The North Face Climb Festival is landing in London
The outdoors brand is bringing its bouldering weekender to Canary Wharf’s south dock, seeing top climbers compete against a dramatic backdrop and an adventurous soundtrack from the likes of Ross From Friends, NiNE8 Collective and JJESS.
In partnership with The North Face
Words: Kyle MacNeill
The new drop from The North Face is going to be seriously cold. We’re not talking about a capsule of the outdoor brand’s paramount puffers. Nope, we’re talking about the literal, 17 metre plunge into the (thankfully, squeaky clean) waters of Canary Wharf’s south dock. It’s the only escape from the climbing wall at the upcoming edition of The North Face Climb Festival, taking place in the capital from July 12 to July 13.
If you’re not clued-up on Climb Festival, it’s Northy’s very own get together joining the dots between clubbing and climbing. Last year, it was held in Chicago; now, it’s heading to Shanghai, New York and London, offering anyone who’s brave enough the opportunity to compete against those at the pinnacle of the sport.
Entrants will go head-to-head on the head-spinning, stomach-lurching, gravity-defying Climb Festival wall in front of thousands of spectators, scrambling and clambering their way up to the top for ultimate bragging rights. If that’s the kind of thing that gets your rocks off, sign up here and godspeed from us.
But don’t fret if this strikes fear into your very soul. Most people at Climb Festival will be attending as a punter, not as an elite climber. And like climbing without a harness, it’s totally free. Just grab a ticket here.
On that note, legendary free solo climber and TNF athlete Alex Honnold will be making an appearance at the event, hosting a live podcast on the Saturday afternoon. Considering Honnold, you know, scaled the entirety of El Capitan without any equipment at all, you’re in safe hands to hear more about the sport.
Other climbers from The North Face team including Caroline Ciavaldini, James Pearson and Solenne Piret will help show you the ropes in interactive workshops and panel talks. If you do want to get involved in a slightly more low-key way there’s also a dyno competition, which involves doing a look-no-hands leap from grip to grip.
And while climbing is the name of the game, there’s tons more on offer. For true anoraks of The North Face, there’s a clothing repair space and an immersive retail experience. Plus, obviously, all sorts of local eats and drinks to keep you refreshed.
Plus some top notch music. The lineup features DJ sets from euphoric party-starter Ross From Friends, house head Laurence Guy, THE FACE favourites NiNE8 Collective, NTS legend Anu and peak time selector JJESS, who we recently caught up with.
“I’m actually really excited. I like the idea of sound tracking someone’s excursion,” she told us. Consider us extremely excited, too. But from one FACE to another, we’ll give that 17-metre-high wall a miss; we wouldn’t want to blow the rest of the competition out the water, eh?
The North Face’s Climb Festival takes place at Canary Wharf, London from Friday July 12 – Saturday July 13. Tickets are free for spectators and available here. If you want to compete as a climber, register here for £85. Bring on the wall!
