Da Verm

I’ve been to Da Verm this evening. For six months I had been meaning to go climbing and yet I hadn’t gotten around to do it. So tonight was the night. I got there just before 8pm, a bit of a busy time it seemed (I asked the girl at the reception and she said it would get less busy from 9pm). I met up with my climbing mates and checked out the walls…
One of them had already been there and knew the routes pretty well. He pointed out that there were more people than there used to be and (important if you really are into climbing) the noise level was higher. There are a suspicious amount of top less guys cheering at each other as they got higher up the wall (…that’s annoying).
Bearing in mind that the place is rather small, that didn’t feel great. But nevertheless, we were there for the walls after all. On your right hand side there is a practice wall, for beginners or rather intermediate level. There are a few routes designed for you to practice your swings and that’s where we spent more of the two hours we were there. There is also a very small one on which you can go up a little higher and the difficulty is also medium. On your left hand side there is the main wall, with all levels routed on it. I didn’t venture this one: I’m still out of climbing shape and it was a bit of a ‘showroom’. I was looking forward to seeing people living, but it remained pretty packed until 10pm.
Da Verm facilities are okay, it’s a lot smaller than I expected (maybe I’m too used to bigger places in London) but it’s good enough for all levels. The thing that bothers me is the lack of tranquility that you can breathe there… maybe the key is to avoid peak times. But then, that’s always tricky…