News

May 12, 2023

Wanna hang? How the climbing wall became London’s hottest social spot

My friend recently developed this theory about London dating apps: every man is

My friend recently developed this theory about London dating apps: every man is one of two things, a climber or a DJ. The DJ trope is a tale as old as time, though Fred Again probably has a lot to answer for when it comes to the latest wave, but it's the climbers that intrigue me most. Every weekend my Instagram feed is populated with stylish acquaintances chalking up their hands, scaling walls and showing off their ultra-toned legs as they crash down onto a bouldering mat with a look of triumph. When did us Londoners all become mountain goats, and why is it all so… cool?

Some blame can be laid at the (rather large) door of the Tokyo Olympics back in 2020, which included sport climbing as an Olympic event for the first time in history. Viewers were transfixed by the skilful bouldering of chilled out looking athletes, the daring lead climbing which threatens climbers with a three metre drop between each hold, and the frankly insane speed climbing, where climbers emulate feral monkeys and scale walls in as little as 4.9 seconds.

I watched one of these competitions live at one of London's trendiest climbing gyms, The Castle Climbing Centre, near Manor House, with an audience of other climbers not too long ago. That might sound like the epitome of boring, but it really wasn't - there was beer, burgers (made with ingredients sourced in The Castle's kitchen garden), hooting at the screen and general merriment throughout.

What struck me was how cool the audience had become: everyone was toned, clad in gorpcore-esque climbing gear from the likes of Arc'teryx and North Face, and quintessentially laid back. In not caring about being cool, climbers have accidentally become the coolest people of all. And by doing so, they’ve attracted the cool crowd quite naturally: everyone from Florence Pugh to Josh O’Connor to Jared Leto to Brie Larson has expressed their love for climbing.

"It's quite a social sport," says The Castle CEO Duncan Howard of climbing's hot new social scene, "there's a lot of hanging around chatting, discussing the problem [climber lingo for the route you’re climbing] and how you can solve it. So you get these kinds of social groups that form."

The Castle isn't the only climbing gym to offer these new "hang out" activities - Yonder, a bouldering-come-co-working space where Harry Styles has been spotted previously - offers a monthly queer disco night to climbers and The Arch, one of London's original bouldering centres, recently hosted a DJ night with UV lighting and a live climbing competition in-centre.

And with the increasingly social aspect of climbing comes a budding dating scene. There's a dating app, Boulder, aimed directly at matching up climbers across the country and in an interview with ES Magazine last year, rapper Little Simz picked The Castle as her favourite date spot in all of London. "It's something different to do," Howard explains, "It's not like going to watch something or eat something, it's taking part in an activity which actually gives you something to talk about. You don't have any particular skill or expertise, there's just this inherent sociability in it."

Plus, climbers are fit. No one knows this better than 27-year-old Olivia, who fell for her climbing instructor at Westway Sports Centre just under a year ago, with the pair still going strong to this day. "I was very intrigued by his look," she says, explaining how the health consciousness of climbers makes them more attractive: "Climbers are very aware of their health, especially their physical health and strength, there's not a single session where I don't have a conversation with someone about the state of their tendons, or my shoulder, or elbow, you know." Intimate, some may say.

Olivia also echoes Duncan's opinion on why climbing bonds people, "Climbing is a social sport, you discuss the problems and you work them out together. Even if I climb on my own, I’ll often end up doing a climb someone just attempted and we’ll start discussing it together, and in some cases you end up swapping numbers - most of my regular climbing buddies I’ve met this way."

But we didn't always find climbers and their requisite ropes and pulleys this appealing, so what changed? "The gorpcore, Arc'teryx aesthetic definitely feels like it has its origins in a post lockdown desire to get outside and be in nature," says the admin of Real Housewives of Clapton, an East London meme account which chronicles the new and trendy habits of young Londoners.

"There's also parallels between repurposing workwear like Carhartt, which we’ve seen for years now, and repurposing technical clothing for everyday wear. Designers like Nicole McLaughlin really help perpetuate this trend by repurposing everyday items into clothes, with a focus on technical/functional wear, including climbing stuff." In short, climbwear got stylish, and the people that wear it have a predisposition towards being healthy and strong, ergo, two plus two equals hot.

So, Londoners, if you’re looking for a summer activity besides beer gardens, do as the climbers do and "send it".