Alien Rock 2

Let me be perfectly biased: I LOVE bouldering. So if you give me a nice, spacious, well-​configured place to do so, I’m not gonna find much to complain about!
So, bouldering: I should issue a word of warning. This is an activity that I think most people either love or hate. And if you’re the former on your first go, watch out: it’s like a tattoo – you’ll be back! It’s just so much gosh darn fun that it’s hard not to go back for more! If you enjoy trying new things, especially activities that combine the adrenaline rush that comes with doing something just a teensy bit crazy, a really good work out, and puzzling out challenges to overcome, you should totally give bouldering a go.
If you’re going for the first time, some things to expect at Alien Rock 2. First of all, you’ll have to sign a waiver that says «I realize that if I hurl myself from the top of this wall onto the floor head-​first, I will probably hurt myself.» This is where I think the people who just aren’t fans of bouldering step in. Bouldering is amazingly fun, but also can be dangerous, and boy can it be a physical challenge! If you overdo it (usually from what I’ve seen by being a little dumb or a jot too flashy), you can not only seriously hurt yourself (strains, breaks, bruises), but others too (yeah, try not to fall on anyone unsuspecting people).
Once you’re signed in and aware of that more serious aspect of bouldering and have paid (under a tenner for unlimited time + shoe hire), you are walked through how the arena works. The basic idea is that routes have been plotted out with various types of hand-​holds in different color identifications. Pink with black spots seems to be one of the easiest (starting with 0s and 1s), and they range upward from that to the mega-​what-​the-​fudges, how-​is-​that-​possibles. You can have a standing start, sitting, blah-​de-​blah, all will contribute to differing levels of difficulty. You’ll get the jist of all that very quickly, but essentially the point is to pick a route to attempt and make it to the top (no climbing up there, just a slap will do!), then attempt to pick your way back down. It’s obviously safest to tippy toe your way back down to a safer height to jump down onto the smooshy matting, if not all the way back down (part of the workout!). And after you complete your first route, that’s when the itis sets in. Climbing-​itis. Soon enough you’ll find yourself gazing around you, picking apart potential routes, and gazing goggle-​eyed at the people (sometimes wee children!) flying around hanging from the ceiling. It’s just really stinkin’ cool.
I’ve only been to two other climbing gyms in my life before, but whereas Alien Rock 2 is smaller than one, it’s certainly better laid out than the other. There’s plenty of space within Alien Rock 2, though it does get a bit cozy when more people show up on evenings or weekends – not to worry though, climbers are patient and good-​natured folk, so no one minds sharing, offering advice, or just hanging around (safely, of course, not underneath someone’s potential body). Yet another thing to enjoy about bouldering: the sheer community of it!
So, if you’re looking to try something new, or to give your mild fear of heights a kick right in the gizzard, Alien Rock 2 is yer man. At under 10 quid for a go + shoe hire, you can have a merry old time for an excellent price. I doubt you’ll need much more than two hours there before you start to feel a wiggly-​jiggly muscle-goo’d mess, but trust me, that’s plenty to have a blast!

I was NOT a tomboy when I was young. My days were filled with piano lessons, books and Barbie® dolls; I never went on the scary rides at the amusement parks. That’s why I was completely amazed to find myself 10 feet off the ground clinging to small bits of rock screwed to a plywood ‘boulder’.
I often found myself going past Alien Rock, an indoor climbing centre in Newhaven, wondering if I was brave enough to scale the cathedral heights, secured only by a piece of rope. I finally went online to find out more and to my surprise I discovered that there was also an Alien Rock 2! Unlike Alien Rock 1, Alien Rock 2 had lower heights, no ropes and didn’t require a training induction. Although it was equally challenging, and dangerous — there wasn’t the additional element of height to worry about. Perfect!!!
I don’t mind going to classes on my own, but with bouldering or rock climbing — you really do need a partner. In steps my niece, Emma. She already had one attempt at indoor rock climbing — ropes and all, and was keen to come along and give Alien Rock 2 a go. The best thing about Alien Rock 2 is that you don’t need an induction and there are no set ‘classes’. We just turned up during the opening hours, completed a health questionnaire, got a few tips, hired some trendy shoes and we were ready to climb.
The main tip was to look out for the different coloured hand holds — as indicated by a chart on the entrance wall. We were told that the pink hand holds with the black spots were the easiest — so that was me sorted!
To increase the challenge, we were told to try to climb using only one colour of holds for both your hands and feet. The other major tip was to climb down! The floor is completely covered in thick matting, but you still don’t just want to fall/​jump down. The matting was there for protection but you could still twist an ankle or sprain a wrist if you had a bad landing.
With our heads full of new information, we were ready. There was a great buzz in the room with cool music and loads of people — male, female, kids and adults.
It felt like we stumbled on the coolest place to hang out in Edinburgh, but where did we fit in? Standing with our mouths wide open — gaping at the skill and strength and bravery of the regulars — it was obvious we were newbies. But within seconds, a few friendly regulars took us under their wing — gave us some tips and encouragement and a demonstration on how to climb the really challenging inverted walls. Although we stuck to the straight climbs, the tips on rotating your body from the hips to bring your free foot into contact with the wall came in handy many times and felt much more secure than tying to climb ‘face-​on’ to the wall, using only the tips of your toes.
We soon realised we needed to be brave — there was no one is leading us on — like a class. We could either gawk and watch — which is pretty amazing and worth the entrance fee on its own — or aimed with these tips, we could make our way up a wall. We went directly to the beginners sections of straight walls that were slightly leaning away and had plenty of pink spotted hand holds.
OK, I found an ‘easy’ bit of wall; what next? After watching Emma scramble up, it was my turn. Although this wall had lots of pink spotted holds, I decided to just use any that felt most secure — no one colour challenge for me. As I slowly picked my way up the wall — I discovered that some holds were smooth and others had a deep ridge that I could curl my fingers around — these I liked! These I used — a lot! I got 2/​3rds of the way up the first time. Happy with the first attempt, I slowly climbed down.
We got the impression that there wasn’t any real time limit but after about 90 minutes we were satisfied enough with our accomplishments to call it quits. I reached the top of a couple different sections!
This was a challenging workout — both physically and mentally, but if you are basically fit and not afraid of heights I ‘highly’ recommend giving Alien Rock 2 a go (pun intended!). It was really busy when we went on a Tuesday evening. On one hand, it was great to watch the regulars and pick up useful tips but we sometimes felt a bit shy when it came to jumping in and claiming a section of wall. The staff told us that it was busiest midweek and weekends — so come Friday if you want more space to yourself.
Before leaving we asked a regular which centre was his favourite, Alien Rock 1 or Alien Rock 2. Without hesitation he declared he loved both equally! He felt that the bouldering style of Alien Rock 2 was great for improving technique and strength but that Alien Rock 1 was better for stamina and endurance. I was quite happy on the lower bouldering walls with no hassle of using ropes, but I think we’re lucky that we have both options!

