Artificial climbing wall in North Bend

[Rafe1234]

Has anyone seen this? They got a $60,000 grant from King County to build this wall that cost more than $150,000....In NORTH BEND! Planners of the wall wanted to attract climbers to North Bend....Brilliant!!

 

 

Leavenworth should build an artificial boulder field at the Icicle/HWY 2 junction. Get some climbers out there too..

[DPS]

Awesome, now there will be something worth climbing in North Bend.

[chirp]

Looks like a fun wall!

 

[CollinWoods]

Yeah i think they should put one of those rock walls up by the gorge amphitheater...

[olyclimber]

sweet. as long as they don't bolt it. trad only.

[Jeff M.]

Wow this thread was disappointing to see, especially on a climbing forum. Any city funded climbing wall is a good thing!! It took a lot of guts to get this thing funded, and I have to say to the North Bend city council, GREAT JOB!!

 

This North Bend climbing tower is one of the best I have climbed. There are 8 top rope anchors, however only 2 lead routes. To us locals, it offers a chance to show our sport to the non climbing community since Torguson park attracts many visitors. It also provides easy access, an opportunity for the smaller climbers and more importantly for me a place to practice even in the rain (no runoff). The tower has some great routes and even a boulder roof. The overhangs can be especially challenging if you only stick to the natural features, 5.10+.

 

Give it a try.

[DPS]

I took a look. It is a nice wall with natural features that remind me of basalt. It is much smaller than originally planned it seems though.

[Edlinger]

Any wall put in for local teens to learn to climb is awesome!

 

my only rants are...

*It was touted as the largest outdoor wall in WA, when in fact I believe it is even smaller than Camp Long in west Seattle. 150K might have been a bit high?

*The holds are bolted on with a wrench that will make them easy to steal. Some meth-head will sell them on ebay.

* The wall is way, way easy to climb. Even not using the modular bolted on holds, the arch goes at a weekend warrior grade.

* North Bend gets over 100" of annual precip some years. The wall should perhaps have been steep enough on one side to keep it dry. Sadly, now the entire structure will only be climbable about 50 days a year due to rain. I was out once on a rainy day and every aspect seeped water to the point that it was unclimbable.

* Sawdust isn't good for absorbing the energy of falls.

* The wall is within 1200 yards of one of the best cliffs in Washington that stays dry 365 days a year.

* The money spent on this wall would have been enough to save Index and with the extra money enough to ensure the access fund could keep every other WA crag open for the next decade or build a climber's hostel up Icicle Canyon as has been talked about for years.

Although on a positive note, just like North Bend, Chamonix has an outdoor artifical wall right below amazing stuff and everyone loves the wall (including myself)!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2009 by Edlinger

[MarkMcJizzy]

* The money spent on this little wall would have been enough to save Index and with the extra money enough to ensure the access fund could keep every other WA crag open for the next decade or build a climber's hostel up Icicle Canyon as has been talked about for years.

 

It is for an entirely different purpose than any future Index park

[DPS]

I believe what happened was they were trying to raise 150k to build the largest wall in the state but they fell far short of their goal so they built what they could afford.

[tomtom]

* The money spent on this wall would have been enough to save Index and with the extra money enough to ensure the access fund could keep every other WA crag open for the next decade or build a climber's hostel up Icicle Canyon as has been talked about for years.

 

[cbcbd]

All they need now is a few more thousand to get something like this with extendo legs: