Proposal for a climbing wall at the Nairobi Sailing and Sub-Aquatic club
June 2008

Location: Nairobi sub aquatic and sailing club, North wall, attached to adjacent apartments
Dimensions: approximately 6 meters by 20 meter
Contact: Sean.kolk@gmail.com 0711537322

Vision
An active climbing community in the Nairobi area

The Mountain Club of Kenya creates an environment that is conducive to outings and trips over the weekends and sometimes longer.  It does not however, foster an environment that teaches the multitudes of potential climbers to learn the joys of about ground travel who come to the mountain club on an almost weekly basis. These “newbie’s” would benefit greatly from a more focused climbing group, which met on a more regular basis with the goal of climbing in mind. The benefits of a climbing wall are not only physical, but very much social. In understanding others abilities to climb, climbers then make plans to go out on the weekends with dedicated persons, fostering the climbing community and strengthening social relations between those who are learning and those who have the knowledge

Mission
To teach those who do not know how to climb the skills they need to know to safely scale vertical surfaces in a way that is not harmful to the environment, other persons, or themselves.

This mission can best be accomplished by creating a climbing wall within the boundary’s of the Nairobi area so that those who cannot travel to the local climbing locations (Hells Gate, Frog, Lukenya) on weekdays [or after work]. A climbing wall also introduces climbing to people who cannot afford the time it takes to travel to the local crags, as it is somewhat of a commitment if you do not know if you are interested in climbing. The current climbing Gyms (Brakenherst and the MCK club house) are not convenient enough due to time restrictions or location.

The Climbing Wall
Objective: In Building a climbing wall, the main objective is to imitate real rock, climbers would climb at Lukenya every day if it were in the middle of city center; but it’s not, so we make imitations. Having unreal situations on the climbing wall would not benefit those who are training or those are interested in climbing. To create the most realistic situation as possible, rock like surfaces will be used for the wall (not a ply wood finish) and as many realistic features will be included as possible, such as:


Features:
•    Flat vertical surfaces: the basic of all climbing, and a great way for beginning climbers to learn the art of moving vertically
•    Inclined surfaces- positive and negative: for more advanced climbers who wish to challenge themselves
•    Overhangs: to imitate the “more than vertical” aspect of some climbs
•    Arêtes: The corner like feature found in many locations around Kenya,
•    Cracks: To give an idea of what most of the climbing in Kenya is like- as apposed to the artificial holds that are great for training, but unrealistic in many locations
•    A table top: to teach rappelling, anchors, and ascending with prussic’s

Other Considerations:
•    Weather: the proposed wall will be outside, and constant rain will slowly erode the wall, soak any wood used, and make any holds generally nasty, a covering or roof will need to be implemented to protect the wall
•    Accessibility: The wall will again be outside, and there is a possibility that unsupervised climbing could occur if not managed properly, this is a safety issue for them, and a liability for those involved in it’s construction and maintenance, there is also the possibility that people could climb in and steal from the apartments…
•    Operations: There is a full time staff at the location, but who can use the climbing wall, and how it will be run is still in development

 Construction:
The options of construction are based on the availability of materials. The previous walls constructed in the Nairobi area have been designed with ply wood sheets assembled to create a climbable surface- supported with either steal or two-by-fours from behind to support the strain a person puts on the wall. There are alternatives to this method, but they are usually costly. There are pre-fabricated materials from company’s such as Enterprise climbing, which use molded PVC, compressed foam, and concrete for they’re climbing walls with such success that real climbing protection can be used on the artificial wall. These companies are for the most part based in Europe or America, and shipping would be costly, which leaves us with the plywood and concrete options-which can still be very effective.

Many plywood walls are coated with rock like surfaces (paint with sand is a cheep option, mixing concrete, sand, and paint is another) to allow climbers to “smear” their feet on the surfaces and use it as if it were actual rock – whole sections of many walls are constructed entirely of concrete, though we may not be looking at such an option for reasons explained later.

Due to the height of the wall, a steal support structure will be required from behind the wall. It has been proposed that the structure be hung off of the concrete wall where the site for the climbing wall has been proposed; the building architect has said it would be fine.

The primary weight comes from the steal support structure, and because the proposed wall has up to three meters clearance from the supporting wall, this structure could be much heavier than the architect imagined. Attached to the steal will be the plywood paneling, which must be of solid construction, which will then be coated with a rock-intimidating surface (concrete). In the plywood, will be holes drilled for climbing holds to be placed. These holds are enforced on both sides by steal threads designed for this specific purpose. (If the wall is constructed completely of concrete, this becomes problematic)

Funding and Expenses