Another climbing gym in Boulder?
April 9, 2008
The ClimbingNarc reports that a new climbing gym is coming to Boulder.
Why is this news? There’s already three good sized gyms in Boulder already. But as I found out in my trip to Boulder a couple weeks ago, everyone you meet there is a climber. I’d love to see actual numbers on what percentage of the population in Boulder actually considers themselves a climber though.
It’s a safe bet that the founders of this new gym did their research and the demand is there. On a personal note, now that I’m moving out there, I welcome more indoor climbing gym opportunities!
To be honest, I’m having a hard time going to my local climbing gym with the prospect of having bigger and better gyms available in the very near future. Ahh, a tough problem to have, right?
Popularity: 13% [?]
How to stop climbers from using bolt holes as mono pockets
November 14, 2007
Routesetter.com teaches how to stop climbers from using the bolt hole as a mono in the gym. At first I thought this was humorous, then I remembered how many times I’ve seen climbers try using them as pockets (especially those with tiny fingers).
1. Take a two-foot (or so) long piece of standard issue setting tape.
2. Loosely bundle the piece of tape into a cylinder-shaped ball that is longer than it is wide.
3. Stuff it. Shove that ball of tape into the offending bolthole. Be careful not to pack it in unless you never plan on moving the hold again.You may have to put more tape in the hole to fill it up. But using one single long piece will make it much easier when its time to get it out. Try to make the tape flush to the holds as best you can.
Check out the article for pictures on their steps. There’s also a nice follow-up discussion in the comments.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Interviewed at local climbing gym by BigLickU
June 30, 2007
To get free climbing at my bouldering gym, I volunteer twice a month. The last evening I worked, two students visited for the first time while writing a story for a regional college web site called BigLickU.
A few of my comments were taken out of context (the gym does set routes and I most definitely did not call it “choose your own adventure”), but it’s an overall good article.
They took two short videos as well. Here is one of them. Feel the frustration of the first time climber:
Check out the full article here.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Build your own climbing gym padding
May 26, 2007
The Bouldering Guide blog has a useful post on building your own padding for indoor climbing walls.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Indoor climbing considered safer than soccer
October 8, 2006
A recent study found that indoor rock climbing has a low risk of injury and is 10 times safer than soccer. The study was published by the quarterly medical journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine (PDF) by the Wilderness Medical Society.
From the scotsman.com,
The study by German researchers was based on the rates and types of injury at the 2005 World Championships in rock climbing in Munich, Germany, which involved almost 500 climbers from 55 countries.
The championships had an injury rate of 3.1 per 1,000 hours compared to adult male national soccer competitions where players face an injury rate of 30.3 per 1,000 hours.
Over the course of the competition’s events that totaled 520 climbing days, only three of 18 medical problems were treated as significant injuries, including a broken ankle, back sprain and knee sprain, while the majority of the problems were just bruises.
An interesting study for the average person who thinks climbing is more risky than other sports, but what I would be more interested in reading is a study that compares the injury rate within the various climbing disciplines. Personally, I find I get more injuries when climbing indoors (especially bouldering) compared to climbing outside. With bouldering, I think the reason is obvious. If you’re bouldering outside, all the problems are spread out across more time, usually the whole day. When bouldering indoors, a climber typically compress the same amount of problems (or more) into a 2 hour session. This simply stresses the body much more.
joost.climbing.nl also has some additional reporting on this study.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Building a home climbing gym
February 17, 2006
I’m finally getting ready to start on a long time project - building a home climbing gym in my basement. When we moved to Blacksburg from Northern Virginia, we bought a house down here that had a partially finished basement. I now have more space to build a home climbing wall than I actually know what to do with. My current plan is to start small and gradually build it out as a make mistakes and learn more about the process. I’m going to start with two sections as the framing is already there from when the house was built. The first is a nice four foot wide by ten foot long cave underneath the stairs. There’s a lot that can be done here as both sides of the area are framed as well. I’m planning on just doing the 45 degree cave part first and see how it goes. I know its a bit narrow, but it will be better that the basic hangboard I have hanging there now.
Read more
Popularity: 16% [?]
Gym climbing musings
March 30, 2005
FloridaToday.com (of all places) has one of the funniest descriptions of a gym bouldering area:
The high school senior continues to train in the gym’s bouldering section, a cavernous area that looks a bit like the alien bar scene in “Star Wars,” with walls splotched with wild colors and shapes.
You have to appreciate any reference to Star Wars and climbing.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Climbing wall company attempts to recreate unique rock formations
February 11, 2005
The LA Times has an article on the artificial climbing wall manufacturer, Monolithic Sculptures. One of the company’s current projects is replicating the giant cue-ball formations from Rock City located outside Kansas City.
The Rock City boulder in Minneapolis, Kan., is part of a series of “huge sandstone concretions… round balls of sandstone that look like massive billiard balls sitting on the plains of Kansas”
Popularity: 7% [?]
Build your own indoor climbing wall
February 7, 2005
Whenever the weather stays cold (hmm, like now, in February), I feel like a mad genius scheming plans to build a climbing wall somewhere in my home. In my mind, I’ve developed plans for an attic wall, a free standing bouldering cave in a spare bedroom, a bouldering cave suspended in the basement laundry room, and the list goes on. Obviously, some of these ideas are outrageous to say the least. But they always seem like a good idea. Luckily, I have a climbing gym ten minutes from my house. So, whenever madness strikes, I just hit the gym. I know, its a nice luxury that the majority of climbers don’t have.
That said, I may still build a home wall just because it looks like great fun and can only help my climbing. I’ve seen numerous sites that show step-by-step how to build a climbing wall. Here are some of the best:
How to Build a Home Bouldering Wall - indoorclimbing.com
Chockstone
Climbing Wall Project Estimator
The Indoor Climber’s Resource
The Edge Climbing Wall Systems
Metolius guide to building a climbing wall (PDF)
Pawn Climbing
Home Climbing Walls - Tradgirl
Popularity: 8% [?]
World’s tallest indoor climbing gym
January 29, 2005
Here are some great pics of an indoor and outdoor climbing gym in Dallas called Stoneworks. Built in and on a converted silo, Stoneworks bills itself as the world’s tallest indoor climbing gym with routes up to 121 feet.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Sign up to receive the latest breaking news and headlines!
Advertisement
