State-of the-art bouldering wall opens at Edinburgh International Climbing Arena

Designed by the Serious Climbing team at Rockcity, the new facilities opened today (December 7) at Edinburgh Leisure’s flagship climbing arena in Ratho. It comes after EICA received £100,000 towards bouldering redevelopment to improve opportunities to progress at all levels of the sport.

Built in partnership with leading climbing wall manufacturer, Dreamwall, the Ratho facility is now the only climbing centre in the UK with Olympic/International standard facilities for all three climbing disciplines (lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering).

The new state-of-the-art bouldering wall opened at the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena on Saturday, December 7 | EICA

Nic Crawshaw, Director of Climbing at EICA explained: “Designed for experienced climbers, these walls complement our existing facilities, offering even more opportunities to push climbers limits and refine their skills.

“We’ve been really privileged to work with some of the best route setters in the world. Percy Bishton, Head of the IFSC Route Setting Commission and Tokyo Olympic Chief Route Setter has led a team setting the new boulders, along with Max Aryton, another IFSC route setter and GB Climbing head of route setting, watched over by our very own highly experienced route setter Jess McCaskey.”

The new facilities were made possible from sportscotland’s Sport Facilities Fund and National Lottery Players, who raise £30 million each week for good causes across the UK.

To celebrate new bouldering facilities, Edinburgh International Climbing Arena has a December Bouldering Competition with the chance to win a year of free climbing. EICA has also launched a no-joining-fee offer for Climb Memberships which is available until January 31 | Edinburgh International Climbing Arena

As the UK’s largest climbing gym and the only international competition venue, EICA has hosted European Championships and World Cup for Lead and Speed in recent years, but the bouldering facilities needed an upgrade to enable it to host all three IFSC (International Federation of Sport Climbing) and Olympic disciplines.

Mark English, managing director of Rockcity said: “With these new, modern flat-panelled bouldering walls and another freestanding boulder the Edinburgh community now has the best facilities in the city and surrounding area, using an unrivalled climbing hold selection and world class route setting.

“Now the work’s complete you can expect to see Edinburgh Leisure’s flagship climbing experience jump into the future and host some amazing competition and circuit-based bouldering in the coming year.”

The newly installed holds, macros and volumes are from the exciting brands in the Serious Climbing stable, which featured heavily at the Olympics and the IFSC World Cup series | Edinburgh International Climbing Arena

Welcoming the investment, Emma Ogilvie-Hall, Head of Operations at Edinburgh Leisure said:“ We’re very grateful to the sportscotland funding and National Lottery players that has allowed us to replace our outdated bouldering facilities at the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena (EICA) with facilities that are of Olympic/International Climbing standard, meaning that Scotland is able to host bouldering competitions and national training camps and allow the EICA to keep our national and international profile as a world-class climbing facility.

“With indoor bouldering now the most widely practised form of climbing it will ensure that the EICA can continue as a world-class venue for all three climbing disciplines – lead, speed, and bouldering – while continuing to provide climbers of all ages and abilities with access to opportunities to participate in and progress through the sport.”