Performance & flexibility

Every bouldering fall is a ground fall so naturally, this will leave a lasting impression on your climbers. There are many ‘off-the-shelf’ standard flooring options out there but we want to tailor the interaction with the climber and padding, giving you a competitive advantage your climbing community will appreciate. Flashed was the first to bring elements like carpet and memory foam because performance and a truly positive engagement for the climbers are key drivers for us. Adding memory and stretch fabrics substantially reduces impact bounce while easy-to-clean carpet provides an inclusive hang-out atmosphere encouraging people towards conversation, comfort, and community.

With great design and operational procedures risk can be mitigated but certainly accidents still happen. As such, we often do drop testing on our padding systems and can provide you with a certificate of performance after your install or at a routine reporting period. We offer ASTM-1292 testing services and use this equipment to review our own products. Route climbing is especially of interest due to the possible fall heights. ASTM testing looks at two categories, the g-force impact and head injury criteria (HIC), using both of these for standard playground safety testing. We wondered what a fall from high up would look like using the ASTM equipment and then compared a few options. The graph below shows how 2in carpet bond foam over concrete fails 200g at only ~7ft. Our standard 6in CBF system increases that up to ~35ft, and some our customers have elected to use our 8in CBF system which goes up beyond 45ft. We also have done detailed testing on HIC ratings. Our focus is giving you both the right information and the best product.

Staying at the cutting edge and ever-improving our products is part of our DNA and we’re proud to show how Flashed padding systems evolve alongside the shifting needs of the gym owners. Flexibility for us comes in several forms. We pride ourselves on offering as many options in both materials and design as possible to give you maximum creative liberty. Maybe you have multiple goals for the same area requiring quick repurposing of padding spaces between regular use and special events. Perhaps you require extra room for setting lifts or maintenance access. More dense foam in certain high-traffic walkways of a system may be what you need, and we’ll adapt. Overall, a more flexible padding system in both the design and operation phases results in a better functioning facility where both the climber and the staff can enjoy the benefits almost without noticing it. Exactly what we’re striving for.

Installation is often overlooked as many of the factors affecting your padding aren’t discovered until you’re in the throws of construction madness. As your partner we’ve come to expect the 11th-hour challenges you may have with building or wall construction, and have full flexibility built right into our installs. We show up with skilled install Technicians and industrial sewing machines to make any onsite changes as required. Whether it’s a column that didn’t exist on the drawings, a concrete floor that has more dips and dives than the topographical map, or you simply look at the wall and decide you want to adjust the layout. There’s no need to wait, we handle it right there. If the change is bigger and implies greater cost or time then we work quickly with in-house production to cut/sew new components and ship them out asap. Often this simply means moving to another install area temporarily while materials arrive, not even affecting our finish date. We understand the investment you’re making into the facility and time is ticking. This flexibility offers peace of mind during install and means your doors can open sooner!