Meet (most of) the team
I was super lucky to have been introduced to climbing in 2013 by some fantastic people, who took me under their wing. It’s safe to say I caught the bug immediately!
The first few years after I started, I spent most of my time out of the UK sport climbing in places like Chamonix, Kalymnos, Sicily.
Nowadays I tend to stick to bouldering because I prefer the feeling of trying really hard for a short amount of time! I love the social aspect of bouldering too.
Without a shadow of a doubt, my fave place to climb in the world has to be Rocklands in South Africa, closely followed by Kalymnos. In both of these places, you can completely immerse yourself in climbing and the local culture that surrounds you.
Emily is the Roc-Bloc centre manager.
My favourite place to climb is Fontainebleau, although Rocklands is pretty hard to beat. They’re about as different as Bouldering venues get, but both have something magical about the climbing and the place itself.
Ben is the Roc-Bloc head route-setter.
I’ve been climbing for about 5 years.
My fave type of climbing is Trad! Preferably long, easy alpine routes and the best place I’ve climbed is Cirque of the Towers, Wind River Range.
Charlie Wilson
I began climbing in a kids club, then I moved into competition climbing as a part of a squad. I soon discovered ‘rock climbing’, which totally took over my life.
My gravity-defying preferences are bouldering and sport climbing.
I boulder mostly, it’s my favourite kind of climbing because there’s not much to it, just the hard bit! There’s something about the mental state for bouldering that is utterly driving and almost (I stress the almost) peaceful.
Sport climbing for me is one of the best feelings I have experienced, the sense of freedom when you’re pushing it that high off the ground, gives me goosebumps every time I think about it!
This brings me onto my favourite place to climb. Which has got to be Magic Wood, Switzerland. This is down to the people that reside there, the mountains, and of course the climbing. The style of movement out there suits me very well and you’re surrounded by plum lines left right and centre, the hardest bit is choosing which rock to climb!
If you take the bouldering away from Magic wood, it’s still the most beautiful place I have ever been. Once you can ‘comfortably’ boulder 7B. I Recommend you get over there!
Rich Marotta
I have been climbing for over 10 years, and freelance route setting for the last two years. My favourite form of climbing is bouldering because of the diversity and intricacies of the movement involved.
My favourite place to climb would have to be either Chironico or Murgtal. The quality of the rock in Chironico is some of the best I’ve climbed on, and the atmosphere created by Valley in which Murgtal sits makes for some awesome days out climbing.
Anthony Ross
I’m definitely more of a boulderer, but enjoy sport climbing as well. A couple of my favourite places to climb are Biblins Cave and Portland. I haven’t done huge amounts of climbing outdoors, but am hoping to change that and start climbing outside as much as possible.