hello,
my name is simon and i contacted my local council about the possibility of building some outdoor bouldering walls at local parks. the local parks in my home town of portsmouth (hampshire) have things like lawn bowls, skateparks (drug hangouts), childrens parks, tennis courts (for boring people), outdoor table tennis tables and some have fitness/sport centres. i think it would be good to have some small bouldering walls put up. they would be kind of permanent, so no change to the layout of the holds. they would require soft ground below them, like the ground in the kids play park. the issue is safety so the height, type of holds and ground are important. maybe 8/10 feet in height, two posts with wooden boards across. this would allow for a wall either side. maybe three of these, providing six walls in total. difficulty levels, three for kids and three for adults. so three would have large easy to use holds and three with regular holds of differing size. the ground areas only have to be large enough to cover the fall area.
what do you think?
it is like the outdoor fitness equipment dotted around the city. admittedly no one uses them but this is an activity that could be seen as fun, mostly for kids. after a first climb up a wall in chichester i got out of breath and my whole body felt the effect. it is a complete body workout. requires coordination and all that great stuff.
i am waiting on the council for a response. i suggested that i try to raise the money some how. may be just one park for starters and a single wall (two sides, easy and slightly harder).
