UKC

A couple of questions for the regulars:

1. Does anyone know of any 'proper' indoor multi-pitch climbing walls? by proper i mean walls in the region of 40m high?

2. What do people think the uptake of a facility of this size would be?

i am not sure of any major constraints such as insurance etc... but this is just an in theory post... although i do have a building with this capability in mind and available!

In reply to RLimmer:

Personally I'd be much more interested in the idea of a 40m lead wall.

In reply to RLimmer:

I like the sound of a multi pitch wall in doors! Be amazing.

In reply to RLimmer:

Just go sideways, but only 1 bolt up to add a bit of commitment.

In reply to RLimmer:

It sounds like a bit of a novelty - I'd be interested to give it a try, but probably not interested enough to come back every week. I suspect that it'd be quite good for attracting one-off customers, which could be pretty lucrative if you're based somewhere with a big market of (say) visiting climbers who've been rained off the crags, but less useful if most of your trade is going to have to come from regulars. In the latter case you might be better off just sticking a mezzanine in and having bouldering underneath and (still very long) lead routes above it or something.

In reply to RLimmer:

One of my local walls has a section with a ledge at mid height for precisely that purpose, although the "pitches" are only abotu seven metres. I've never seen anybody using it.

Taking factor two falls with novice belayers, barely off the ground, having clipped an ankle on the ledge and inverted ... (etc) ... might be exciting

In reply to RLimmer:


I don't think there are any climbing walls which are 40m high, certainly not in the UK anyway. The climbing Wall at Kendal has a half way belay ledge for multi pitch climbing, main wall is about 23m high. However I don't think I've ever seen anyone bother to use it.


Low, people go indoors to get a lot of routes done in one session, not to faff for ages on a multi pitch set up. Would be better to have a wall no more than 28m which people can climb in a single pitch with a 60m rope, any more and hardly anyone has a long enough rope. Then maybe have a bouldering wall on a floor above.


If you genuinely are interested in the possibilities of the space, e-mail me as I design climbing walls for a living.

In reply to RLimmer:
A belay ledge would spoil a perfect long lead wall IMHO.

It's not worth the hassle. How do you ensure competency/safety when people are out of sight? How do you ensure people get down safely and don't drop ropes/gear on people below? How much extra do your routes cost to equip and maintain vs the extra (if any) you can charge for them. 40x 10m lines can occupy 80 paying customers, 10x 40m lines will be a much bigger headache to manage but can occupy only 20 people (if that).

A bouldering cave under a ~30m lead wall (safe on 60m) would be easy to manage, very appealing and occupy lots of paying customers.

Build what will earn for you, not the novelty you'd like to visit if it weren't for the price and the queues for routes.
jk

In reply to RLimmer:

1 - I don't know of any indoor multi-pitch climbing walls but EICA Ratho in Edinburgh has enough height and they also have double hanger/bolts half way up many routes. They have the physical facilities, but as far as I know they have never offered multi-pitch climbing. Must be an insurance think

2 - Regarding the uptake of a facility of this size - I think people would love it.

In reply to ogreville:


There's an old-looking sign beside the Tower about multi-pitch climbing and asking an instructor first. Not sure if the equipment is still there. With a stance on the top of the normal height wall, half way up the tower you would get two roughly 14m pitches.

In reply to Ramblin dave:


And there's the reason why.


There aren't many indoor walls with multi-pitch, because its a novelty.



Why do we love multi-pitches?
We love them for countless reasons, but the main one for me is problem solving in setting them up.

You go to a wall and the problems are mostly solved for you. You have a couple of bomber anchors within blinking distance. Job done.

And, that's all she wrote.

Who'd want to install something like that and who'd want to repeat it?

In reply to Lord_ash2000: Used to climb in the silos in Dallas Forth Worth Texas. The were 40 meters, but only top rope ( Static rope so no stretch!)! They looked at me strange when I wanted to do some of the routes as two pitch leads with hanging belays. In the land of Yosemite!!!!!!

In reply to RLimmer:

The only multi-pitch climbing wall I'm aware of isn't indoors, nor in the UK
Luzzone Dam

In reply to RLimmer:

Would be a great idea for some walls to do this, even if only as a teaching/training facility. However, assuming the wall is going to be quite a tall one, the problem might be getting down to the ground again? As a wall owner, you're potentially going to have to install a set of steps down from the top, or peel bodies off the floor when people forget their ropes aren't long enough to abseil back down again.

A pair of ropes would help with descending, but the risk is that people arriving at the wall with only a single give it a go and get it a bit wrong!

In reply to RLimmer:

Kendal is about 22m and it has a couple of mid height belay ledges but I've never seen them used. Why would you bother ?

In reply to RLimmer:

Have you considered the economics of this ?
You have to pay to build, set and buy holds for 40sq m of wall surface for each pair of customers.
By contrast a bouldering wall can handle roughly 20 customers per 40sq m of wall surface.

In reply to mav:

There is also this one in Groningen

http://www.bjoeks.nl/excalibur

In reply to RLimmer:

Some really useful comments thank you. The size of the building would allow for a mixture of stuff going on, a large bouldering area included etc... space is not an issue but finding a use for this iconic building is paramount.

It is interesting that the general feel is that people wouldnt come back and it would be more of a gimic, do people not return to indoor walls week in week out? The set up here would likely be a mixture of long lead routes and standard shorter stuff.

Thanks to all commenting, all useful stuff!!!

In reply to RLimmer:

People do return to walls week in week out if the routes are good and are well set and re-set regularly. Gimmicks like multipitch don't really attract repeat visits - once you've tied yourself to bolts halfway up a wall a couple of times the novelty would soon wear off.

In reply to RLimmer:

When I lived in Holland I used to climb here: http://www.montecervino.nl/
You needed a 70m rope for the longest routes, but you could do the routes on the outside of it as multipitch. It's been a while since I was there, but I think there were three sets of lower-offs on the tall bits, and on one aspect of it a decent ledge which made an obvious split. It was pretty cool.