- 15-18m wide by 15-20m (49ft – 65ft) high, with a minimum 8m overhang, ideally extending to a 10-12m (32ft – 39ft) overhang in sections.
- Large flat panel construction to allow use of moveable volumes and features to give flexibility and creative options for routesetters.
- A standout design with spectacular competition features, but simple and easy to view at the same time (e.g.no hidden arêtes or edges).
- Not to include corners or grooves (which would give bridging rests).
- Separate isolation area with a warm-up wall.
- Competition wall capacity to hold at least 300 people (competitors, volunteers and spectators).
- Capable of having 10-12 competition style routes (i.e. wandering) set at any one time with at least 6 being able to run at once completely independently.
Britain Sets National Standard for Gyms
The British Mountaineering Council has initiated a bold new program that aims to create more climbing centers in the UK that are qualified to host large international and national competitions. The new program, called National Performance Center, will certify climbing facilities in the UK that meet strict standards for the design of the climbing wall and event space.
BMC is Britain’s representative body for climbers, hill walkers and mountaineers, and is the sanctioning body for competitive climbing in the UK (a role played by USA Climbing in America).
According to Rob Adie, the Climbing Walls & Competitions Officer for BMC, the impetus behind the new program was a lack of quality training and event venues in the UK. “Currently the only wall capable of hosting national/international lead events was up in Edinburgh, Scotland so the BMC wanted to encourage wall developers to build international quality competition walls in other areas of the country,” said Adie.
In addition to creating venues with the ability to host large, high-profile comps the new standards will create training grounds for the British National Climbing Team. A big advantage to NPC certified facilities will be the ability for the British Team “to train on international standard routes on a wall steep enough to compare with walls that host World Cups and Youth Cups across the rest of the world,” said Adie. “If you go to most large climbing centres in Europe there are lots of steep walls set with lots of high grade routes all being used by some of the best climbers in Europe. We aim to mimic that sort of training environment in NPC walls in the UK.”
The NPC standards for lead walls include:
ABS Routesetting Crew Wanted
USAC Routesetting has just announced that applications will be accepted for the upcoming ABS Championship season. This includes positions at ABS Divisionals, ABS Open Nationals and ABS Youth National Championships.
ABS Open National Championship
The ABS Open National Championship will be held February 21 – 22, 2014 in downtown Colorado Springs at the Colorado Springs Auditorium. National Chief Jeremy Hardin will again lead the event and has four Assistant positions available for a week of setting some of the most creative bouldering problems seen in the U.S. ABS Open Nationals is the country’s premier bouldering competition featuring pro’s like Daniel Woods and Alex Puccio. 2013 ABS 14 National Championships – Men’s Highlights from USA Climbing on Vimeo.ABS Youth National Championship
The week following Open Nationals the ABS Youth National Championship (February 28 – March 2) will take place in the same location. National Chief Ian McIntosh will lead his first National crew through an intensive week of routesetting ending in a mind-boggling three day competition. There are three Assistant, two Apprentice, and three Internship positions available. This large crew allows for a great combination of up-and-coming setters wishing to make their mark on the national setting scene, while working under seasoned Level 4 routesetters. The three day competition is one of the most complicated competitions to orchestrate. Due to the size of the climbing wall the setters must go through a dizzying array of mid-comp turnovers which involve changing individual boulder problems to fit upcoming categories without the comp ever stopping. 2013 ABS 14 National Championships – Youth Highlights from USA Climbing on Vimeo.ABS Divisional Championships
Also available are coveted routesetter internships at two of the five ABS Divisional Championships. These two positions will be available at the Divisionals hosted by the BLOC bouldering gym in Tucson, Arizona and Gravity Vault in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Both of these Divisionals will be lead by USAC Level 5 Chiefs, and according to USAC Routesetting rules, the Chiefs can have an intern that is a Level 2 setter. But as the official announcement states, “There is NO certification outcome from working as an Intern at a Divisionals competition, but you will gain valuable experience with a Level 5 Chief Routesetter at a Championship level event.” Like all Divisional Championships, these comps will take place January 11 – 12, 2013.Apply
The deadline for all applications is November 15, 2013. Go to usacsetting.net for more information and to download an application.Cleaning Chemicals a Danger to Equipment
Black Diamond’s QC Lab recently posted a fascinating CSI-like investigation of a mysterious harness failure that highlights the risk of chemical contamination to climbing materials. In the article Kolin Powick, Black Diamond’s Director of Quality, describes how a harness that appeared normal had become critically damaged by chemical exposure.
