out with some Sunday psyche. Hope you have / had a great session 💪

[@lp173]

Been to Mile End a few times as a London based climber and I love it! Setting has been great, and the help you get at the shop outside is fantastic.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Found myself in the shop just the other day when we last climbed at Mile End - difficult to walk past it after a session without having a nosy 😂

[@manicantsettleonausername6789]

This was a fantastic video, basically a mini documentary, I loved it!!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Really glad you liked it 🙌

[@iamgrays]

Great video. I really enjoyed it as a documentary style. I wouldn't always want to see stuff like this on your channel but it looks at a different side of the sport, the people that enjoy it and its changing face and culture. Great work. I am new to climbing and love going to a new city and trying different walls when there. Life takes me to different places but now I can still climb when I am there and I have never had a bad experience at a new climbing wall. Everyone has been friendly and open. People always seem happy to chat, provide help and guidance and help. I am not a new young climber, I often wish I was. I am in my 50's and loving the experience. PS: your channel has been so great. It is amazing to see all these great climbers but I struggle to relate to them on the wall. Your channel is more helpful and more relatable to me at least. Well done.

[@londonclimbingcentres]

Love this Hannah! So thought-provoking. Raises interesting questions about how to attract more people into our world and how to create a smoother pathway for newcomers, regardless of what brings them through the door. Whatever approach we take, I think we all share the same ethos. Climbing makes our lives healthier and happier, and our core aim will always be to introduce that joy to as many new people as we can.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Absolutely! It’s been ace having conversations about climbing’s roots and future during filming, and since in the comments. It’s also been nice to really see, though people come into climbing from different backgrounds and with different motivations and goals, there’s still a strong based of shared values and a sense of community present.

[@Crimpies]

Love the video style! As an aspiring KZbinr I really love watching videos like this as they give me great insight into how to really pull interest from a viewer. Hoping that one day I can have the tools and skills to make a video just as amazing as this!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@timharris3292]

I moved away from London more than 20 years ago, but I miss that place. it was interesting to see how much it's changed. You forgot to mention the most important bit though, The Palm Tree pub! BTW, at 12.16 in the red fleece with a can of Fosters is a baby Si, he was the best man at my wedding.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Ahaha that’s funny! We really loved looking back at the history with help from some of the locals. Some of the old photos they showed us are gold. 🤩

[@atomiccocoanut2596]

might be my fav video of yours. might not get as many views as a normal vid, but i think stories like these deserve to be told so thank you!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Glad to hear you like the different storytelling format ☺️☺️

[@deslomator]

Maybe it's me being old, but I specially liked this video, the topic, the characters and the writing.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Glad you enjoyed it. We enjoyed making it a lot 🤩

[@lazeavlad]

really awesome quality video, so well scripted and edited, sometimes I have to remind myself that there are a lot of people that go climb just for the social aspect, great point, keep it up

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Glad you enjoyed it! 🙌

[@markkelly3694]

Peter, Either step that left foot on the hold between your legs or get your right foot onto the volume. Your weight is so far left with such low feet, you’re losing about 1-1.5’

[@joshuawhere]

It's pretty cool to see some climbing spaces run by charities. I've been starting to think about the broader community aspect of climbing as I've spent more time in the sport, though I haven't really done anything yet.

[@amberblackford9999]

Oh my gosh I love all the cameos in this video. ❤ Also love the documentary feel and editing. Well done!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Glad to hear it ☺️☺️

[@kilteddwarf]

indoor and outdoor is really different nowadays... and i like it... my local climbing cym has really nice routes -> modern climbing but combined with the more traditional of hard and small holds... (they have a few new, big holds)

[@Basti12293]

Our climbing gym, The Glashaus was a green house before turning into a climbing gym. The owner was a gardener before closing his shop and greenhouses and after a while he and his friends that were also climbers had the idea to make a colab home climbing wall in there and that escalated quickly 😅

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

I would be super interested to see photos of this. In making this video, I've really loved learning about all the wonderful, unconventional climbing spaces people have enjoyed over time.

[@maria-pk8zu]

This video was beautiful. Teared up a little bit. Congrats, guys :)

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Thank you so much! Really happy you liked it 🤩

[@EllaClarke-ht3vb]

Really liked this video and the format of it , thank you guys very much 😊

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks 🤩

[@patrick4069]

mile end climbing wall seems like one of those gyms where the vibe in there is so warm and so inviting

[@lpfan7101]

Brilliant and thoughtful video that compelled me to comment! Absolutely loved this :)

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Really glad to hear this! It was a different style of video for us, but we really enjoyed taking a more journalistic approach to telling a climbing story 🙌

[@FiniteEntity]

It's thrilling to see how popular climbing has become. After Tokyo and after the whole pandemic thing... it's so fun to see the number of people at the gyms. The Janja effect, the increase in women and young girls being so into it. Very cool.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Totally agree! Can’t wait to see how much bigger it gets in the coming years 🥹

[@lirich0]

I’m one of the newbies and I can say I definitely joined this year in part thanks to the newer kind of climbing gym

[@slimaque727]

I really like those community and people focused climbing films, love the content

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Glad to hear it. Thanks for watching 😅

[@matassadaunykas4785]

Haven’t watched a video with this sort of quality in a long while. I also climb at Mile End and I didn’t know any of its history until now👍

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it and learned about the walls history ☺️

[@robbory]

Absolutely incredible video and storytelling! Loved this video

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Thanks so much! Really pleased you liked it ☺️

[@johnknight9150]

Put your left leg inside, Pete, and rotate on your right foot. Then look down to get a bit more reach with your left hand as you reach up, and use your inside left leg poking out to the right to counter balance your arm reaching up left.

