Due to the current situation, and the restrictions that we must adhere to, Rock Monkeys (and the world of climbing walls) will be quite different to what we have been used to pre- COVID-19. We aim to try to ensure that Rock Monkeys sessions will be as normal as possible and for the new normal to be just as much fun but with social distancing and sanitizing.

We have some important information on our website about how the centre will need to run to keep everyone as safe as possible, please read these here:

Many other centres are not running any instruction for junior climbers but in consultation with our technical advisor, we are confident that we can run sessions safely for most participants. Any sessions that cannot be run safely will not be run at all.

Hopefully you’ve read the info on the link above. (If not, please read that information before you read the rest of this)

Parents will need to recognise and accept that any indoor social interaction carries a risk of COVID-19 exposure. Due to the small group size we believe that this risk is significantly lower than sending your child to school.

The centre will have to impose a limited capacity for people allowed in the building so we will ask parents to drop Rock Monkeys off and pick them up at the end of the session. We will not be returning to normal café service for some time and most of the seating has been removed from reception to allow for social distancing.

We will try to run the sessions maintaining 2m social distancing as much as possible. There will be times when the instructor may need to be closer than 2m to the participant. The instructor will be wearing appropriate PPE during the session.

If your child is not willing or unable to maintain social distancing and follow the directions of the instructor, they will not be allowed to participate in the session. Unfortunately this means that we will have to operate a strict zero tolerance policy for anyone who doesn’t comply with the new essential operating procedures.

It will be logistically easier to run sessions with Rock Monkeys who have more experience but we are not setting any age criteria for this. It is very important that you ensure that you have discussed this with your child and that they have understood this.

We will no longer be using helmets on the sessions. All hire harnesses will need to be quarantined for 72 hours after each use so maybe now would be a good time to get your child their own harness. The Rock On shop will be back to normal hours when we re-open.

Sessions will be 1.5 hours duration and the times will be:
10.00am till 11.30pm (Saturday and Sunday)
1.30pm till 3.00pm (Saturday and Sunday)

The cost of the sessions will be reduced to £15 per session, payable in advance. Places will be booked on a first come, first served, basis which will be non-refundable.

We will not be taking block bookings at first but we will look at implementing a new block booking system for our regular Rock Monkeys.

There will be limited spaces on Thursday night for MMMs. This will start at the normal times of 4.30pm-6pm or 6.30pm to 8.00pm..

If you would like more flexible options you can always book private sessions for up to 4 people at quieter times, such as weekday daytimes during school holidays.
You can also book family lessons and learn to belay.Many Rock Monkey parents were kind enough to support us by donating the last payment prior to lockdown, for which we are very grateful. If you have a payment or a gift voucher that you would like to redeem, we have a record of these so please feel free to contact us to transfer payments to any sessions that you wish to book.

This has been a steep learning curve for us all and things may evolve and change as time goes on. We are very keen to hear your comments or any ideas you may have and we’re really looking forward to seeing you and all of our Rock Monkeys soon.