In every climbing gym there needs to be flooring, it is a necessity that serves a specific function, to be fallen on. However, all climbing gyms are unique, as well as the owners that operate them, they look for ways to make their gym stand out. With that in mind we strive to be flexible and customize the flooring to what the gym is trying to achieve. Working with the gym owner to flush out their needs and wishes, Flashed uses our testing, experience and creativity to make the customer experience better.
Gneiss – Curved Edges
At the start of this project, Christiaan de Vries made an observation that “Climbing walls and holds are usually very angular, I’d like the have the flooring with some round edges to contrast that look”. Normally climbing flooring straight lines and angle changes to make up the flooring edge. But by making the flooring with curved edges it gave the floor a unique look and soften the otherwise angular and hard lines that climbing walls tend to have.
Calgary Climbing Centre – Rocky Mountain – Turf Route Flooring
Walson Tai likes to experiment and try different looks. He wanted a natural look to his brand-new facility, his route climbing walls have natural wood panels and he wanted to have grass turf to make it feel more like outdoors. We were able to take our route flooring system of PE and PU Foam and incorporate grass turf onto the top surface. This was a challenge to solve as the Turf had to be connected the PE foam from underneath so that the turf surface would have a uniform grassy look. The flooring also had to keep the same or better fall rating in case of a ground fall. It took the Flashed team some brainstorming and testing but the aesthetic and performance standard were met to create the look Walson was looking for.
USA Climbing – Modular / Composite
We were incredibly happy to provide a flooring solution for USA Climbing that had a list of requirements; be modular so it can travel the country (Open/Youth Boulder Nationals), be suitable for outdoors (Vail, CO World Cup), and perform at a high standard for world class athletes to fall on. Since Open/Youth Nationals change locations every 2 years, the mats needed to be modular, we designed and produced mats that were uniform size so they could quickly and easily installed each time. The climbing wall and mats are also used for the Vail, CO World Cup that happens each year in an outdoor setting, Vinyl covers are great for that since moisture or rain cannot easily penetrate into the mat. One thing we added the covers was a strip of Composite fabric that ran along the wall edge so that athletes could wipe their feet on make sure their shoes were clean before going on the wall. The mats were built to a high quality using the Flashed foam layering system so that athletes could go big and not worry about the fall or landing if they missed a move. These world class events needed a world class flooring that check all the boxes, we were able to use our knowledge and experience to develop the solution that USA Climbing needed.
Our climbing gym flooring is not static, there are ways to make subtle or big changes that enhance the customer experience. Going back and forth with the gym owner about we can evolve and create a flooring system that creates peace of mind for the climber, has a beautiful look and feel, and has the Flashed high standard of performance.
