First time climbing?

Welcome — The Mothership is Bristol’s home of bouldering and one of the easiest, friendliest places in the city to start. Do you want to learn to climb? Bouldering is climbing close to the ground over soft mats, with no ropes and no experience needed.

New to bouldering? We recommend starting with a bouldering induction, but they are optional. Inductions are a short, friendly session where a staff member shows you around and gives you the pointers you need to head off and climb on your own. Come solo, or bring friends and family along to learn together.

Book an Induction

Prefer to jump straight in? That’s fine. Just turn up and hire shoes at reception. Over-16s can boulder unsupervised. To save time, complete forms before you arrive — this includes our short safety video.

When it comes to paying, you can pay per visit or buy a pass for discounted entry. View prices. And if you’ve never visited a TCA centre before, your second visit is completely free.

Looking for roped climbing rather than bouldering? You can try that at our other Southwest centres, The Church and The Arc — see roped courses.

Do your kids want to learn to climb?

Bouldering

At The Mothership, children of any age can boulder with a registered adult and one adult can supervise up to two under-16s. There is no need to book, just turn up. Over-16s can boulder unsupervised.

We have two whole floors of bouldering at The Mothership. Under 8’s are not permitted to climb in the upstairs area after 4pm on weekdays and anytime at the weekend.

In addition to drop-in bouldering, we also run classes through term time and holiday activities in the school breaks.

See all Youth classes

Roped Climbing

If you want to try Roped Climbing, please head to The Church in St Werburgh’s, where we offer roped climbing, auto belays and training boards. Ask about a free auto belay induction. You can book a Family Taster for over 6s. See all Youth classes.

Birthday Parties

We run awesome climbing birthday parties for any age.

Absolutely. Our café here at the Mothership is open to the public — no registration or climbing required — serving great coffee, sweet treats and savoury snacks. Just passing? We do takeaway hot drinks for a quick caffeine (or decaf) fix. You’ll also find a shop stocking climbing shoes, clothing, gear and guidebooks, open to non-climbers too.