Types Of Climbing Walls
Written on August 5, 2009 – 12:26 pm | by admin
Climbing is perhaps one of the best recreational activities that you can do for leisure and at the same time have the thrill that you always longed for. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise, when someone says that wall climbing has been recognized as an international and extreme sport. Climbing is an activity in which the climber makes use of his hands and feet, in order to climb a man-made or a natural formation. In case of climbing, it is not always possible to climb the natural rocky structures. Hence, to solve this problem, experts have come up with the concept of climbing walls.
A climbing wall is nothing but a man-made simulated wall along with clenches or grips that help the climber to scale the structure. These grips can make the climb either difficult or relatively simple according to the climber’s choice. These walls can either be made of solid blocks or it just may be a wooden creation. However, most of the structures today are solid, thick layers of board with either grips or holes drilled in it for support. Climbing walls are gaining so much popularity that many of those walls are constructed using metals such as aluminum, steel, etc.
Types of climbing walls: The most common climbing wall that you are bound to come across will be the one that is made of plywood. Given below are some of the climbing wall systems that you might come across:
Stone coated panels: Climbing walls are usually referred to as wall surfaces. In case of the stone coated ones, it would be the perfect choice for the budget conscious. That’s simply because, this wall surface probably is least expensive one out there. This wall is a mixture of slight resin and sand, which comes a long way to give some friction during climbing. This wall is perfect for the climber, if he wants to cover a large area, especially in case of preparing for a competition.
Stone coated Freeform: This wall type is slightly expensive than the stone coated panels. This wall surface has comparatively more friction than the stone coated one. This wall surface too, though a bit costlier than the earlier one is affordable considering the aspect that it is very similar to the Digital Freeform wall surface, which is considered to be the best wall surfaces out there.
Featured panels: This type of wall climbing surface is no different from the natural rock formation. They have been accurately designed with cracks, pockets for acting as supports, etc. This wall has been made keeping the space constraint in mind. Therefore, these wall-climbing surfaces are perfect for gyms and other indoor sports centers. One of the best things about this wall type is that it gives the climber different routes from which to choose and can make his climbing experience seem a lot of fun.
Digital Freeform Climbing walls: This wall type is perhaps the state of the art, since they have been hand crafted to give the climber the real feel of scaling a natural rock formation. This wall type, unlike the featured panels, that offers a two dimensional curve, offers a three-dimensional curve system. One of the best things about this wall type is that it is up to the climber, what shape he wants. All he has to do is use his imagination. Natural rock formation traits like crack lines, bulging laps, etc. can be created without any hassles.
There is a wide variety of wall systems that you can choose from, depending upon your need and of course your budget. However, wall climbing is not just something that only adults can indulge in, because there are many climbing walls available for children too. They can indulge themselves in the traversing walls, under some adult supervision of course. Therefore, wall climbing can be fun, but at the same time proper precautions should be taken, such as safety harnesses and other equipments.






18 Responses to “Types Of Climbing Walls”
By Whatever on Oct 25, 2009 | Reply
A Dynamic Rope, it stretches to act as a shock absorber.
By Thomas on Oct 25, 2009 | Reply
MANY MANY, gecko climb on walls. Like Leaf tailed, Tokay, House, and many other geckos. Here are some examples
Leaf tailed: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.biodiversityscience.org/publications/hotspots/images/140.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.biodiversityscience.org/publications/hotspots/MadagascarRAMEDITAPRILf3.html&h=1153&w=751&sz=100&hl=en&start=9&um=1&tbnid=ypspNsgFRvdsXM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=98&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dleaf%2Btailed%2Bgecko%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us%26sa%3DN
House gecko :http://www.reptilesofaz.com/Graphics/Lizards/HEMTUR-05.jpg
Skunk gecko: http://www.flockreptiles.com/Pictures/G.vitattus.jpg
Tokay gecko: http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x9/trpatrick_bucket/434px-Tokay_Gecko.jpg
Crested gecko: http://dirtystinkystuff.com/pictures/ciliatus/061507/cg_b_m_1_1.jpg
And my personal favorite the Gargoyle gecko: http://www.jmgreptile.com/cimages/gargoyle006.jpg
By flying_toadbutt on Oct 25, 2009 | Reply
I like the second one
You can have races and theyre funnnner. They dont get boring.
By hedonistic2008 on Oct 25, 2009 | Reply
what a great idea!!
By SmokeyClaws on Oct 25, 2009 | Reply
That is pretty cool!
By NataliaDelano on Oct 25, 2009 | Reply
That is nice, but my cat doesn’t climb very far. Short legs I guess, hehe!
By yuck on Oct 25, 2009 | Reply
By tricky ricky on Oct 26, 2009 | Reply
My favorite Clematis is 'Henryii'. It gets large white flowers, and will bloom in the spring and in the fall.
Here are a few additional cultivars that I have found to be reliable:
'Dawn' is light pink and white
'Niobe' is a reddish/burgundy color
'The President' is dark purple
I'd be happy to e-mail you a few pictures of my plants if you want to see what these cultivars look like.
By Bonz on Oct 26, 2009 | Reply
These are the basics to save your arms:
1. Use your legs to support your weight as much as possible
2. Keep your weight directly over your feet
3. Use your hands mostly for balance, they are not as strong as your legs
4. When moving up, take small steps (large ones require more arm strength)
5. Keep your body close to the wall (on vertical walls), leaning back works your arms a lot more
Good Luck
By badbearwatch on Oct 26, 2009 | Reply
It’s fun to watch this, but when I climb the walls ( from work stress) its the only place left my cat Harley doesn’t go yet.. he he he I might need open walls yet…
By BonBonBatman on Oct 26, 2009 | Reply
Awesome idea! Thanks for sharing, sweetkitty!
By ananya7ananya on Oct 26, 2009 | Reply
a great idea!
By friskieluvsme on Oct 27, 2009 | Reply
robo cuz there so much cooler. but they are kinda the same.
By FREEDOME777 on Oct 27, 2009 | Reply
It is a wonderful play place.
The cat is happy at a wonderful play place.
By tizlovecats on Oct 27, 2009 | Reply
Great idea! It looks like fun!!!
By Face on Fire on Oct 27, 2009 | Reply
Is it Chuck E. Cheese? Or The Jungle? Well i think your talking bout the jungle. Cus in san francisco, they used to have it but they moved it to concord.
By sandrateager on Oct 28, 2009 | Reply
WOW!! My puss Selena would love this!!! What a brilliant idea!!!! Thanks for the share sweetkitty!!! 5*****
By dakirch on Oct 28, 2009 | Reply
I will have to steer you away from the ivy idea. A shed and an ivy = no more shed!
Any climber that suckers as it climbs will be in your shed and will then start pulling it to pieces. Boston ivy is incredibly vigorous and you would not be able to control it. Two weeks on holiday and it will have taken over.
http://www.buttervilla.com/slide_gallery/june/ivy_shed.jpg
Far better to choose a climber that needs support. This means fitting a trellis or wires to the outside of the shed but that is easily done.
As I don't know where in the world you are it is hard to make a good choice for you but my favorite climber is Akebia quinata.
http://images.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&lr=&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENXX255&q=akebia+quinata&btnG=Search+Images
EDIT…From what I can gather that means your min temps in winter are about -10C? If that is so then you have similar climate to me and Akebia will survive for you.
You could also grow one of the more vigorous clematis but they are deciduous in most cases.
My favourites are…
http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=87
http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=30
http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=540