OutdoorUAE share a coffee and some chat with Pete Aldwinckle of Global Climbing on Artificial Climbing Structures.
OUAE: So Pete, how long have you been involved with Artificial Climbing Structures?
Pete: My first real experience was at Leeds University in the early eighties. The gym had a number of modified bricks and real rock inserts that allowed climbers to train on. This was followed by many years hanging about on homemade structures in cellars. I do very clearly remember the first commercial walls being built in Sheffield and soon after, Bristol in the early nineties.
A group of us would make a round trip of some 250km three times a week to climb for the evening on a wall constructed out of cheap plywood hanging off reclaimed scaffolding in a packed but very cold, damp and disused church. Soon after that, I was involved in the building of a commercial wall as an investor and overseeing several artificial wall constructions. Etched on my mind and in my hands are the scars of many late nights over many months of slowly constructing the walls, with the completion date always appeared to be moving away from us. Fortunately, the industry has moved on significantly since then. And then, five years ago, Global Climbing became the regional representative for Walltopia climbing walls. During that time, we have completed ten wall projects and two high-rope courses in the region.
OUAE: What is the appeal of climbing on an artificial wall?
Pete: Numerous, but it all comes down to climbing being a fundamentally very social sport/activity that provides the participants an opportunity to continually challenge themselves with the support of others. It is gender neutral in that women can potentially perform at the same level as men. And, irrespective of the standard or age of the participant, regular climbing will improve the participant’s strength, endurance and flexibility whilst lowering their resting heart rate. It is mentally stimulating and fun plus if you climb regularly, you will shed the excess fat – you do not see many fat climbers.
OUAE: What are the major industry changes in recent years?
Pete: Major change has occurred in two areas. Firstly, climbing on artificial climbing walls has become a mainstream recreational sporting activity. In Europe, the Americas and Asia, there are large numbers
of people regularly climbing as an alternative to going to traditional gyms or fitness classes. The majority of these participants have little aspiration to climb outside and are happy to improve their fitness through participation in indoor climbing. Concurrent to increased participation, wall manufacturing has matured into a professional industry with international standards of every aspect of design, manufacture and installation of all the components of a wall, its support structure and accessories. Walltopia’s growth illustrates this; it was started in a garage in rural Bulgaria in 1996 by a couple of climbers. It now employs over 250 staff with professional architects, engineers, designers and an R&D department in its Sofia office. Designs are now driven by user needs and fully digitized with 3D modeling. It has over 10,000m2 of modern factory for production of walls in a range of materials using modern manufacturing techniques, including five-axis CNC. It is an ISO 2000/2008 certified company with a range of additional international engineering certifications.
Whilst there are still smaller boutique producers that still cut timber on site and mix surface coatings in a bucket, the majority of companies in the industry have moved forward from this.
OUAE: What developments do you see in the future?
Pete: Increased participation and continuing improvements across design through to installation of walls. Munich in Germany is an interesting case study. A city with approximately 1.2 million residents, it
has seven commercial walls with a reported 900,000 visits in 2010; that is over 350 visits per day, 365 days per year. I would anticipate that in the next ten years every town in a developed country will have its own commercial wall with the majority being owned by institutional investors and not the current rock climbers with an urge to own a wall as is the case now.
This means that wall design, production and installation techniques will have to improve and become truly industrialized without losing an element of uniqueness in the finished product; Walltopia is close to having a complete climbing centre ecosystem that will allow an investor to buy a complete climbing centre (walls, building, management, IT, etc.) with a specified user capacity and participants’ performance
profile straight off the shelf. Whilst these climbing walls will be unique in overall appearance, their components will be from a harmonized design family that will allow route setting information to be shared and individual training plans developed and delivered across multiple harmonized climbing centres in dispersed locations.
In short, more people enjoying and benefiting from artificial wall climbing but in off the shelf centres that will be built like Wallmarts or Ikeas according to a locations population and demographic.
OUAE: What do you anticipate with the artificial climbing wall scene here in the UAE?
Pete: It is difficult to be precise about the short term. In the next twelve months, there will be at least one major centre in the UAE, but this will be privately-owned and unlikely to be open to the public. Currently, there are no real commercial or public climbing gyms, let alone centres in the UAE. There are some small climbing walls catering for climbers and mall-based climbing walls attracting large numbers of youngsters and beginner climbers. A city like Dubai, if it was in Europe or North America would have at least two major centers with multiple walls catering for a range of abilities and be capable of holding international-level competitions.
I believe that the potential inclusion of lead climbing in the 2020 Olympics could be a catalyst for encouraging investors to develop the type of public facilities in the major urban areas of the UAE. This is particularly so when it is realized that climbing is a sport that Emiratis could excel in if the right facilities were available, as well as the inclusion of climbing in the strategy to address some of the significant
health problems facing the younger generation.
In anticipation of an increased interest in artificial climbing structures, we are investing in a sales showroom in order to showcase the wide range of innovative Walltopia product currently available and allow us to be a part of the development and testing of the new ecosystem of climbing walls. This is scheduled for opening in February 2013. We will have over 250m2 of climbing surface, including over 215m2 of international competition standard bouldering wall. Unfortunately, we will not be opening to the public, but we will allow out-of-hours use of the facility on a strict membership only basis.
OUAE: Many thanks for your insights and thoughts.
Pete: Many thanks for the coffee, cake and opportunity to share with you.
Published in November 2012
