BIG Depot Leeds

Lead climbing is a more advanced technique where the climber manages the rope as they ascend the wall, clipping it to protection points as they move up.

Auto belay climbing is similar to top rope climbing, but without the need for a belayer to manage the rope from the bottom, instead, a mechanical device is located at the top of the route that has a mechanical breaking system to gently lower the climber to the ground when they either fall off the route or reach the top.

Bouldering is a style of climbing that does not involve ropes or a harness, climbing at lower levels and relying on matting underneath the wall to aid with the risk of falling. Our walls are up to 4 meters high and the matting does not guarantee your safety, so roped climbing may be more suitable if you have reservations about the risks involved in bouldering.

All directions and our address can be found on our website.

We have a free-to-use car park with 19 spaces, however, this does fill up quickly, alongside one minibus suitable space available on site. There is also 1 disabled parking space close to the accessible main entrance, if you have any issues with parking using the disabled spaces, our friendly team will be happy to help find a suitable space. There is some overflow car parking to be found on the surrounding streets, but please park responsibly.

We have secure storage for bicycles outside the centre and are just a short walk from both the Lowfields Road and Bracken Court bus stops and can be reached via the 229 Sapphire bus by Arriva. We are a 40-minute walk from Leeds train station.

We offer discounted entry to students and concessions on selected days and offer a Family Pass for those with young climbers.

You can find all the details of our pricing information online. We ensure our prices are competitive and provide you with the best value; from climbing alone and with friends to instructor-led sessions.

All visitors need to check in to the building at our reception desk, whether they are climbing or not. If you have any specific accessibility needs, please let us know how our team can help and if you’d prefer, we welcome a call ahead of time so that we can make your visit as comfortable as possible.

Our reception desk is found immediately upon entering the centre and if you are visiting us for the first time, our friendly team will help get you set up and registered. If you have any questions, don’t be shy, our teams love to help.

Regardless of whether you are climbing or supervising, all of our visitors are required to sign a registration form (found here) and answer a few quick safety questions from our staff.

If you’ve climbed at other centres (including Depot bouldering centres), but have not visited a BIG Depot Climbing centre, you will still need to register and answer safety questions related to roped climbing safety.

Under 18’s must have a registration completed by a legal parent or guardian.

Our centre is situated on 3 levels, and is accessible via wheelchair, with easy access to the main climbing areas, cafe area, toilets, changing rooms and bouldering via our wheelchair-accessible lift.

Wheelchairs are permitted on our roped climbing mating on the ground floor, but please note that wheelchairs are not permitted on the bouldering matting in our centre.

We have an Evac chair on site in case of emergency evacuation from the upper floors. This is accompanied by clearly signed fire refuge areas at the end of each floor.

We have accessible toilets and changing rooms positioned on the first floor of the centre, with the main male and female toilets and changing rooms situated on the same floor.

A gender-neutral disabled toilet can be found on the first floor, which is fully accessible and has an emergency chord to alert staff if you need assistance. Baby-changing facilities can be found in this toilet too.

Changing rooms have large locker space, that is free to use, and has a single-use code of your choice for your visit to use. We encourage users to utilise these lockers.

There are cubbies and lockers available for safe storage of your belongings, but you will need to supply your own padlock and ensure that no belongings are left overnight. Storage can be found on the first floor or by our ground floor climbing area.

Any items of personal property left in the centre will be held in our lost property collection for up to two weeks, upon which they will be donated to charity.

Our induction video is fully subtitled for any deaf or hard-of-hearing climbers and has a voiceover for blind and partially sighted climbers. All participants will be required to watch the video before participating.

A trained first aider is always on hand, and we ask that you let us know of any injury sustained while using the centre.

We have an Evac chair on site in case of emergency evacuation from the upper floors. This is accompanied by clearly signed fire refuge areas at the end of each floor.

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