UKC

I was watching this video earlier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPwmbEjV-LQ&feature=em-subs_digest

and it got me to wondering (not for the first time) about the height of the walls they use for these World Cup comps. They appear to be quite a bit taller than regular 'punter-style' indoor bouldering walls, which I understood could only be a max of 4.5m about the matting.

Anyone know if they are in fact higher than standard walls?

Edit: that link above didn't work, but it was this video:

http://udini.com/climboid/competition/top-female-climbers-compared

In reply to Fraser:

I'm pretty sure they are higher, as you're right most bouldering walls are capped at 4.5m above the mat line. The reason for this is the critical fall height rating for the matting, which is normally 300mm crash matting of one form or another.

They probably could go higher with better mats in commercial walls but you're going to get an ever increasing amount of injuries happening for every bit of extra fall height.

In reply to Fraser:

IFSC rules state:

7.3.1 Each boulder shall be designed:
a) In such a way that the lowest part of the body of the competitor shall never be higher than three (3) metres above the landing mat; and
b) So as to avoid the danger of a competitor's fall injuring the competitor, or injuring or obstructing any other competitor or third party; and
c) Without any downward jumps.

In reply to Fraser:

So the actual height would presumably be 3 metres plus the height of the shortest climber with their arm in the air?

In reply to Durbs:

Cheers for that, now I know. I suppose when they top out, the competitors will usually be hanging from a hold above their head, so even a climber who is 1.3/1.4m tall will be within the 3m above the mat. Having said that, some of the walls still do look a lot taller than 4.5m.

In reply to Fraser:

The actual height of the wall is irrelevant, it is where the finishing hold is placed that is important! i work for the IFSC as Technical delegate at Boulder World Cups and at some events I have asked the Chief Route Setter to measure the height of the finishing hold to ensure that the rules are adhered to.

This would normally only occur in North America as I would expect walls in Europe to conform to EN 12572:2 which says walls should be a max of 4.5m above the mats. When you think that Jain Kim is 152cm and the hold is always a little way from the top then it is easy to see that in Europe you are virtually guaranteed that the IFSC Rules are obeyed.

the old wall in Vail was 5m high and I definitely had to get the last holds moved on a couple of occasions.

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Good point, thanks for that. I know a lot of the current strong contingent of boulderers are quite short, but even so, some walls do appear very high, even to the uppermost holds rather than the tops of the walls. Maybe the camera angles / distortion or something?

In reply to Fraser:

The video you linked to is in America and is amongst the higher walls on the WC circuit

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Innsbruck, Toronto & Vail I think it said but I'm guessing you mean the tallest one of that bunch.