Our climbing wall is popular among our guests. You can climb on your own or you can request a climbing activity. Either way is fun.

Guest staying at the NORTHSTAR Alpine Lodge can use the climbing wall for free during their stay. Guests not staying at the NORTHSTAR Alpine Lodge can also use the climbing wall (based on availability and requires a reservation).

You might want to start with wall climbing first if you are thinking about starting rock climbing. We recommend starting with bouldering. Bouldering is an exciting and dynamic form of climbing done without a rope or harness across pre-set routes known as “problems”; usually less than 10 feet (3 meters) tall. For the first timer we will ask them to climb straight up and sideways to get the hang of it. Then you can challenge different courses that we have set. Each hold (colorful fake rock) has different colored tape on it to mark the courses. For example, on the pink corse you can only use the hold with pink tape. So the difficulty of courses changes based on what hold you can use. This style of climbing is really fun with friends. A lot of the mountain bike groups give the wall a try in the evenings. Sometimes they can’t even ride the next day because they went little too crazy on the wall the night before. It’s really fun.

2010-08-14-Oyako-Climbing-001

Another style of climbing you can try on the wall is called Top-rope climbing. Many EDU groups use the this climbing activity to help kids learn things like trust, teamwork and personal challenge. We can run this activity for individuals, families or small groups also, please let us know if you are interested. This is a charged program.

In top-rope climbing, the belayer holding one end of the rope using a harness and belay device takes slack out of the line while the climber tied into the other end of the rope climbs.  Top-rope climbing means that the rope runs through a fixed anchor at the top of the wall. The belayer, keeping tension in the line, holds the rope so even if the climber were to suddenly slip or let go of the wall, they will not fall. The wall at NORTHSTAR is approximately 5.5 meters tall. While each person’s ability is different, the goal is to ultimately reach the top, touching the ceiling before being lowered down.  Coming back down is a rush all by itself for anyone new to climbing, and some even ask to stay at the top just to avoid coming down.

For charged programs, our staff will hold a short lesson and explain how to use the equipment and teach you basic climbing technique so first timers can also try. We are looking forward to helping you challenge the climbing wall with us.