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General Climbing Discussion

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Melbourne CBD Gym 2007

brodie

27-Nov-2006
8:12:42 PM

Yes, it feels like two years ago we advised you that there was a gym opening in CBD. There have been many hurdles to over come in the past few years, but I can tell you that if you stand on the corner of Swanston and Franklin street-East side( city baths) you can see the crew working away putting up the structures.

We estimate, yes estimate that February / March - definately no later than March-you will be climbing at the new location- lots to do and then there are the hoildays that MUST be taken when workng on a site that is in the middle of the city.Dont forget that there are Xmas hoildays when no one can work on sites.

Again Radwall is doing the construction and the walls will be textured like at Nunawading. Lead only pinicale around 20 plus mtrs and lots more. Showers for those early morning people, lots of cafes on the ground floor for those that need food and coffee.
Parking is not a problem, no differnt than walking down the court to Hardrock @nunawading. 2 and 4 hour parking untill 6pm across the road and then unlimited. Lots of bike stands for those that live close to the CBD. Tram stop out the front, Longer opening hours- looks like 8am- 11pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 8pm Sat and Sunday.

Will keep you updated- might even have some pix of the progress.

Sue

martyn

27-Nov-2006
9:55:50 PM

this is great. Now all we need is an icewall!


nmonteith

27-Nov-2006
11:55:46 PM

Sounds awesome for us inner city dwellers.

Dave C

28-Nov-2006
10:16:22 AM

Bloody marvellous, I can start looking for my next job in the city!

gfdonc

28-Nov-2006
10:41:12 AM

Thanks Sue for the update. I work in the city so have been following progress.

Sorry to sound like a broken record (if you've read my past postings) but one of the main reasons I don't like climbing at Nuna is the policy of not reclipping topropes on the steeper walls. Falls result in big swings & inability to get back on.

This is despite the fact that I mostly lead-climb at gyms (& so you might think I would be in favour of leaving topropes unclipped).

What will be the policy at Verve?

brodie

28-Nov-2006
2:32:37 PM

Yes,
we do have a swing thing that happens, this is caused by the profile of the pop up. Remember Hardrock was just a 5.5 mtr high standard factory, so when we lifted the roof to 15 mtrs we had to put a mansard roof structure in- that resulted in a tilt on the walls which then has a swing on the rope.

We wont have people clip on the way down, we did do this for some time and the results were dreadfull. Wont go into this.

We have our artic wall lead only and we keep kids off the south wall at night. So I think we are looking after most people.

The city location is purpose built so there will not be the swings happening, not mansard roof. The lead pinicle is just that, kids not allowed. The wall profiles are different in the CBD to Nunawading.

Sue

gfdonc

28-Nov-2006
3:14:37 PM

Hmm.
Appreciate your response but wanted to add a few words.

Any wall that overhangs needs topropes clipped to avoid swings. Short roofs are manageable though, so it depends on the design of Verve. Come climb on the AME wall at Altona - I dare you to try anything without the rope clipped. Just let me check no-one is standing in the middle of the floor behind you before you come off.

I think what you are trying to say is that Hardrock has more overhung routes than you'd prefer, due to limitations of the building design, making the problem worse. Fair comment. I saw the design of Verve (model) some time ago, looks great, and the extent of your issue depends on which areas of the walls are lead-only. If all the walls that are significantly overhung are lead-only then I don't have an issue, but that might not suit a large percentage of the gym-climbing community.

My secondary bugbear is that we have two main gyms in Melbourne (sorry Seaford) - one won't let people climb unless the topropes are reclipped (they close the route), the other doesn't let people reclip the ropes. Surely one is right, and the other is wrong?

Regarding 'kids' though - I've seen 13 year olds lead 23's in better style than I can, are you referring to groups/parties or blocking access based only on age?

regards


Paulie

28-Nov-2006
5:00:14 PM

To not re-clip a toprope on a steep wall would be a bit silly really, especially on hard routes that require working.

