Reading Climbing Centre has a climbing activity for everyone. Whether you are completely new to the sport or want to develop your technique and push your grade, we can help! We believe that anyone can have a go and enjoy climbing, so check out our list of courses and get yourself booked in.
If you’ve not climbed before, come along for a Taster Session and we’ll show you the ropes! If you’re looking to get into climbing regularly, our Beginners Course will give you the skills to climb safely in the centre.
Once you’ve mastered the basics you can develop your skills further, by doing our Learn to Lead course, climbing coaching, or venturing into the great outdoors on one of our outdoor climbing courses.
Taster Session
Never been climbing but fancy having a go? During this one-hour climbing lesson, one of our fully qualified instructors will take you climbing, covering the basics and getting in as much action as possible. All the relevant equipment and entry to the wall is included.
Prices:
One Person £35.00
Two People £60.00
Three people £75.00
Four or more people £20.00 for 1 hour or £30 for 1.5 hours per person
Beginners Climbing Course
If you’re keen to learn to climb at Reading Climbing Centre, our beginners climbing course is for you! This climbing course consists of three, two-hour long sessions and covers all you need to learn to climb on top roped lines in the centre.
The beginners climbing course covers elements such as:
- Knots and rope-work
- Belaying
- Correct use of equipment
- Climbing technique
The beginners’ climbing course is run over three concurrent weeks, at the same time each week.
For details of our current course dates and times, please click on the image below:
Price:
The Beginners’ Climbing Course costs £100 & includes FREE Life Membership to the centre. This course is an adult climbing course and is available to over-14′s only.
Learn to Lead
Once you have refined your top-roping skills, you might want to move onto the next stage – lead climbing.
Whilst it may seem daunting at first, climbing between quickdraws on the wall, clipping your own rope as you go, our Learn to Lead course teaches you all the skills you need to be a safe lead climber and belayer.
This course will cover the basics of :
- Clipping safely
- Lead belaying
- and developing climbing technique….
to allow you to get onto the big walls!
To take this course, you must be proficient at top rope belaying and tying into your harness. Please note that this is a more advanced climbing course and we recommend that you are climbing 6a or above before signing up.
Price:
The cost of this course is £50 per person, and there must be two of you.
Under 18′s may take this course alongside an adult climber.
Coaching
Train for Climbing with Robin O’Leary & Tom Vaessen
Climbing coach Robin O’Leary offers bespoke 4 week training plans that are personalised to focus on your individual needs which are evaluated during a 1hour assessment.
Robin provides a unique, week to week training plan based on your personal assessment and climbing goals.
The plans are periodised according to the following phases:
- Preparatory / General Fitness
- Strength
- Power
- Power Endurance
This type of training plan is ideal if you really want to get stronger and fitter but can’t quite work out what to do or where to start!
Prices:
Initial assessment and first 4 week plan £50.
Subsequent sessions and follow up plans start from £40.
1:1 Climbing Coaching
1:1 Climbing coaching is an ideal way to make significant improvements in your climbing. Whether you’ve hit your first plateau, you’re looking to break into a new grade or you’re training for national finals, your coach will help you make the necessary improvements and adjustments to your training for you to make that next step.
Following an initial assessment your climbing coach will identify areas within your climbing that could be improved, will work with you to create challenging yet realistic climbing goals and help you develop the skills and training concepts that you will need to achieve them.
Prices:
Individual coaching costs £40 for a 60 minute session 1:1 or £50 for 90 minutes
Or £70 for a 60 minute session 1:2 or £80 for 90 minutes
Meet the Coaches:
Robin O’Leary
Job Role: Duty Manager & Head Coach at Reading Climbing Centre
Having climbed for many years and seen many plateaus Robin understands the need for personal coaching and training programmes. As a part of the Neil Gresham Coaching Academy, Robin is currently getting personalised coaching from the UK’s best in order to improve his quality and delivery.
Although he will readily admit to being mainly a sport climber, Robin has done his fair share of bouldering and trad, onsighting E4 6b and flashing V7. Going outside every weekend and going on many climbing holidays his main aim is outside climbing rather than competitions. Having said this, he competes in some of the UK’s largest open comps.
