ABOUT US
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Welcome to Mount Palace, one of London's oldest, smallest and friendliest climbing centres
Dating back to 1991, the Crystal Palace climbing scene is one of London’s oldest, it's roots stemming from our proximity to the UK’s busiest outdoor climbing area, the Southern Sandstone crags of Kent
As London’s closest roped climbing gym to these iconic crags, Crystal Palace has been an integral part of the climbing community for years. The current gym was built in 2010 and since that time we’ve expanded the focus beyond just climbing, building a strong commitment to inclusivity and the wider community
Nestled within Crystal Palace’s iconic National Sports Centre, our not-for-profit organisation - run by team of Crystal Palace natives - stands apart from most other centres in London.
Instead of charging steep fees for entry, hire fees and supervision charges—costs that can create barriers to participation—we prioritise accessibility. We offer high-quality but affordable indoor climbing for climbers of all levels while partnering with several local charities and groups to create opportunities for people who might otherwise face barriers to accessing it
We truly believe that climbing is unique in its ability to push personal limits, foster a sense of achievement and growth, and build communities like no other activity. If you're already a climber, you'll know exactly what we mean. We don’t think climbing should be reserved for those of us who are lucky enough to afford it and we’re committed to making it accessible to individuals and communities who stand to benefit the most from the physical, mental, and social rewards it offers
Unlike most climbing centres, our team consists entirely of Mountain Training certified roped climbing instructors, all of whom are British Mountaineering Council members, ready to offer friendly guidance and expert advice. Our route setters are among the best in town, creating a diverse range of routes to challenge and inspire climbers of all skill levels. Plus, we're proud to be fully paid-up members of the Association of British Climbing Walls
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ABOUT CLIMBING
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Although most people now associate climbing with bright colours and dynos, it wasn’t always that way
Originally a component of mountaineering, rock climbing became a distinct discipline in the 19th century when European mountaineers began focusing on the technical challenges of the rock faces themselves. By the 1980s, advancements in climbing techniques led to indoor climbing, sparking the rise of climbing gyms for year-round training
Broadly speaking, indoor climbing can be divided into three main categories:
Bouldering - Climbing short walls (usually around 4 metres) without ropes, using crash pads for safety
Bottom Roping (aka Top Roping) - Climbing with a rope anchored at the top of the wall, providing a secure way to ascend while being belayed from below
Lead Climbing - Climbing while attaching the rope to fixed points (quickdraws) along the route, being belayed from below
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ABOUT OUR STUFF
Small but perfectly formed, we like to think of Mount Palace as the perfect micro climbing gym—compact but packed with everything you need to train hard and crush
Grading : We're all about getting people climbing outdoors so we prefer to use the Font grading system for Bouldering and there's a couple of reasons for this.
Firstly, it directly translates to the grades you'll encounter outside. The Fontainebleau forest, just outside Paris, is the birthplace of Bouldering and the Font grading system developed there has become the most widely used in the UK, Europe and beyond—both indoors and out.
Secondly, the Font system offers more granularity in the lower grades compared to the V grading system, allowing us to fine-tune route difficulty more precisely so you don't blow precious time and energy climbing something you're not ready for.
You might also find our grading a little stiffer than at other centres in London. We aim to align our grades more closely with outdoor climbing, helping you better prepare for your trips outside. We use just one coloured tag at the start of the route to denote both the highest starting hand hold and the difficulty of the climb
Bouldering : Our walls are packed with a wide range of bouldering lines with grades ranging from F3+ to F7A and all set by some of the best freelance setters in the business. We’ve got a couple of ungraded traverses to warm up on and will be reinstalling the popular but exhausting high-level full room traverse soon. New problems go up every week with regular sectional resets to keep things fresh.
We're also lucky to have a small section of textured feature wall here too. These are quite rare these days but we believe they’re a good way to practice climbing on real rock. Ours is designed to mimic the natural sandstone found at the nearby Southern Sandstone crags. We keep route-setting minimal on it to encourage the use of features, precise footwork, and thoughtful weight distribution—key skills for climbing outdoors.
We provide topos of established routes, which you can find next to the wall. Plus, we welcome customer-suggested routes—if you come up with a new line, you can name it and we'll put it up on a new Topo
Roped Walls : Although relatively low by roped wall standards, our four top rope bays are still plenty challenging. We've designed them to be accessible for beginners while still offering enough difficulty to keep stronger climbers engaged.
To encourage the kind of route reading essential for outdoor climbing, we’ve set the walls in a spray wall-style layout. This allows climbers to create their own routes, making them as easy or as hard as they like. We’ll be adding holds and refining this setup over the next couple of months before uploading it to the Stokt app—so stay tuned!
Lastly, like our bouldering walls, part of our roped section mimics the rock formations of the nearby Southern Sandstone crags. It’s minimally set, making it ideal for precise footwork practice and route reading and we'll be running abseiling sessions from it's belay ledge in the future too.
Gym : While calling it a 'gym' might be a bit of a stretch, our training area is well-equipped with pretty much everything you need. It features a 4-meter-high campus board, Beastmaker, strap trainer, dumbbells, kettlebell, balance board and resistance bands.
Showers & Lockers : The National Sports Centre offers plenty of gender-neutral showers and changing rooms. While you're welcome to leave your bags and coats in the climbing centre, there are also lockers available out in the sports centres corridors—just bring your own padlock.
ABOUT THE FUTURE
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Since the Mayor of London’s 2018 announcement of a major refurbishment for the National Sports Centre, Mount Palace has been working with the GLA to ensure that climbing remains at the heart of the Crystal Palace site.
As key stakeholders, we fully engaged in the Mayor’s consultation process — attending every town hall meeting and mobilising the community to make their voices heard. In 2019, those efforts paid off. Through surveys and petitions, climbing was identified as one of the top priorities for investment, second only to athletics and swimming. As a result, the GLA pledged to include a purpose-built bouldering centre in the redevelopment.
Today, we’re building on that progress. Working with the GLA, our aim is to create a true international sports facility at Crystal Palace — one that delivers for the local community and also provides a world-class home for elite athletes. Climbing is the fastest-growing international sport, and with athletes such as Olympic gold medallist Toby Roberts — who grew up just an hour from Crystal Palace but currently has to train in Austria for Lead and Japan for Bouldering — the UK urgently needs an Olympic-standard facility that covers all three disciplines: Lead, Speed, and Boulder.
This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. The redevelopment of the NSC could provide London, the UK, and international climbing with a showcase facility — a venue that inspires the next generation, creates genuine grassroots-to-elite pathways, and delivers meaningful community programmes alongside top-level training and competition.
But climbing is competing for space against other sports, and the GLA is listening closely to governing bodies and community voices. That’s why your support is so important. With your help, we can make the case to the Mayor that now is the time to give climbing the space it deserves, and to create a centre that truly reflects both the sport’s growth and its potential to change lives.
Together, we can ensure Crystal Palace becomes not just a home for climbers, but a jewel in the crown of the NSC redevelopment
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