Although indoor rock-climbing has recently been introduced to Hanoi by the Vietclimb Club, it has quickly attracted the participation of a large number of young people in the capital thanks to its great health benefits.
At present, the Vietclimb Club consists of two gymnasiums, one for adults with complex terrains that cause difficulties for the climbers and the other for children. In each gymnasium, they built rough climbing walls imitating the natural rock cliffs with colourful plastic handholds that serve as fulcrums to help rock-climbers to climb. Based on the colour of the handholds, the rock-climbers know the level of the exercise. For example, yellow is for the easiest, then orange, green, blue, black and red in ascending order of difficulty.
Indoor-rock climbing is a new sport in Hanoi.
One kind of shoes for rock-climbing.
Conquering the rock-climbing walls. |
Indoor rock-climbing is considered an adventurous sport so Vietclimb gives top priority to ensuring the climbers’ safety. All the equipment in the club is imported from Europe and installed meeting international standards. The floor is covered with a 40cm thick pad that protects the climbers should they fall while climbing.
When seeing the climbers’ passion while practising at Vietclimb, we understood why the new sport has a strong appeal for young people. It is a complete physical activity that provides a myriad of health benefits. Self-confidence, creativity, mental balance, endurance, general strength and coordination: it’s all here!
For beginners, it often takes at least 20 minutes to get familiar with the sport and then they can climb with enthusiastic and careful instructions by Jean Verly – the founder of Vietclimb. He was a rock climber for 15 years.
Jean Verly said that when establishing the Vietclimb Club at No.40, Lane 76, An Duong Street, Tay Ho District, Hanoi, he knew that he would face tremendous difficulties because it is a very new sport in this place. However, he hoped that he could share his passion for the sport with young people in Hanoi.
Besides training rock-climbing, Vietclimb also provides a chance for those who are keen on overcoming challenges and are keen on adventurous sports to exchange their experiences.
Story: Ha Anh - Photos: Hoang Quang Ha