WALL TO WALL

CANARYWALL

As a London climber, you are never far from an LCC bouldering centre and, with one membership, you have access to all six of them!

Having just opened it’s doors on August 1st 2020, CanaryWall is the newest member of the Lakeland Climbing Centre family.

Built within four railway arches near the East London Docks, CanaryWall is home to six different climbing areas, a studio space for warming up/ practicing yoga, a gym with weight training rack, bench press, dumbells, kettlebells etc, a café area with (actually good) coffee, bike storage, hot showers and a shop with a good range of shoes and merch. 

Due to the indoor/outdoor set up, you can feel the breeze and look up to the trees and the sky as you traverse in The Basin while The Stable offered climbers a cool respite from the August heat. There is also an outdoor comp style wall which can be seen by commuters from the trains rattling by above.

“Community is an integral part of climbing and LCC has this at the heart of everything it does. Aside from high quality bouldering, CanaryWall offers a fun, social space for the community to flourish...”

The four railway arches house a variety of vert, slab and overhang. LCC invest heavily in a fantastic range of climbing holds to bring premium bouldering to its climbers. Fresh problems are set regularly, with at least one area at all the centres set every week! With a membership you have access to all sites so that’s a lot of fresh blocs each week! There is also a hard V8+ circuit for the hard climbers and a perma-set so climbers can measure their progress over time.

East London has a rich history and is home to a wonderfully diverse community. Each climbing area was named with this history in mind. For example: ‘The Dock’ after the local docks and ‘The Stable’ a nod to the arch’s previous use.

Members of the CLMBXR crew at CanaryWall © Chris Mitchell / LCC

Community is an integral part of climbing and LCC has this at the heart of everything it does. Aside from high quality bouldering, CanaryWall offers a fun, social space for the community to flourish: you can chill out on the swings while you rest between climbs, head upstairs to The Studio to browse the artwork by Coralie Huon, or have a coffee and a catch-up sitting between two palm trees in The Hub. The famous quote: “The best climber in the world is the one having the most fun!”- Alex Lowe, is displayed on the grade chart at Reception.

LCC are committed to actively creating spaces that are as diverse as the city they call home, where everyone is represented at all levels and where all people have access to the many benefits of climbing. Climbing should be for everyone.

So in July, as part of this commitment, LCC began working with CLMBXR: a brilliant community organisation dedicated to diversifying climbing. LCC offers CLMBXR members free and discounted entries and punch cards at all 6 London centres to help tackle the financial barrier to climbing. Many CLMBXR members have become CanaryWall regulars and VauxWall plays host to the CLMBXR Meet Ups on Mondays. CLMBXR has done fantastic work in creating spaces where more People of Colour feel comfortable getting into climbing and it’s great to see how much it’s grown in a short space of time.

Climbing has been vastly different and even impossible for many since Coronavirus began but it has shown just how important it is for so many people. London is currently in it’s second lockdown and climbers are saddened by the second closure of their beloved climbing walls. However, the community is stronger than ever, and many climbers have supported their walls by continuing their memberships throughout closures. For the three months that walls were open, climbers were supportive, co-operative, so excited to be climbing and very conscientious of other climbers and staff. The CanaryWall team are looking forward to welcoming everyone back when allowed to do so safely, as per government guidance.

Early next year, CanaryWall will open it’s dedicated training arch: more hangboards, a pegboard, a circuit board, two woodies, rings and a campus board. A total dreamscape for climbers!

LINKS: CanaryWall KAYA Profile + Website