Perhaps in gyms that don't permit this, the owners are old school and believe that when you fall off you must start from the ground again :D


Sabu

28-Nov-2006
6:16:43 PM

One question.

Cracks? If so, how many?
just for some of us aspiring beard tuggers.... !


garbie

28-Nov-2006
7:33:03 PM

Yeh the policy of not reclipping top ropes is a strange one, don't understand the reason. Top-ropers need some steepish climbing too, or a rooflet or two, and the swings are dangerous. If you design the gym to avoid swings, it's not going to be steep enough.

Also can't understand the reason for staying with the concrete walls. I'll risk getting a serve from Sue, but I can't see why you would build a wall that you can't screw things onto - jibs, blisters, volumes, modular cracks etc etc. (Not to mention it costing double or more). Sure it looks impressive to the general public, & I suppose this venue is going after that sort of market.

dave

28-Nov-2006
10:46:46 PM

First time climbers (who make up a very large portion of the gyms customers) have to absorb a lot of information, adding the process of unclipping and reclipping draws just makes this even harder. On most of the walls that beginners are trying the swing factor is not very big, the steeper walls get mainly climbed by more experienced climbers who are less likely to come off on the first few moves. All the steepest walls are lead only. So whats the problem? if you're an experienced climber you get heaps of lead only terrain free from other climbers and if you're a first time climber you arn't troubled by unclipping/reclipping.

Fish Boy

29-Nov-2006
9:28:29 AM

Dave, first time climbers dont do steep top rope routes.


mousey

29-Nov-2006
9:52:03 AM

bollocks! I'd been climbing for a year&a half before I got on anything less than 45 degrees overhung...and I still detest slabs*, i wouldnt recommend ANYBODY do them

(*well im secretly fond of em but just cant do them for the lifeo me, thought castle hill would sort me out but its a bit different being on a rope)
anyway thats enough of my irrelevant rants, im going climbing

hanh

29-Nov-2006
1:18:44 PM

having worked in a now deceased climbing gym (yes i'm still mourning the loss of vic ranges), I can tell you that new climbers and random people off the street DO like to try the overhung stuff. First timers usually consider it a novelty and jump onto routes and walls without thinking of the clip OR the swing factor.

I've watched many first timers come swinging off walls and thanks to the clip in policy we (tried to) enforce, the swing wasn't so bad. That being said, when a first timer actually made it up to the first clip, the clipping process did confuse them a bit.

catch 22.

but imo, re-clipping the steeper stuff is a lot safer for everyone.

Hanh.


Eduardo Slabofvic

29-Nov-2006
1:25:13 PM

waddabout using those pig tail thingies, then you could poke the rope back in with a big stick

dalai

29-Nov-2006
1:42:53 PM

Need a pretty long stick for 20 metre high walls!

My stick clip post I made up years ago with an extendable painters pole was long enough to pre clip most draws at South Central, but that's well short of 20 metres ;-)


Eduardo Slabofvic

29-Nov-2006
2:16:13 PM

It might at least stop you spudding in, or taking the tops off a few paying customers

dalai

29-Nov-2006
2:20:20 PM

That's true! As long as it limits the big swing to above head height.


tmarsh

29-Nov-2006
2:29:58 PM

On 29/11/2006 Fish Boy wrote:
>Dave, first time climbers dont do steep top rope routes.

Perhaps not, but they do do things like tie into the rope that services the 'steep top rope route' and then wander 5 meters to the left and start up the not so steep route and then fall off, penduluming the width of the gym at head height. I've seen this happpen literally *every* time I've been out at Nunawading. Reclipping makes sense.


Eduardo Slabofvic

29-Nov-2006
2:56:31 PM

I recall a similar incident, when a rather large fellow I know fell off down low and pendulumed into a group
of nearby people, taking them all out. What made this incident all the more hilarious is that he went into
them leading with his bottom, which was augmented at that time by a suspicious looking wet patch.

I can’t comment on the origin of the wet patch, but I can confirm that the incident did cause much
chuckling.

There are 67 messages in this topic.