Our fleet has carried two Spider Mountain towers since spring 2019, and the second one exists for a simple reason: the first was going out most summer Saturdays, and the phone kept ringing with two organisers after the same date. Turning an organiser away is the one outcome nobody on the phone enjoys, so another tower went into the warehouse and both got their day.
If you have never stood next to one at a county show, Spider Mountain is an 8 metre (26ft) scramble-net climbing structure. Climbers work up through crisscrossed elastic levels (12 tiers on ours), picking a route as they go, take in the view from the 9m (30ft) summit and then drop down the freefall slide. Up to 16 people can be on the tower at once, with a throughput of around 225 climbers an hour, the highest of any climbing activity we own and one of the highest in mobile event hire. Children as young as three and adults scramble on the same structure at the same time, which is why it works so well for mixed-age fundays.
Why does a hire company own two of them?
Because one tower that handles 225 climbers an hour still cannot be in two places at once. Summer Saturdays around here used to stack up badly: a corporate funday in Sheffield and a scout camp on the same weekend, a community event in Doncaster while a team building day ran in Barnsley. With two towers the double-booked Saturday becomes two covered bookings, and back-to-back weekends stop being a headache. The towers also go out together at the larger county shows, and one has even featured in an It's A Knockout game.
How much space does a Spider Mountain need?
Each tower takes a 15m x 20m footprint and stands 9m tall, so the site is the first thing to check. It sits on grass or hard standing, needs flat trailer access to get it into position, and it will not go outdoors on concrete. If there are steps, a slope or soft ground between the gate and the pitch, the trailer cannot reach the spot, so walk the route before booking. Setup is around 30 minutes and the power unit is self-contained, so no mains supply is needed on site. Booking both towers for one large event doubles the footprint requirement, which is worth checking against the site plan before the quote goes in. Public liability sits at £5 million with indemnity to principal when our staff run the tower, the paperwork corporate venues and council event teams ask to see.
What does it cost to hire?
Option 1 is the tower with the drop slide, from £895 for a 3-hour hire, fully staffed. Option 2 adds a 2-person auto belay climbing wall set against the tower, from £1,295 + VAT for the same three hours, so two roped climbers can go up the wall while everyone else scrambles. Both options come with trained supervising staff for the booked period, and risk assessments and method statements come with every booking. If you want to compare it against the rest of the range, the climbing walls category lists the mobile climbing wall and the Infinity Tower and Mega Drop slide alongside it.
William’s Den hired a tower for their Big Camp Out festival weekend: “The Spider Mountain and rock climbing wall was very popular with our guests and i would highly recommend it and DB Entertainment.”
Where does it travel?
The towers live in Rotherham, five minutes from the A1, M1 and M18, so Sheffield, Worksop, Doncaster, Barnsley and Chesterfield are routine runs, and the longer hauls to Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and London are regular work too. The delivery page lists how the charges work.
Both towers take bookings through the green quote button on the Spider Mountain page, and if you are pricing a peak Saturday it is worth ringing 0114 345 0135 early, because two units covering a nationwide diary means the best summer dates go first.
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