An Introduction To Climbing wall
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Have you ever dreamed of conquering a mountain, then standing on the foothills looking up at the blue sky and white clouds, overlooking the forest land, breathing the fresh air of the grassy aroma on the top of the mountain, and feeling the quiet atmosphere. But if you are worried about safety, then you may wish to train your rock climbing ability on the climbing wall and learn rock climbing skills. The specific introduction of the climbing wall will be explained in detail in this article.

This article contains the following:

  • 1 Introduction

  • 2. Historical origin

  • 3. Sports development

  • 4. The future

  • 5. Sum up

1、Introduction

The artificial climbing wall is assembled from hundreds of rock plates of less than 1 square meter. The rock plates can be assembled into different inclinations for climbing difficulty, such as the various rock states seen in nature such as the bent wall, the eaves, and the straight wall, which are fixed on the bracket to create various spatial shapes.

2、Historical origin

The first indoor climbing wall was created in 1960 at the Earlswater School in Penrith, England. Their climbing wall was built in the school's new gym and used bricks and stones for stranded hands and feet. This structure even has a top rope rod.

In 1961, Colin Murtlock created an indoor climbing wall at the stadium of the Royal Wolverhampton School in West Midlands. He glued the boards to the wall and used them to train finger strength and endurance during the off-season.

In 1962, The Meadow Boys Club built a climbing wall in Nottingham, England, to develop individual skill levels, not just the basic principles and safety rules of the climb. It is similar to the wall created at the Ullswater School, but the new wall also introduces a roof that helps climb the steel frame. They use architect walls and add bricks to various caves to increase the difficulty of training.

Don Robinson founded his iconic wall at the University of Leeds in 1964. He witnessed the experienced climber being injured because of lack of training during the offseason and decided to try to make a training tool to prevent this from happening. He used glued rocks and stones on existing brick walls to simulate what the climber is doing outside. Climbers expand on the original wires to create their own routes and games for training. Inspired by the success of the wall, he founded DR Climbing Wall in the mid-1970s.

3、Sports development

In 1947, the former Soviet Union first established the Rock Climbing Committee.

In 1948, the Soviet Union held the first rock climbing championship in China, which was the first rock climbing competition in the world. Since then rock climbing has been popular in Europe. In the 1960s and 1970s, many folk competitions were held in Europe.

In 1976, the Soviet Union held the first international rock climbing competition.

In 1980, France began to hold various forms of rock climbing competitions.

The international competitions held in Italy in 1985 and 1986 were a great success because of the participation of rock climbers from many countries.

In 1989, the first World Cup climbing competition was held in France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria and the former Soviet Union. Athletes participated in competitions held in various places, and then based on the scores of each competition (see the table below) The best overall score is the winner of the World Cup. Since then, the World Cup has been held every year.

The first World Climbing Championships were held in 1991.

The first World Youth Rock Climbing Championships were held in 1992.

In 1992, the International Board of Trustees submitted a request to the International Olympic Committee to include rock climbing in the official Olympic Games.

In 1993, the International Olympic Committee officially recognized rock climbing as an Olympic event. International Denglian is striving to include rock climbing in the official event of the 2006 Winter Olympics. In Asia, the “Asian Climbing Competition Committee” was officially announced in Hong Kong in January 1991, marking the beginning of a new phase of rock climbing in Asia.

In September 1992, the first Asian Rock Climbing Championship was held in Seoul, South Korea. In China, in 1987, the Chinese Mountaineering Association sent 8 coaches and team members to the Nagano system in Japan to study rock climbing. After returning to China, the first national rock climbing competition was held in October of the natural rock wall of the Dashuiyu Reservoir in Huairou, Beijing.

In 1990, the rock climbing competition was held for the first time on the artificial field of the Huairou National Mountaineering Training Base. In 1993, the rock climbing competition was included in the official competition by the State Sports Commission, and a national championship was held every year thereafter. In September of the same year, the first national climbing championship was held in Changchun; in October, the first international invitational tournament was held in Wuhan; in December, the second Asian Championship was successfully held in Changchun.

By 2020, climbing on a climbing wall will become an official sport for the Olympic Games.

4、The future development

In the past 20 years, climbing on the climbing wall has achieved very good explosions and exposure, and more and more gyms regularly open the climbing wall. Nowadays, children’s traditional group sports are being replaced by young competitive rock climbing teams.

By 2020, climbing on a climbing wall will become an official sport for the Olympic Games. Although the sport was originally a way for professional climbers to stay healthy during the offseason, it has successfully evolved into many things.

In the United States alone, there are hundreds of climbing wall gyms, with more than 4.5 million climbers spread across the length and width of the United States. About 1,000 visitors visit the indoor climbing wall gym every month.

5、Sum up

The climbing wall has long been used in many places, and there are countless people fascinated by it. Although indoor rock climbing is an emerging sporting field, more and more people are unable to refuse the rock climbing on the climbing wall. I might not be surprised to wake up one morning and suddenly discover that the climbing wall has spread all over the world.


Title:An Introduction To Climbing wall
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