New to bouldering? Don’t worry - we’ve got you covered. Bouldering is climbing without ropes over safety matting and is a fantastic way to get fit. There is a lot more to it than just upper body strength…
At Chimera, our gym has a range of different routes to climb, from beginner through to advanced. So, there is something for everyone, no matter what your ability or starting fitness level. It’s a lot more fun than running miles and miles on a treadmill in our opinion!
Climbing is great for strength building, improving balance, flexibility and co-ordination. But the best part is you are doing all that in a fun, social environment whilst having a laugh.
No expense gear is needed - you can rent shoes from reception. Just turn up, register, watch the short safety video and off you go. It makes for a great day out with friends, colleagues or even as a team building exercise.
Open 10am - 10pm in the week, and 8am - 6pm at the weekends.
All three walls are open seven days a week. Monday to Friday, they all open at 10am and shut at 10pm. At the weekend, Canterbury opens at 8am until 6pm, while Chatham and Tunbridge Wells open at 9am until 6pm.
There are restricted opening hours for under 12’s - they can climb until 6pm in the week and 2pm at weekends.
Bouldering is a type of rock climbing. It is where you climb smaller walls or rocks without a rope. Instead, there are big crash pads under you in case you fall.
Yes, absolutely. Everyone over the age of five can come and climb. We do have strict supervision ratios though. One adult can supervise two kids, but if the adult wants to climb they can only supervise one child. Everyone under the age of 16 needs to be supervised, and everyone under the age of 18 needs their waiver signed off by an adult.
You don’t need any previous climbing experience to supervise kids.
Loose, comfy clothing is best - any sports clothes or baggy jeans or leggings.
Yes absolutely, the more the merrier. To save time we suggest you pre-register if you haven’t been before which you can do by clicking the link below. Other than that, turn up and have fun!
Yes! You can traverse to get started (climbing along rather than up) and when you feel more confident you can start to climb a little higher each go. You don’t have to get to the top, you can just practice one move at the bottom until you feel comfortable.
Primarily, blocs are categorised by colour so stick to the easier colours (yellow, orange, purple) to get you going. Once you are a pro, you can look at the grading chart for each wall via the TopLogger app - we use the Fontainebleau grading system at Chimera.
Yes we do. Please click here for the Ukrainian and Russian translations of our rules.
We know Canterbury is home to a thriving student population, and we want to do our bit to make sure those students can get some much needed exercise in amidst their studies. We work in collaboration with the local student climbing clubs to organise student nights, we always have student entry prices at anytime of the day or night, and we also have plenty of offers available. If you are a student and you want to take up climbing, the best thing you can do is pop in and see us and we’ll talk you through all the options.
"Really good gym. Fantastic what they’ve done with the space given it’s quite a bit smaller than other gyms I’ve been to - the route setters have done an excellent job so far! Super friendly, welcoming atmosphere as well, which is ideal for myself and my fiancée as we are both relatively new to climbing."
Canterbury Centre
