STRESS GOT you climbing
the walis?

By John Moore
Contributing Writer

Soon you'll be able to work it
off by doing exactly that at The
Edge Climbing Centre at 2-1485
Welch St. in North Vancouyer.

Indoor climbing gyms are a rel-
atively recent phenomenon in
North America.

Basically, most consist of a
**wall’’ constructed of panels
treated with a sand and resin
compound that closely approx-
imates the abrasive texture of real
rock.

The panels feature an assort-
ment of hand- and_ foot-holds
cast in resin and sand that are in-
terchangeable and can be rear-
ranged to create a variety of climb-
ing routes.

Body-harnessed climbers are
‘“‘top-roped’’ from bombproof
belay anchors at the top of the
wall, and tension on the rope is
maintained by a spotter below, so
indoor climbing is safer than most
real rock-climbing, where the lead
climber can fall twice the length
of the rope between him or her
and the last secure belay or point
of protection.

Rock climbing is a_ vertical
ballet that requires the rhythm
and balance of a gymnast com-
bined with. the patience and
foresight of a military tactician.

Gyms like The Edge provide a
safe environment in which to hone
these physical and mental skills
while benefiting from the experi-
ence and advice of other climbers.

In addition to specific, situa-
tion-oriented conditioning, indoor
gyms eliminate the fly in the soup
of what would otherwise be the
climbers’ paradise all around us.

Lighthouse Park has great
bouldering and the Stawamus
Chief is a mecca for Pacific
Northwest climbers, but as often
as not the first sunny day after
two days of rain in these parts is a
Monday.

Scottish climbers pride
themselves on ascents made in
what they succinctly call ‘‘full
conditions’? (a howling gale,
preferably with blizzard), but
those are less than ideal cir-
cumstances in which to work on
new moves or test one’s limita-
tions.

The Edge, brainchild of
brothers and climbing partners Ed
and Allen Fischer, intends to pro-

“GUARANTEED SERVICE”

LYNN VALLEY CENTRE
1199 LYNN VALLEY RD.

980-9211

Wednesday, July 1, 1992 - North Shore News - 18

by

the edg

=

NEWS photo Paul McGrath

INDOOR CLIMBING gyms are a relatively recent phenomenon in North America. The Edge Climbing
Centre in North Vancouver allows climbers to scale indoor heights in the North Shore’s first simu-

lated rock face climbing gym.

ALL BASEBALL
EQUIPMENT

Rawlking,

Wien.

5 REE EE Cf eI EP

vide an environment that’s posi-
lively sybaritic, compared with
what climbers customarily endure.

Austrian-born Ed Fischer has
climbed in the Atps, the
Dolomites, the Himalayas, the
Rockies and the Coast Mountains.

He was initially enthused by the
concept of indoor climbing gyms,
then disappointed by the lack of
imagination and basic industrial
ambience of the ones he visited.

“| figured it could be done a
little better,’* he says, with typical
understatement, of what will be,
when it opens later this month,
the state-of-the-art indoor climb-
ing facility in North America.

At The Edge, you’ eventually
be able to sip cappuccino on an
elevated mezzanine, peruse climb-
ing magazines and swap lies while
watching your mates understudy
for Jeff Goldblum’s role in The
Fly on more than 6,000 square
feet of 32-foot high iutercon-
nected wall-system that offers
everything from beginner's climbs
and bouldering caverns to radical
overhangs supported by two
awesome buttresses.

Designed by Jeff Ellington, who
has created artificial climbing en-
vironments in the U.S. and all

.over North America in conjunc-

tion with Enterprises U.S.A., The
Edge will ultimately expand to
10,000 square feet next year and
offer more than 40 routes devised
in consultation with some of the
finest climbers in the Pacific
Northwest.

But the Fischers are committed
to making The Edge more than
just a rumpus-room for the local
climbing elite.

In recent years, rock-climbing
has become a family sport, and
The Edge even has holds cast in
the shapes of monkeys, lizards,
dragons and whatnot specifically
for setting up climbs for kids.

“We've had a lot of young
people come in and check it out,
and we’re hoping to attract a lot
more,”’ Fischer says, observing
that Aldous Huxley, in his uto-
pian novel Island, recommended
rock-climbing as a physical and
mental chalienge uniquely
beneficial in adolescence.

Not only does it burn off excess
exuberance, it offers opportunities
for pure, focused self-expression
untainted by the . competitive
pressures of school or a job.

“You're usually in your teens
when you really get the climbing
bug,’’ Fischer reminisces some-
what ruefully.

See Facilities page 17

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