About Rock Climbing Walls

Rock climbing walls, initially a practice place for rock climbing enthusiasts, now have a following all their own of people perfectly happy to climb their faux peaks.

Identification

Rock Climbing Walls (also known as indoor climbing walls or just plain climbing walls) are an indoor, manmade construct that simulates hand and foot holds that would naturally occur on a mountainside. These structures are used for recreation, practice and competitive play.

Types

Climbing walls can vary in their grading, or difficulty, and often times can actually have several different grades within a single wall via different climbing routes up the wall. Climbing walls are generally made from concrete, but can also be made of sprayed concrete and wire mesh, fiberglass, steel and pre-textured fiberglass.

Features

Often times walls have color-coded routes, so that the hand and foot holds are painted or marked with different colors to show a particular route with a coordinating difficulty. They also have extensive safety measures in place, like a belay rope and dense matting at the base in case of falling.

Benefits

The benefit of climbing walls is that they can provide the same physical challenge as real rock climbing, while in a safe and climate controlled environment. Aside from the lack of physical risk, mountain climbers often disrupt the natural habitats of local flora and fauna; it is not unusual for climbers to stumble upon and taint the nests of falcons and ospreys.

Potential

While this does not produce the same physical risk and corresponding thrill that attracts climbers to rock climbing in the first place, it does have a wide range of physical fitness requirements. Because of the growing popularity of the sport, it is very likely that it will soon expand and builders will create increasingly more intricate and involving manmade walls to rival the splendor and variety found in nature.