Indoor Deep Water Soloing?
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I am doing an assignment for a class and I am trying to collect data to see if an indoor climbing facility that has a Deep Water Soloing area would be something people would be interested in. If you have a opinion or suggestions please post them, Thanks. |
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Sounds like something that would be ridiculously expensive to build and maintain. |
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I think it would be great! It wouldn't be much more expensive than just having a pool and there are certainly ways that you could make it safe or at least as safe as bouldering. I am imagining half the pool dedicated to lap swimming as I have always thought there should be more workout equipment at my climbing gyms and swimming is an awesome workout. It does kind of seem like something that casual climbers would be more interested as it would be kind of a pain to stop and dry off in the middle of a bouldering session just because you fell once but at the same time I think that could become a mental incentive for me to climb more confidently. |
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It would be cool to do a few times but would never be practical as a business. |
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I can just imagine it being overrun with kids for birthday parties... |
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Everyone wants to be chris sharma. |
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No, it is a spectator sport. Most climbers will fall, wet shoes/chalk must be dealt with as most climbers have only a couple of pairs of shoes. Can have only a limited number of people on the wall at a time for safety/liability reasons. Life guards will be required. Pools are expensive to maintain. |
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Like I said it's just for a class not something I am actually doing, but if it was something I did there would be chalk stations on the wall so you do not have to carry a chalk bag and get it wet and there would be rental shoes just for that area that could get wet. I wasn't thinking like a 10 foot wall I was thinking more like 50 foot at the highest part. I know there would be limitations but I thought it was a fun idea to play around with. |
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I oversee the climbing wall facilities at Colorado State University which includes a climbing wall in our pool. College and community recreation centers are probably the closest current thing you can find to what you are talking about. A few downsides for climbers include: not being able to wear shoes, no chalk, etc. The wall here sees some use, but not by our student climbers. The issues of pool operations have already been addressed by a few other people. |
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I may have gotten it wrong, but it sounded like Chris Sharma was exploring to bring psicobloc to the States beyond the comp/pro level. They could definitely charge consumers money after the comps to climb the wall (with added routes) the way the US Open lets snowboarders and skiers ride their half-pipes after the competitions. |
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I would pay to climb a Psicobloc wall!!! |
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Back home we have a permanent deep water soloing wall close to Innsbruck |
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trese wrote:Back home we have a permanent deep water soloing wall close to InnsbruckEven in the winter? ;^) |
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George Bell wrote: Even in the winter? ;^) Sure - the landing is a little harder of course ;) |
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trese wrote:Back home we have a permanent deep water soloing wall close to InnsbruckLooks like the crux is at the top. |
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Why not do a foam pit instead? Seems cheaper and you won't get all your shit wet every time you fall. |
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Joshua1979 wrote:Why not do a foam pit instead? Seems cheaper and you won't get all your shit wet every time you fall.Great idea Joshua. But... How would you clean all the climber sweat off the foam blocks? These could get rather soggy after several hours of use and be an incubator for bacteria. |
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that would be so epic if there was a water park in Moab that had a deep water solo area |
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At the hot springs public pool in Seamboat Springs, CO, there is a small naturalistic bouldering wall adjacent to a deep hot-ish pool. It's pretty fun. It's mostly kids, but the main problem is about V0(barefoot and wet has it's challenges) and maybe 12' high. The safety protocol is very simple. One person at a time, everyone else behind rope. According to a staff person I talked to, it's so popular that they are considering expanding it. It's not deep water soloing, but you could probably find out more about their experience by just calling them up. |
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Tom-osaurus Rex wrote: Great idea Joshua. But... How would you clean all the climber sweat off the foam blocks? These could get rather soggy after several hours of use and be an incubator for bacteria.Ozone machine at night maybe? Or you could treat the foam with some sort of anti-bacterial/anti-fungal treatment. Wonder what the gymnasiums that have them do. |
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Psicobloc wall at Parque Extremo Yunguilla, Ecuador
They have this setup at Yunguilla in southern Ecuador. The water is deeper than it looks. Still not very tall, but it does illustrate what seems like the kicker to me - the project would be way cheaper if you could just set it up outside over a natural pool. |