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Thursday, January 18, 2007

Shallow Water Soloing

Inspired by deep-water soloing in Mallorca or just an entrepreneurial brainstorm? Either way, it's a brilliant idea. Aquaclimb has teamed with wall builder Pyramide USA since about 2005 to install these modular poolside climbing walls. The fiberglass panels and plastic holds extend up to about 10 feet above the water surface, and the panels can be rotated and holds moved to change the pattern. I'm not big on hanging out at swimming pools, but this would make the cruise-ship or hotel-lounging experience a bit more interesting. Although the basic routes don't look challenging to a "real" climber, the beauty of bouldering is that problems are limited only by the imagination.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Dougald! The AquaClimb was mostly inspired by Pyramide USA's drive to introduce climbing into new mediums to get more people into the sport of climbing! If you or anyone has any questions feel free to give us a call or email us!

Anonymous said...

I got to climb on one of these in Jackson last weekend, and it definitely wasn't a cruise. The holds were wet and slick and not all that big for your feet. Definitely made the trip to the rec center that much more fun! And dropping a cannonball off the top is great for the others waiting to climb!