The Gloucestershire team behind the 270 Climbing centre at Bentham, between Gloucester and Cheltenham, is close to celebrating it's opening.
After years of working its way through planning and battling delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, while the indoor climbing centre, fitness studio and other facilities will not open until later in 2023, the incredible high ropes course will open with a soft launch in April 2023.
Aimed at families and all levels of ability, when completed, the centre's facilities will be of a calibre expected to make it a training ground for the next generation of Olympian-level climbers.
David Stevens, director of 270 Climbing and part of the team that runs the Warehouse Climbing Centre in Gloucester, said: ‘By Easter we will have opened the high ropes outdoor course. It will be the tallest in Europe – 21 metres high over five levels. It's so challenging, we are calling the top level 'Mission Impossible'.
‘There will be two zip-lines and a free-fall of 22 metres.’
Recruitment for the new team is underway, with prospective staff needing to be over 18, with good people skills and the requisite ‘head for heights’.
When complete, the leisure park will not only boast some of the best climbing facilities in the country but an indoor multi-purpose space for team sports and activities as well as a bouldering competition wall, an artificial caving system, soft play area, fitness studio and therapy rooms, two cafés, a glamping area, high-ropes course and zip wire.
It is expected to attract tens of thousands of visitors a year.
The scheme, designed by Cheltenham-based architects Corylus Planning & Environmental, won planning approval in April 2021 and the Gloucestershire team behind the project began clearing the former Bentham Country Club of its famous inflatable domes later that year.
The six acres of land in the shadow of Crickley Hill, off the A417, is in an area of outstanding natural beauty and part of the green belt.