Ooft, my arms. And my shoulders. And my right shin. I’m a bit of a noob when it comes to bouldering. Well an old-​school-​climber-​come-​noob. But the guys at Alien Rock made me feel very welcome and the whole place was great for a good few hours hard work and fun.
Alien Rock 2 is for bouldering only. It’s set in an industrial park space, a bit further afield from Alien Rock 1 on the Shore. They have about 10ft tall walls (maybe higher?) with over 100 different ‘puzzles’. Y’see, if you boulder you can either ‘rainbow climb’ by going up any route with any hand holds; or you can follow a coloured pattern of handholds. They vary from 0 (easiest) to 10 (hardest) but I couldn’t get past a 4, and really experienced folk struggle with a 7. 10 is international standard.
So whilst when you first walk in the room looks quite small, low ceiling and with three walls round the outskirts, and three on the inside, you could easily spend 3 hours here and still not have tried every puzzle or pushed yourself.
A word of advice: rest between tries at puzzles. I did take 5 minute breaks at points but after 2 hours was shaking too much to carry on. There was one blue puzzle with an overhang that I was determined to master, but couldn’t as by the end my arms were weak.
We just showed up with no requirement for training or teaching, and they did pretty much leave us to it. It was £9.90 each for entry and shoe hire. You can stay as long as you want. They do have you sign a disclaimer and there are warnings that if you fall, even the crash mats may not prevent injury, sprain or breakage. So you’re pretty much climbing at your own risk.
It’s a very basic facility, but that’s all you need and to be honest rock climbing or bouldering has never been high maintenance. I imagine it’d get really cold in winter (like all rock climbing facilities I’ve been to). But if you’re not trained /​experienced enough to go rock climbing with actual, proper, ropes, then Alien Rock 2 is a great place to come for bouldering only; there were even a few solo folk there just tackling it wall by wall.

For the uninitiated alien rock 2 (or alien 2) is a bouldering centre. The theory behind bouldering is it allows you to practise various technical challenges of climbing without having to be outdoors or 60ft up a face!
Alien 2 has routes graded from 0 to 8, which differs ever so slightly from the vb to v8 system out at Eica: ratho.
There is a lovely big tutorial board by the entrance that explains the colouring system and the difficulty charts at the dot of each line (there are 40 lines in total.) and handily identify the pink spot routes as a good starting place for beginners.
I can confirm that these are a good place to start if you are anything other than an experienced climber!
The routes challenge your strength, flexibility, and technical climbing ability. The atmosphere is mixed. Energetic tunes blast out of the stereo (quality tunes to my highly refined pretentious taste!) make for a lively feel but it’s lacking in conversation. That said we were identified as newbies and given a little chat by some there. Chiefly it is a nice temperature here, I was climbing happily in shorts and t shirt. A welcome change from the outdoor temperatures of ratho.
The place is a little tucked away amongst various industrial warehouses (after you’ve climbed pop next door to buy nailguns?) and can be a tad unobvious if you don’t know it’s there so I’d suggest a little google mapping before you head down there.
I haven’t been to alien rock 1 yet so I can’t make any comparison to the bouldering there. There’s more routes available than there is at ratho, although ratho feels a little more suited to beginners to my mind.

We tried to climb at Alien Rock in Newhaven early one evening, but had chosen to climb on the busiest night of the week (Wednesday by the way!), so made the decision to pay Alien Rock 2 a visit. After driving around, in the manner of ‘Wacky Races’, getting thoroughly lost, we found a little piece of bouldering heaven tucked away in an industrial estate down Leith way!
The vibe was great, the tunes were good, the staff were extremely friendly, and before we knew it we were signed up and ready to get going. It was free to register, and about £9 (including shoe hire) to climb, although make sure you have cash on you as they don’t accept card payments.
The bouldering walls are shorter than climbing walls, and tend to be more technical… so are really great to really develop your skills. I’ve done a lot of climbing before, and certainly feel a bit safer with a rope attached, but there are super thick crash pads below you which provide a soft landing should you decide to detach yourself from the wall!
The routes are varied and interesting, and there are oodles of technical features to keep every level of climber happy! I didn’t get the chance to chat with other folk that night, but everyone seemed pretty friendly and, because there are no ropes involved, you don’t need a climbing buddy to go.
We had loads of fun, and I suspect we’ll be making regular trips to Alien Rock 2 to climb up, fall off, develop our skills and have a great time while we’re at it!