The owner of the climbing harness described the equipment’s failure this way:
Read full QC Lab article here: The Electric Harness Acid Test
Yesterday I went top-roping at my local gym and as I was being lowered, I heard a pop. I looked down to see that my harness has ripped off in the waist. I felt myself falling backwards so immediately grabbed the rope and was lowered safely to the ground. I have kept the harness in pristine condition in my gym bag and it has never been abused or used outdoors.QC Labs asked the customer to send in the harness for evaluation. They determined that the harness had been chemically contaminated, and that the chemical had completely dissolved the nylon threads attaching the waistbelt webbing to the harness. Most frighteningly, while the nylon threads used to sew the harness together had been destroyed, the polyester webbing showed no signs of damage; only a very careful inspection of the equipment would have revealed its danger. Although neither the QC Labs or the customer could determine exactly how or to what chemical the harness had been exposed, QC Labs was able to narrow it down to some type of acid. Using off-the-shelf cleaning chemicals they performed some controlled experiments to see if they could recreate the failure and measure the effect of each chemical on a climbing harness. In their testing they found a number of off-the-shelf chemicals that would destroy the harness’s nylon stitching. By exposing test harnesses to these chemicals for an extended period they were able to “recreate the level of degradation of the nylon threads and easily pull the tacks apart by hand, just as we saw with the customer’s harness.” After a 72-hour exposure these chemicals produced catastrophic failure to the nylon threads:
- muriatic acid: 97% reduction in strength
- sulphuric acid (aquarium cleaner): 92% reduction
- clorox bleach: 73% reduction
Several years ago there was a rope incident and after analysis it ended up looking like the rope was somehow contaminated with acid. How the rope actually came in contact was never determined. So this is the second incident I’ve personally looked into regarding chemical contamination of climbing gear – and luckily in both cases no one was hurt. Also in both cases, the end result was that the customer doesn’t really know how this chemical contamination occurred. Scary.Black Diamond, in the product manual for their harness, advises that “Climbing gear must not come into contact with corrosive materials such as battery acid, battery fumes, solvents, chlorine bleach, antifreeze, isopropyl alcohol or gasoline.” While not common these days, muriatic acid is sometimes used to clean climbing holds. And certainly bleach and bleach-containing chemicals are used in many gyms for cleaning. It’s easy to imagine how the climbing equipment in a gym could be exposed to bleach that is used to clean floors or countertops, or to strong solvents used to clean climbing holds. This incident highlights the importance of properly storing these chemicals away from all climbing equipment, particularly all nylon product such as ropes, draws and harnesses, and to be cautious when using cleaning chemicals in areas where climbing equipment could come into contact with them. By exposing climbing equipment to these chemicals, either through a large spill or by repeated contact with small amounts, the equipment’s safety could become critically compromised without a visual warning that it has been damaged.
Read full QC Lab article here: The Electric Harness Acid Test
The Cliffs Must Shut Doors
Three weeks after the controversial climbing gym The Cliffs at LIC opened to the public, they have been forced to close their doors.
According to a post on The Cliffs Facebook page:
Because of a clerical error and a missing TR-8 Form that requires an engineer’s approval of our climbing structure, we have been forced to vacate The Cliffs LIC building. Our walls have already been approved by the engineer and the form proving this will be faxed Monday morning.A TR-8 form is a technical report that needs to be filed to demonstrate compliance with all progress concerning inspections and tests required for the related job, in accordance with the New York City Energy Conservation Code. Cliffs owner, Mike Wolfert ran into trouble with inspectors early on in the building process, allegedly bribing inspectors and council members to expedite a stop work order. Charges have been filed and a court date is scheduled for Nov. 22 2013. This most recent of glitches will hurt The Cliff’s finances and reputation, and may cause more problems for Wolfert down the line.