Our Ireland Story

When we finally opened the doors to Awesome Walls Dublin in September 2012 it was the start of an exciting chapter but also the end of a long journey to get the climbing wall of our dreams opened.  It had taken us years to get there.

My Dad and I had been working hard with a group of passionate climbers towards opening a commercial climbing wall in Dublin. We had designs, an amazing building, name and pretty much everything nailed down but for various reasons when it finally came to commitment time not everyone was ready.  Back then just after the financial crash, recession was in the air so signing a twenty year lease with personal guarantees on a massive industrial unit took some commitment.

Sveinn, Samurai and I were committed but we didn’t have enough finance to do it by ourselves.  With time running out as I had an option to relocate to New Zealand for work, we came up with the idea of approaching some of the big climbing wall owners in the UK. Having enjoyed being a regular user of Awesome Walls Liverpool during my days working in North Wales it was an obvious first port of call.  We approached Dave Douglas and invited him over to Dublin to look at our building.

Not sure if it was the awful meal in that so-called Irish restaurant in Temple Bar that persuaded him, more likely our amazing building, but after a weekend of discussions Douglas was in!  We even sweetened the deal by calling the project Awesome Walls Dublin.  For us it was an easy decision.

Hope you enjoy your climbing here as much as we’ve enjoyed bringing it to you

Yours in climbing

Dave Ayton