Black Widows
Our holiday climbing sessions children aged 13-17. The session has a fun, casual format which requires no previous climbing experience.
Benefits:
- Roped Climbing
- Bouldering, climbing without ropes!
- Learn how to use basic indoor climbing equipment
- Introduction to belaying, descending and climbing movement
- Open session with up to 5 other children taking part
Details:
- Duration: 1.5 hours each session
- includes all safety equipment and instruction
- Optional: £3.50 per session to hire climbing shoes at reception
Private Sessions
A great way to introduce friends and family to climbing. Our fully qualified instructors will show you and up to five other people the ropes and get you scaling the heights in no time!
Benefits:
- Introduction to roped climbing and bouldering
- A fun, fully supervised session
- Take part with your kids
- Find out how to become a more regular climber
Details:
- Duration: 1 hour
- Includes all safety equipment and instruction
- Participants must be age 5 or over
Climbing Unsupervised
There’re a few different types of climbing you can do here at White Spider:
Bouldering
Climbing on walls around 3.5 metres high, without the use of ropes or a harness. We set short ‘problems’ on the bouldering walls, and the magic is in figuring out how to get to the top! We take safety seriously, so our boulder mats are there to ensure a soft landing.
Rope Climbing
Climbing with ropes is arguably the safest type of climbing. With the help of harnesses and belay devices, you’re secure and safe whilst climbing up our 10 metre walls. Of course, you’ll need a partner who knows what they’re doing, so you can keep each other safe!
Lead Climbing
This is the next level of climbing once you’ve mastered bouldering and top roping. In order to lead climb, you’ll need to have at least 6 months of climbing experience on ropes, and be climbing at a grade f6a comfortably.
You’ll need to choose which course is right for you, and what type of climbing you’ll be doing.
We recommend a Beginners Course as the fastest and most cost-effective way of becoming an  all-round experienced climber. After the course, you’ll have the skills to boulder, auto-belay and top rope climb independently, without supervision. There are other options too, which you can explore via the links below:
Once you have attended a course, or if you know how to climb already, you’re ready to take your Youth Access Test. It’s important that you feel ready to climb unsupervised at White Spider, and are confident in your skills.
There are three levels to a Youth Access Test, and they all require a different level of skill, depending on what kind of climbing you want to do. Check them out below, and if you feel ready, book now!
If you want to check that you are ready, or need a refresher, we recommend booking a Private Session with an instructor to give you the best chance of passing your test. (Note that you’ll need 2 people on this session to refresh your rope climbing skills)
Socials and Events
We run a supervised social group every Monday at 6-8pm for experienced rope climbers. Find   out more, along with our events calendar for the year HERE.
NICAS
NICAS (National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme) courses begin at age 7, and participants follow a nationally recognized syllabus working towards each of the 5 levels of the scheme.
For kids aged 14+, you can skip the first two levels of NICAS by doing a Beginners Course . The Beginners Course will teach you all the necessary skills to go directly to Level 3 of NICAS!
Visit the main NICAS booking page here to find out more, and to get on the mailing list for booking information!
