Welcome to The Foundry Blog....

Opening its doors back in 1991, The Foundry has been at the heart of the Sheffield and UK climbing scenes ever since. Almost two decades on, the centre continues to provide a world class environment for climbers, whether you're new to the sport or about to tick your first Font 8b!

The blog will keep you up to date with the activity and achievements that are going on in and around The Foundry.

Hope to see you soon! - Neil Bentley (Centre Manager)

Tuesday 28 April 2009

BMC Youth Climbing Series

Saturdays competition was a great success with a total of 51 competitors entering.

A range of exciting new volumes added interest to the routes and made sure Foundry regulars didn't have the advantage of familiarity. Infact it wasn't untill Jai Burrow sucesfully mastered the red volumes on line 5 for the 8-10 Girls/Boys, that anyone managed to read the way the route was intended to be climbed.

As the final round for the Peak Area, for several categories this was the decider of who would compete in the final at The Westway in London. For the 11-13 Boys there were three people in fierce competition for just 2 places, with Finn McKay narrowly missing out after falling on the final route up purple on line E of the main wall.

It's great to see several of the Foundry Academy (FA) members achieving top scores in the competition and The Academy as a whole winning more gongs than any other local team.

The following Finalists will be representing The Peak Area in London on the 20th June
Girls 8-10 - Emily Allen, Mary Clerkin (FA), Dana Windle (FA)
Boys 8-10 - Jai Burrow, Thomas Lee, Harry Sharrock
Girls 11-13 - Naomi Tilley, Nat Graham, Bethany Hoyland (FA)
Boys 11-13 - Jack Shaw (FA), Billy Ridal, Jake Beech (FA)
Girls 14-16 - Alice Waterhouse (FA), Sarah Pashley, Ailsa Graham
Boys 14-16 - Edd Mowbray, Oliver Groundsell, Ben Meakin
A full list of results is available from The BMC

Friday 24 April 2009

New Volumes

In the last two weeks we have a had a total re-set of the Livingstone and Vertical walls, plus new routes have also gone up in both The Furnace and on the Main Wall. So lots of new routes to try when the (inevitable) rain drives you back inside.

In place of the popular jamming crack, the Vertical Wall now boasts an impressive layback and chimney.

The Main Wall now has a couple of massive volumes at the base of the lefthand overhang, creating a new challenge for climbing up to the first clip.

New problems have also been set on The Wave, giving you something fresh to try when taking advantage of our off peak bouldering rate for a lunchtime session.

Monday 20 April 2009

BMC Youth Climbing Series - Routesetting

Saturday 25th April The Foundry will be hosting the final round of the Peak Area BMC Youth Climbing Series (which replaces the BRYCCs). In anticipation of this event we will be doing routesetting throughout the coming week on varous walls around the climbing centre.

The Foundry will be open to the public on the 25th, but access to some walls (and especially the Wave) will be restricted at times. To reflect this entry will be reduced to just £4 for adults (£3 for students).

Wednesday 15 April 2009

Route Setting Over the Next Week...

Rob will be resetting most of the top rope walls over the next few days, things should return to normal for the weekend, with a furnace reset next week.

The giant crack line will be taken down, service, and place back on the wall for more cracking action!

Thursday 9 April 2009

BMC Leading Ladder Final




Saturday was a busy day at the Foundry, as the centre hosted the BMC Leading Ladder Final.

The level of climbing was impressive across each of the Recreational, Improver and Elite categories.









Highlight of the day came when Jonathan Stocking came close to flashing the hard-as-nails 8b right up the middle of the main wall - coming off trying to manoeuvre up the tufa on the head wall.

The day ended on a spectacular high, as Tara Hayes and Sarah Pashley competed in a superfinal for the female improver under 16's category.

Both girls showed some amazing skills on the 7a+ on the left of the main wall - matching on tiny crimps and working through some really shouldery moves - each managing to reach the same big pinch two thirds up the route. A tie was declared after both Tara and Sarah had dazzled a crowd of climbers of all levels.


Special thanks must be given first of all to the BMC for running the successful leading ladder competition, second, to all of the top climbers who competed, providing a greatly entertaining day for all who were spectating.

Routesetters Rob Napier and Dan Walker set some tough and engaging routes, and worked hard in the weeks running up to the final.

Finally, thanks to all the Foundry staff (Karl, Joe, Tim and Jen), who, lead by Manager Neil Bentley, manned the centre on such a busy day.



Photography by Tom Napier © 2009















Wednesday 8 April 2009

Seasonal Access Restrictions

Information taken from the BMC'c Peak Access Team (6/4/09).
Please be aware that things can change very quickly so always be guided by notices on site, which will inevitably be more up to date.

Stannage - no current restrictions but Ring Ouzels are likely to start nesting at any time

Millstone - currently no restrictions

Ravensdale - Medusa and immediatly adjacent routes closed

Roaches / Hen Cloud - Restrictions signed on site.

Moscar Estate - This covers Derwent Edge, Bamford Edge and the northen part of Stannage (Public Rights of Way are not affected).
Friday 15 May to Friday 29 May (inclusive) - closed
Monday 1 June to Friday 5 June (inclusive) - closed
Monday 8 June to Friday 12 June (inclusive) - closed
Monday 15 June to Wednesday 17 June (inclusive) - closed
Closures notified under s22 on the CRoW Act (2000)
This is a grouse moor and there is an all year restriction in force on dogs at all times.

The major problem for land managers, wildlife and livestock at this time of year is dogs off the lead. Dogs have to be under control on public rights of way, and on a two metre lead between 1 March and 31 July on the moor, or when in the vicinity of livestock. If you do take your dog to the crag, or bouldering, legally it must be kept on a two metre lead. Sometimes the simplest option is not to take the dog.

The volunteers working for the Peak Access Team put a great deal of time and effort into securing access. Please do not jepodise this by ignoring restrictions, especially as there is no sortage of unaffected local climbing.

Monday 6 April 2009

BMC Leading Ladder Results...

The BMC Leading Ladder Results are up on the Crag X web site!

CLICK HERE for the results.

Friday 3 April 2009

Saturday 4th April - BMC Leading Ladder


The Foundry
is looking forward to hosting the final of the BMC Leading Ladder tomorrow.


All routes in the Furnace and on the Main leading wall will be closed to the public during the event.

Top Rope lines and bouldering will be unaffected by the competition and open as normal.

All this week we have been setting new lead routes with grades ranging from 6a to 8b ready for the competition. These will of course reman in place after the weekend, so even if you didn't reach the final (or possibly didn't even enter the event) you can still test yourself out on them.