Kent’s largest indoor climbing centre in Maidstone is attracting women to a male dominated sport thanks to the introduction of its Ladies' Night socials.

A year after the classes began, it is now the centre's most popular session. Reporter Liane Castle went to find out more.

The last time I stepped foot on a climbing wall was probably 10 years ago during a P.E lesson in school, so it's safe to say I was a bit nervous about the thought of clambering onto a wall without a harness.

I'm also not the best with heights, but I don't like to be defeated so I took the bouldering training in my stride and after 18 months inside, my competitive side came out and this seemed like a challenge to get stuck into.

The centre in Maidstone has a huge buzz from the first moment you enter through the double doors.

During my visit there were plenty of youngsters bravely tackling the brightly coloured 'fun walls' and showing their parents exactly how it's done.

On the opposite end of the scale there are adults of all ages who have clearly been climbing for years taking on the more technical bouldering walls.

After a quick tour of the site in St Peter's Street, my instructor Emily Baxter-How, who is responsible for the introduction of the Ladies' Night socials, took me through a quick warm up before kick-starting my boulder training session.

To start with, she challenged me to take on the traverse wall which means climbing horizontally rather than vertically.

I thought this would act as a way of easing me in gently but it is actually much harder than it looks.

Following the green route, I managed to get just over halfway before losing my grip and slipping to the floor, but as far as I was concerned, that was not a bad start.

Next stop was the boulders themselves. Each route is marked up by colour. The pink ones are for beginners, and the white are the slightly more technical climbs.

It won't be a surprise to anyone that I stuck to the pink and blue ones - a mixture of all levels - seeing as it was my first try.

The sport is one of the fastest growing in the UK and is praised for its ability to build up fitness.

An intense climbing session can burn between 600 and 1,000 calories an hour making it a popular choice for fitness fanatics.

There was a diverse range of people at the centre challenging their abilities, but during my session I couldn't help but notice the men outnumbered the women, something which Emily says prompted the idea of ladies' night.

She said: "When I offered the idea in one of our management meetings, it was met with quite a good response.

"It has been really nice to bring the opportunity to ladies and bring that group closer together to build their confidence.

"Most people come during the evenings in the week after work so sometimes there are big burly men on huge climbs or on the competition wall and it's great to see, but sometimes for ladies it can be intimidating.

"The sessions are about encouraging women to have a go themselves, take up some space on the wall and feel like ‘I'm here because I enjoy this and I'm good’."

The sessions typically attract between 10 and 15 ladies each week with new and familiar faces alike.

"It's a really chilled out night where for an hour-and-a-half we climb, chat, and catch up with each other," Emily added before taking me through to the next section of my training.

The centre also prides itself on the ratio of male and female instructors with an almost 50/50 split.

Emily added: "I am the only lady in management. I’m surrounded by four boys so I still have to fight my corner.

"It's really nice to have that with the rest of the centre staff and there are some days when there are no men in the building which is quite fun to have the ladies running the centre.

"We really like that everyone has an equal opportunity."

Sessions for school classes and SEN groups in a less crowded atmosphere, lowered music and extra instructors are also available.

Towards the latter stages of my training, Emily challenged me to move away from the pink and try black and purple routes instead.

I didn't quite have the strength to reach the top of the purple climb but by the time it came to trying them out, I was already feeling much more confident, if not slightly annoyed at myself for not being able to complete it.

But the one thing I never thought I'd be able to do in my first session was stand on top of one of the walls and climb back down the other side. But I did it.

Emily met me at the top and I couldn't help but feel really pleased with myself for facing my fear of heights.

Four months after opening its doors for the first time in 2019, The Climbing Experience had to close when the UK was plunged into its first lockdown in March 2020.

It was only able to open again properly in April this year with Covid safety measures in place and thankfully has been thriving since.

There is a one way system, screens in front of the reception desk, and the centre even uses a specialist liquid chalk which has a high alcohol content so can sanitise hands.

Other than a grazed elbow, if I took anything away from my experience is that I would definitely recommend giving climbing a go and joining the Ladies' Night social if you're looking for a new challenge.

The instructors are incredibly friendly and allowed me to take the climbs at my own pace, and more importantly, I didn't feel judged.

Use the code KMHALF when booking a bouldering induction and get 50% off. Ladies Night sessions are run on an ad hoc basis, with more details on The Climbing Experience's social media pages or see its website here

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