Staff

The Climbing Academy staff are committed to making your experience with us as good as it can be. We are an appoachable friendly lot and are here to help in whatever way we can, so don't be afraid to ask us any questions - no matter how trivial they may seem. We are also dedicated to improving your climbing environment in any way that we can, and will always consider all suggestions and comments with the due respect that they deserve.

So who are we (in no particular order)...

Day to day staff

RichRich is the business brain behind TCA, and it's fair to say that without him driving the project, we would certainly not be where we are today. He started climbing as a small kid, is still as keen as ever and despite his modesty, is a very good all-round climber. Whilst climbing frozen waterfalls together in Italy, Paul told Rich about his long term vision for a bouldering centre in Bristol, and with Rich’s background in business, the partnership began. As well as working at TCA, Rich also runs Interaction Learning and Development, www.interaction-ld.com, a successful management training company. He spends as much of the winter as possible ski mountaineering in France with his family.

HeatherHeather has been a climber for the past 16 years (I know, it's hard to believe that she's old enough). She also enjoys climbing up ropes, and has spent most of the past decade performing in the circus. In her spare time she enjoys eating food, dancing and singing.

Joe
Joe is one of our longest serving staff members and a key player in our routesetting team. As well as being a very keen boulderer, he is also a keen kayaker and windsurfer. Joe spent last summer learning skills whilst restoring his campervan to a very high standard, and is looking forward to leaving school at the end of this year. Joe's is a fast learner and an excellent routesetter and we are expecting great things as his climbing goes from strength to strength.

PaulPaul is the vision behind The Climbing Academy. A SW new route activist, he moved to Bristol shortly after Undercover Rock was opened with its lure lure of year-round training, and quickly settled into developing wall building and routesetting skills, becoming one of the first National Routesetters along the way. His long term interest in training and helping others to improve has led him to become a respected climbing coach with a unique approach to the black art. For the last ten years he has dreamed about opening a revolutionary bouldering centre, and until he met Rich, thought it would probably never happen. Paul is also a DJ and music producer and is looking forward to a more normal life again when all the dust settles.

Bettina
Betti is the TCA cafe manager. Originally from Hungary, she loves all sport and is especially fond of basketball. She looks after the day to day running of what some would say is the most important aspect of the business.

Mike

Mike is a very talented craftsman, bowmaking and leadwork hiding amongst his many practical skills. With Paul, he is the architect of the TCA climbing area, bringing the timber and plywood into its multi-angled life. Mike is our 'inward looking' centre manager, responsible for keeping the good ship TCA seaworthy. He is also an avid fisherman, spending his free time bobbing around in boats on various lakes in Somerset.

Sam

Sam is our Youth Development Officer, responsible for the schools bouldering league and managing our climbing squad. He's an avid boulderer and mountain biker, and brings a wealth of youth-based experience to TCA.

Tom
Tom is an odd looking chap and has a penchant for nappies. Leather goods and mustaches are involved in his favorite hobbies.

Lisa
Lisa started climbing in 2006 and it has become a massive part of who she is and what she does. She loves going to Spain spending the last two summers there "the rock is amazing as are the areas you go to and the yummy pastries!".  You will find Lisa climbing around the centre aiming to get strong in the winter and get stamina levels up when the sun comes out to play as it's all about the sport in summer. She has also just started to do some setting around the centre and is keen for feedback don't be shy tell her what you really think!!

Simon
Simon, our latest duty manager, has been climbing for 10 years, but he has been involed with cycling since the age of 12, competing at national and international level whilst a junior. Multi skilled, he previously worked in family cabinet making business and has just finished a BSc in Building Surveying. Simon likes heel hooks and chocolate flapjacks but hates losing games of pool

Tris
Tris is in his third year at Bath Spa University studying fine art painting. He has been climbing for three years and enjoys training for climbing festivals like Melloblocco and trips to exotic locations. On the side he likes slackening over water, putting bikes together, listening to techno and eating humous sandwiches.

PetePete is a self-confessed crazy, little, runty 28 year old, with an Alice in Wonderland-like, lilliputian perspective on life ... Be it going up, falling down or somewhere in between I'll happily venture if I think it will fuel my insatiable curiosity and photograph nicely.

Carly

Carly moved to Bristol with the aim to climb, rave and finish with her stunt woman training. She loves climbing, adventure cycle journeys to Wales, Thatcher’s Katy, and there’s nothing quite like a bit of interpretative dance on a Sunday evening. She dislikes cooking and sitting down. She promotes TCA's courses and deputies Sam with the Youth Squad.

Routesetters

GavinGav is a familiar figure to those on the British competition scene and is fast gaining reputation for both his routesetting and coaching skills. Of recent times Gav has become one of the leading exponents of DWS - deep water soloing - with many hard and often dangerous ascents to his name. You can keep up to date with Gav on fis blog - www.gavinsymonds.blogspot.com

Alan
Known affectionately as 'The Giffer', Alan started climbing 150 odd years ago in the days before most of us were born, when you still tied the rope around your waist and the only runners you placed were on natural spikes or threads. He discovered the relative safety of indoor climbing 15 years ago and has never looked back. He retired from full time work as a nuclear physicist in 1998 and has been setting brilliant routes in Bristol ever since.

Dave
Son of Giffer, David climbed his first route, Jackdaw Ridge in Borrowdale, at the age of six! He is fairly new to the routesetting game but comes from a good pedigree and and is learning fast. David holds a Canadian snowboard instructor's certificate and also rides mountain and trials bikes.

OllieThe benchmark 'all round nice guy', Ollie likes reggae, running in the hills, whisky, coffee with his eggs and bacon and generally eating large amounts of food. He dislikes small hairless dogs, being cold and tiny portions of nouveaux cuisine.

AliBristol strong man Ali was chief routesetter for The Welsh International Climbing Centre in the glory years of its operation. A training machine when the mood takes him, Ali is also a very talented player in the world of visual artistry with his company, wrap3, creating cutting edge 3d panoramic installations. See www.wrap3.co.uk for more.

Damian
Brought out of retirment when TCA rekindled his climbing interest, Damian is a sporting enthusiast and one of those good all rounders that we often love to hate. Always keen, happy and smiling, he'll be getting back into his setting groove over the next few months.

Tim
Tim is a professional extreme sports athlete and all round good egg. Known for his MFI (mad-for-it) approach to everything, he is an insuppressible larger than life character who squeezes every last bit of fun and energy from any situation. To see some of Tim's exploits tune in to www.timemmett.com

John
John is one of the South West's longest serving route setters,
squeezing sessions in around his work as News Editor at ITV West. John has
been climbing nearly 40 years. He loves all forms of the sport and has done
many new routes in Avon and Pembroke. Level Headed, the three pitch E7
girdle of Upper Wall which he did with Ben Bransby, remains one of Avon's
hardest unrepeated routes. In the past 18 months John's soloed big ice
routes in the Alps in winter, helicoptered to the remote Cirque of the
Unclimbables in Canada and red-pointed his first 7b plus. John's always been
one of the stiffest-jointed climbers in the region, so don't expect any wide
bridges on his problems, although a hip replacement three years ago has made
him a lot more flexible than before.

Will
Will has been a regular and highly respected bouldering route setter for the last ten years and has a wealth of experience and high level of creativity. He will often try to draw on ideas influenced by outdoor problems he has done to help generate and and maintain diversity and interest in his setting.
He is meticulous in his work and is always striving to create fair, interesting and aesthetic movement on his problems.