Guinness World Records has certified that the 163-foot 6.5-inch climbing wall that looms over downtown Reno, Nevada is officially the tallest artificial climbing wall in the world. The climbing wall was built in 2011 by Entre-Prises for Basecamp Climbing which operates out of the Whitney Peak Hotel.
Basecamp received the sealed certificate on Oct. 26, 2016, after years of submissions. It has taken so long for the recognition because Guinness had maintained that the record should be for a free-standing wall. The Basecamp wall is anchored to the outside of the hotel and is not free-standing.
Brian Sweeney, manager of Basecamp, told a local news station that since opening in 2011, they had submitted a request that included a structural drawing and a third-party surveyor’s verification of the height.
The wall is open to the public and can be top roped with an employee belay or climbers can get certified to lead the wall.
The tallest free-standing climbing wall is unofficially, Excaliber which stands at 121 feet tall and operated by Bjoeks in Groningen, Netherlands.
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