Franklin Climbing Club Sponsors Bouldering Wall

Rivet Daigre '11 goes bouldering in Cresciano, Ticino, which is not far from Franklin's campus.

Rivet Daigre ’11 came to Switzerland with an eye on the rocks. Throughout high school, the junior from Colorado competed in rock climbing competitions across the United States and was excited about Franklin’s location in Ticino, which is renowned for its rock climbing opportunities. When he arrived at Franklin, Rivet enthusiastically continued to pursue climbing, but soon realized that the College could greatly benefit from a “bouldering wall,” one of the most efficient tools for training for rock climbing, which allows climbers to practice bouldering moves in a safe, indoor environment. With a bouldering wall, climbers master the techniques indoors to transfer to outdoor rock and real climbing situations. He and another avid climber, Nicholas Corcoran ’11, began to formulate a plan to bring a bouldering wall to Franklin.

“Bouldering is an extremely popular sport both outdoors and indoors as it focuses on different aspects of climbing beyond what roped climbing can provide,” says Rivet. “Contrary to what many non-climbers believe, bouldering is not an easier type of climbing.”

Some of the first challenges they overcame were the question of an available space and funding for the project, which they budgeted to cost a total of CHF 1900 including lumber and hardware for the initial wall. To build support, Rivet started the Climbing Club, a student club where climbers of any level could participate and improve their skills. The club hosted a lecture on modern mountaineering with an experienced Italian mountaineer. The rock climbing buzz on campus continued to grow through their sophomore year as Rivet and Nick focused on the goal of building a training area.

In the fall of 2009, Rivet enlisted Ruthi Kappes ’11, a member of the Climbing Club, as the team project manager, knowing she would be helpful in organizing and advocating the wall. Through Rivet and the team’s ongoing efforts, the administration agreed to allow the Climbing Club to have a small room in the Pascal Tone Athletic Center on the North Campus to house the wall. A bouldering wall is significantly different from a climbing wall because it is a structure lower to the ground that permits climbing without ropes, harnesses and belays. An indoor climbing wall will typically be about 60 feet tall with fixed ropes whereas a bouldering wall will generally be no higher than 12 feet or so  with pads beneath to cushion falls. The same artificial holds are used for both walls.

Now that the club had the space to build the wall, the question of funding was the last remaining challenge. Rivet and Ruthi appealed to the Student Government Association for its support for the project, and student government awarded the Climbing Club a total of CHF 1400, greatly helping their vision come closer to reality. The club organized fundraising events throughout the fall and by the end of the fall 2009 semester had all the money needed to begin purchasing materials and building the wall. After all his efforts, Rivet enthusiastically notes, “I realized it’s completely student organized, student funded and student built. It’s an exciting student collaboration.”

The materials for the wall are now on campus, and the students involved in the club plan to spend their free time throughout the spring building the wall with the help of the grounds crew at Franklin. The wall will be dynamic and built with interchangeable holds that will allow the Climbing Club to vary the levels of difficulty and challenges during practice to achieve endless benefit and variety. After the wall is built, Rivet and others will see their vision fulfilled. Rivet hopes that that everyone at the College will enjoy the added benefit to the Athletic Center and that climbing facilities will continue to grow and expand.

Future plans include adding another wall and a ceiling to the bouldering wall for greater practice space. The Climbing Club would then be able to host a climbing series and lessons on the wall. Rivet and the club would also like to create a partnership with a local clinic for mentally and physically disabled children to offer therapeutic climbing, an initiative Rivet was involved with before attending Franklin. He hopes that by expanding Franklin’s facilities, the climbing space could be used by students to reach out to the community through such initiatives.

April 2010