Robin is already building a good client base ranging from first timers to some of the centre’s most experienced. He intends to grow his client base and become one of the South’s leading climbing coaches.
Tom Vaessen
Job Role: Centre Manager at Reading Climbing Centre
Tom has been involved in the climbing industry for over 12 years. From the start he has always had a keen interest in coaching and has, with personal training, taken a number of juniors to the finals in several comps. These include Youth Series, SIBL and many local London based wall competitions. Throughout his climbing career, Tom has taken part in, set and ran many national comps and is familiar with the stresses and strains of competition climbing. Although Tom manages RCC he also regularly coaches the academy and delivers private coaching sessions.
Tom started off as a boulderer. He very quickly developed into a sport climber and has found the two styles the perfect combination for strength, stamina and endurance building. At the age of 17, in order to complete his SPA, Tom took an interest into traditional climbing where he red-pointed E3. From then on he has continued to push his sport climbing and bouldering reaching French 7c+ on sport and Font 7b bouldering all over Europe with most of his time spent in France and Spain.
For further details or to book a session email Robin and Tom at coaching@readingclimbingcentre.com
Qualifications
Reading Climbing Centre provides the following awards, delivered by Plas-y-Brenin, the national mountain centre. PyB is recognised as the leading provider of Climbing NGB qualifications, so you can be sure Climbing Centre Group climbing instructor qualifications are the highest quality courses available.
These are nationally accredited qualifications that allow you to instruct others climbing in a variety of settings.
For the latest dates available for our NGB Qualifications please click here…
Single Pitch Award
The Single Pitch Award (SPA) is the course for you if you want to teach others to climb on outdoor, single pitch crags.
Climbing Wall Award
Climbing Wall Award (CWA) allows you to instruct others on indoor and man-made structures, and is ideal for teachers and youth workers wanting to get their groups involved in climbing.
Climbing Wall Leading Award
Climbing Wall Leading Award is a bolt-on to either the SPA or CWA, and allows you to teach lead climbing indoors.
Rescue Emergency Care First Aid Course
We also run two-day Rescue Emergency Care First Aid courses. These are a great compliment to a climbing qualification, and gives you the practical skills to deal with real life emergency situations.
Outdoor Climbing Courses
The Climbing Centre Group climbing centres offer outdoor climbing courses at some of the best outdoor climbing venues the UK has to offer.
We have courses to suit everyone, read on for details of the outdoor climbing courses available:
Outdoor Climbing Taster
If you’ve climbed on indoor climbing walls or haven’t climbed before and you want to experience outdoor climbing, book onto one of our Outdoor Climbing Taster courses and let one of our qualified instructors give you the confidence you need to safely enjoy the experience.
Run as a day long session, we will take you climbing on one of a variety of local crags, where you will be given the chance to fully appreciate what it is like to climb outdoors.
On this course the instructor will deal with all the equipment and rigging leaving you free to concentrate on climbing on a new and challenging medium. All equipment is provided, but you are welcome to use your own harnesses and climbing shoes.
Kids’ Outdoor Day
These fully supervised outdoor climbing days will be ideal for any youngsters wanting to climb in the great outdoors. There is no pre-requisite to come along to these days, as they are focused on having lots of fun.
Activities include:
- Weaseling
- Climbing
- Bouldering
- Abseiling
Kids’ Club Outdoor Climbing Days
If you’ve been coming along to our kids club for a while and would like to expand on your climbing experience and try a different medium, then our “Outdoor Climbing Club Day” courses are the thing for you. Our fully qualified instructors will be on hand to help build and give you the confidence to get the most out of your day.
On this course the instructor will deal with all the equipment and rigging leaving you free to concentrate on climbing on a new and challenging medium. There will also be the opportunity to complete an abseil and have a go at bouldering. All equipment is provided, but you are welcome to use your own harnesses and climbing shoes.
Family Outdoor Climbing Day
Bring the whole family to have a go at climbing in the great outdoors! These sessions depend on a parent or guardian accompanying children, and taking part in the climbing!
The Family Crag Day is run much like the Outdoor Taster course, with the focus on getting you climbing as much as possible.
All climbers over the age of 7 are welcome!
