Summit Up Climbing Centre has only just opened in Oldham town centre and my family and I were invited to come and have a look around. We’re all pretty new to climbing and didn’t really know what to expect.
Summit Up offers everyone a taste of rock climbing in a fun, safe environment and no previous experience and no specific climbing equipment was required which was perfect for us being complete novices.
On the morning of are visit, we parked on a close council car park (free for three hours at the weekend) as suggested on their website. The venue is pretty central to Oldham town centre, across the road from Oldham Parish Church and a stone throw away from Oldham Coliseum. When you book, you get emailed any waives that you need to sign, we did this at home with sped the process up when we arrived on the day.
We arrived nice and early and was greeted by some lovely and friendly staff. The centre was pretty impressive, all shiny and new! The staff took my booking reference and handed us the wrist bands needed for our morning. As well as the climbing session, there’s the option to add on several activities including the Leap Of Faith and the Vertical Drop Slide. Whilst we waited for our session to start, the kids played in the soft play area. There’s a decent sized baby area and junior area- the soft play area where great for my 5 year olds.
We were soon called downstairs to the briefing room where all the climbers got fitted into the harnesses and listened to the safety talk so we can experience Clip ‘n’ Climb safety but also have loads of fun. The member of staff fully explained how to approach each climbing wall, how to attach and unattached ourselves safely. We were soon off to how fun.
Clip ‘n’ Climb Oldham has 35 exciting challenges for us to try! I was surprised how many members of staff there were on hand to help. It was great. As one member of staff helped Joshua with his first climb, me and my husband were free to help the younger two children who were more wary. Joshua was eager to give it a go and he was soon climbing to the top and coming down easily. He was soon asking the staff can he have a go at the leap of faith which surprised me, daddy had a go too! The Leap of Faith ‘sees you ascending to a small platform before taking a leap to try and hit the hanging punch bag.’ They both loved it and even did it a second time. They both also enjoyed the Vertical Drop Slide, you have to hang on and see how high you are willing to go.
Oscar and Isla were too small for the additional activities but were able to try any of the climbing walls. The staff were great with them both, had loads of patience with them. I think over time they would feel a little braver. Oscar loved climbing up but just wasn’t keen on coming down! Just the same as his mum! haha.
After letting the kids have a few goes, I thought I’d give it a go. I have no problems with height and could happily climbing to the top. It’s letting go to come back down that took me a while to do. Once I got over the initial fear, I had lots of fun!
We had a great morning. There was so many different walls to choose from, there was certainly something for everyone. After we finished climbing we had a couple of goes on ValoClimb- the world’s first interactive game platform for climbing walls. There was plenty of games to choose from, the kids loved it. It’s close to the café so I could relax after climbing with a coffee whilst the kids played. Perfect. They had a great café selling hot and cold food, which seemed reasonably priced.
Check out their website and social media pages for the latest information.
My family and I were invited along to visit the new centre in the hope we would tell you all about our trip. Our visit was complimentary and our views are all ours.
Out and about mummy 