Rock City (Hull)

Welcome to another review by boulders and breakdowns. This time we went to ROCK CITY, a wonderful and massive gym in Hull. We were lucky enough to speak to Harry, a member of staff at Rock City, who gave us loads of details that we would have missed! From designing holds at the Olympics to having a MASSIVE variety of bouldering walls, Rock City is definitely something special and worth your visit. Check out the view below and tell us what you think!

It was amazing to hear and see that ROCK CITY designs its own holds. This really stood out to us and we were fascinated to know that these holds were also used in the Olympics as well as other bouldering competitions around the country (including the recent CWIF comp at The Climbing Works (Sheffield).

The Kilter Board was so snazzy. The effort that went into making the board really shows in its craftmanship. It's angle can be changed and you can create your own routes (the holds light up and look very cool).

So, here's what Harry had to say in full:

As well as running the GYM, all of our team members help contribute to the wider goal of Rockcity. Never. Stop. Expanding. We always have exciting projects to tackle and explore. Everyone here can make coffee, grip a skateboard and climb.A lot of the projects we endeavor are all managed in-house with our team here. Our own team built and painted the walls that you climbed on, built and designed the website, run the e-commerce shops, create content for social media, all whilst handling the day-to-day.

Rockcity Climbing Holds is where it gets really interesting. The last four years has been massive for our holds. We've expanded our selection of shapes massively. A few team members used to carve the shapes out of foam blocks, which would then be sent to factories to create moulds from. Another team member here creates 3D designs of these shapes which can be used to machine cut the shapes into life. We are an "iFSC" approved holds, macro and volumes producer. So we are an official producer of climbing wall products for international climbing competitions. Our Macros and Volumes also featured in the T20 catalog, which was the "shopping list" for the Olympic Games. Loads of our holds featured on the Olympic stage, which has been massive for our international presence in competitions and climbing GYMs alike. Any climbing GYM that has a competition wall will very likely stock our macros and volumes.

We also designed and produced our own frame for the Kilter Board. Kilter are a US holds brand that designed the LED training board. We designed and produced our own frame that makes the board highly adjustable, and can be made as free-standing or wall-mounted for the GYM's or homewall's preference. These have been massively popular, and there are a few scattered around the UK, and even some in Europe. Again some of the team in the centre just last week headed out to Switzerland to install a Kilter Board for a GYM over there.

We also run Serious Climbing Distribution from Rockcity. Where we distribute the best climbing holds brands around the UK. So some of the team here work a lot of logistics and B2B services. This is where the current project of the Web Team developing a system to make the ordering process of climbing holds much more steamlined.

Personally, it's been a pleasure to work here, the team we have here is great to work with. Everyone is eager, enthusiastic, and skills are always put to use in exploring exciting projects. As a content creator, I've always been able to learn new skills, explore new projects, and create content I otherwise would have never had time to explore. Video editing, animation, video effects, 3D design, graphic design are all different skills I've been able to put to use. All these things are all part of the greater experience for the community at Rockcity too, whether it be hosting and promoting events here at Rockcity, or providing informative content for other climbing businesses. It's all just very rewarding to be a part of.

Here's some links to Rock City's website:

https://rockcityclimbingholds.com/

https://rockcity.co.uk/

https://seriousclimbing.com/

This was really a lovely visit to ROCK CITY. Becky enjoyed the routes and the rocky road whilst Tom was able to achieve a dynamic 6a+. We have already been back since we did this review and would love to go again.

Thanks for joining us!

Becky, Tom, Anna, and Connie x