Now
that much of professional baseball is played on artificial turf and
football has become a climate-controlled indoor sport, it is
not
suprising to learn that rock climbing, too, has gone under
cover.
In Seattle and Chicago and New York, and at least three dozen
other cities across the U.S., both novices and experienced
athletes are climbing the walls of local "rock gyms"
year-round.
Other climbing walls are being erected in schools and
universities, where competitive sport climbing is ascending.
Rich Johnstone and his partner, Dan Cauthorn, created
the first
U.S. commercial rock gym, the Vertical Club, in Seattle in
1987.
Others had been built in Europe, where sport climbing has been
enormously popular. European climbing competitions often draw
huge
crowds and get extensive television coverage. Americans are still
discovering the sport.
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by MichaelHofferber@outriderbooks.com
Copyright © 1993. All rights reserved.
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Belay Device
Climbing: From Gym to Crag
Climbing Mount St. Helens Outgoing
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