2009 heralds a load of new climbing walls opening up all across the UK.

The tale end of 2008 and early 2009 saw 7 new walls being finished or being very close to completion and 3 existing walls launching additions to their existing facilities. For pictures of some of these new facilities please see the downloadable gallery at the bottom of this article.

First out of the blocks was Boulders, located in a church in Cardiff which opened its doors at the end of August - more information can be found on there website.

Then the Rope Race climbing centre in Marple has announced the opening of their revamped downstairs bouldering areas, increasing the bouldering by over 1000 square feet. Teesdale Leisure centre opened a new roped climbing wall in Barnard Castle, which is a welcome addition to the North East - see pictures of both walls in the gallery.

Next came the opening of another much anticipated bouldering wall in the North East - Climb Newcastle located in the Byker area of Newcastle is a bouldering only wall with over 6000 square feet of bouldering run by Andy Earl and his team - more info can be found here.

Craggy Island opened their second venue in Sutton, (South London) in early November - a bouldering only venue with several different bouldering rooms catering to all abilities including some caving as well - for more information click here.

In December we had another bouldering only centre open up down in Bristol - The Climbing Academy and the widely anticipated additions to the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena in the form of a huge articulated international standard competition wall and speed climbing wall. Which were opened up just in time for the BMC British Team Trials - for more info on the Trials click here and see the pictures of the impressive new walls in the gallery at the bottom of the page.

Into 2009 we have several new walls due to open, the first being City Bloc in the centre of Leeds - another bouldering only centre and the website can be seen here and photos of the building progress can be seen in the gallery. City Bloc plan to be open any day now.

And finally another wall is due to open on the 21st March 09 again in Newcastle, but this time it will be a full roped climbing centre inside a church in Byker, the wall will be called Newcastle Climbing Centre and more information can be found here.

For a gallery of pictures of some of the new walls that have opened recently please click here.

One final note is that Salford University Climbing Wall is closed until further notice, please contact the centre at Salford University for further information.

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