A 50 foot high and 12 feet wide wall, on the outer wall of the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium, with what looks like cheerful blue, yellow, orange, red, green and purple spots is turning a few curious heads. Some venture in to ask Daniel, the man responsible for it, about it. It is possibly the only one of its kind in the State, he believes.
This ‘wall’ is a rock climbing wall and Daniel wants to introduce extreme sport enthusiasts in the city to this brand of thrill. A chance encounter with the sport hooked him enough to build a wall and encourage people to climb. He learnt rock climbing in Bangalore and he regularly climbs in Hampi and Badami (both in Karnataka). With his company, The Rock, he hopes to provide enthusiasts a place to train and climb in the city. Eventually, he looks forward to building the sport in Kerala and a rock climbing team to compete at the zonal and national levels and also host competitions.
The 23-year-old was selected for the Indian Air Force but was declared unfit after he broke his finger while he was undergoing training. And rock climbing was the fallout, one that he is passionate about. He also doubles as a fitness trainer.
The size of the wall meets the minimum requirement as per international standards, “I put up the wall of these dimensions so that I can conduct competitions in the future,” Daniel says. Climbing, according to him, is more about the legs and not so much the hands. The legs propel the body as a person climbs. He recommends a basic level of fitness which is “be able to climb a ladder.” Age is not a criterion, he says, “Anybody with a will to climb is welcome.” Before climbing there will be the warm up stretches to ready the body.
For people with acrophobia, the wall might seem intimidating but Daniel assures that there is no reason for fear, especially for those who want to sample the sport. “The climber will be harnessed to a rope and there will be a person on ground, a belayer, who releases the rope. At no point is anyone going to fall, if someone does trip then the harness automatically locks stopping a climber immediately. It has to be then manually unlocked.”
Three ‘crash pads’ (which resemble mattresses) placed on the ground below the wall is ‘psychological comfort’.
This wall is not a simple, flat affair that we would expect a wall to be. It has its inclines, “to add to the challenge of climbing.” The multicoloured ‘dots’ are holds, where climbers hold and plant their feet as they climb. The sizes of these vary, again to add to the challenge. Imported from Czechoslovakia, each is shaped differently. The wall is fibre-reinforced plastic mounted on an iron frame. Climbing the first 12 feet comprises bouldering, which is climbing sans harness.
“People here are interested in sport and are doing a lot of interesting stuff and this is one option,” Daniel says. He says people have been asking about it, and while he was readying the wall people were enquiring about it and some even gave climbing a shot. He will also train rock climbers and take them to climb ‘real rocks’. Apart from annual and monthly memberships priced at Rs. 8,900 and Rs.1,600 respectively there are daily passes at Rs.160.
More information can be found at >www.facebook.com/Therockcochin