[@phh5447]

Thank you for this, I will spread this in my manager meeting. As a new manager in a climbing wall, I am crazy upset that I have to live with holds that are 15 years plus. - the whole leisure centre makes a lot of money. The gym just got everything redone. But we do not get new holds. 😢🤬

[@_itzel_]

thanks for the insightful vid!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Hope you find it interesting! 🤗

[@ZombieClimbs]

£9000 for holds for the 1st Hangar? That's crazy. To put it into perspective, I've already spent £1500 on holds for my new 3 plywood board home wall. 6 times more for an entire gym is kinda mind boggling.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Right! I would be so interested to see some photos of the first sets in TCH - I bet they looked very different to now. ☺️

[@Ten_Thousand_Locusts]

I'll be in London near the end of this year and I'd been looking for a good bouldering gym to go to when I'm there, I think I just found it. Thanks for the video.

[@captaintvb]

"...we are spoiled by selection of bigger newer cleaner..." Meanwhile in Montenegro: The only gym in the whole country closes for summer due to the lack of AC 😁 ...though bouldering space is so tiny there - so you sit literally shoulder-to-shoulder with other guests, end up communicating with everyone and after a few visits already have a company for weekend outdoor climbing trips without even seeking for it :)

[@ejl74]

This was freakin rad! Thanks for the lesson on these gyms new and old. I love older holds and love seeing all this. I climb at one of USA’s oldest gyms.

[@Djapchan]

Really cool episode - I loved the comparison between the two and the interviews a lot

[@TheAlbinoskunk]

Talking about the difference between old-school and modern climbing walls, it's incredible to see the difference between TCH Edinburgh (beautiful environment, modern walls) compared with TCH London (probably the diciest climbing gym in London at this point)

[@Eyllexx]

Really nice video and thanks for putting in all the work for this documentary:)

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Thanks so much! ☺️🙌

[@BenAG24]

This is a fantastic video, really well made and interesting. Unlike anything else climbing creators are making.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Thanks so much, I really appreciate that. 🥹

[@G.Giorgio]

I love the edge traversal in Milestone end

[@iBiteIntoTomatoes]

Whoah the quality of the video is amazing I love everything about this documentary :))

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Really glad to hear you liked it ☺️

[@ST-vt4nu]

As someone who's 5'2 I feel Peter. "and thats just cruel in my opinion" Thats me every session 😅

[@paulgennaro2001]

I thought this doc was about the evolution of movement from classic old school gym boulder problems to contemporary/modern Boulder problems of today. In simple terms, how have we gone from crimps to jumps and dog paddles, etc. People now train for basketball to climb comp style boulder problems based on knees over toes. I get the evolution of the gym, but I also would like the evolution of movement. The thumbnail makes you think you’re watching the evolution of movement. Thanks!

[@kilteddwarf]

7:04 those shoes are perfect for beginners and people, who focus more on fun, than on hard routes... you don't have the best hold with them, but they feel so fucking good, you can almost wear them as sneakers... towhock and heelhock still work well...

[@KrispClimbs]

Love the style of this video! A really good insight into such an interesting topic. Absolutely brilliant 👏

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks very much for watching and leaving a comment ☺️☺️

[@danmurphy2379]

Fantastic video Hannah, thank you! Really thought-provoking discussion of the sport and its roots

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Thanks, it’s appreciated! Glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for commenting ☺️

[@melissarobinson8638]

I enjoyed this style of video. Thanks for telling the a piece of the history of gyms.

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Glad to hear it. ☺️

[@dimosketigenidis4861]

Great video. I think the only problem with how fast climbing is growing, is all the small injuries. There is not enough awareness, not enough research and not enough physios!

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Interesting point. I think there's definitely less opportunity for stewardship and mentorship as the sport accelerates so quickly, which means basic safety and advice for not overtraining isn't as 'passed down' as it used to be, for sure. :)

[@dimosketigenidis4861]

@@hannahmorrisbouldering I think it is not overtraining that causes the injuries, it is undertraining while "Just climbing". The old motto, "Don't hangboard, just climb" is outdated and potentially dangerous in bouldering. Bouldering exposes climbers quickly in their journey to hard fingery moves much more strenuous than hangboarding, therefore all the injuries. The solution is probably preventative strength training. I think it would be amazing to have a session with a Physio climber and showcase a general routine :)

[@conserve_climber]

Wow Edinburgh gym is super fancy...nice

[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

It really is! Great gym and hopefully the Edinburgh locals are enjoying it. 🙌