Swiss Review 3/2019

Swiss Review / May 2019 / No.3 15 gest facility in Uster (canton of Zurich) has welcomed ev- er-increasing numbers of visitors since opening in 2014. “If you want to take up climbing nowadays, you normally go to an indoor centre,” says Martin Baumeler of Griffig, the cooperative that runs the climbing centre in Uster. Two thirds of peoplewho start indoors will also climb outdoors later, although a third will continue just using climbing walls, he adds. Female and ultra-hip According to Hanspeter Sigrist, women are one of the fac- tors behind the boom in indoor climbing. “Women climb- ers weren’t taken that seriously for a long time. The lead climber in a rope teamwas always theman – the roles were clear.” Indoor centres have given women the type of inde- pendent access that they previously would not have en- joyed. Today, women account for around half of all people who climb indoors. And thosewho practise the sport –men and women (and children and teenagers) – no longer just belong to the alpinist fraternity. Sigrist believes that indoor climbing has become an ultra-hipmass-participation sport. Basically, it is the modern, sophisticated version of climb- ing in its original form. The trend of “away from the mountains and into the city” seems to have boosted the sport. But there is at least one other factor contributing to the rising popularity of indoor climbing: safety. For example, in bouldering – a form of climbing without any ropes or harnesses – thick in Biel (canton of Berne) is all about getting into competi- tionmode. But for Klingler this is just a staging post on the way to a much bigger goal: qualifying for the 2020 Olym- pics in Tokyo. Sport climbers will be competing for Olym- pic medals in Tokyo for the first-ever time (see additional text). The Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) Olympic Pool consists of five athletes. Petra Klingler, 27, is one of them. As the speed and lead climbing Swiss champion and the bouldering world champion, Klingler excels in the three disciplines that will feature in Tokyo. Training on artificial walls The SAC built its national performance centre in an old in- dustrial building in Biel. Aworn sofa and a side table stand in the corner. A coffee machine complements the ex- tremely spartan setting. Training schedules are pinned up on the wall. The performance centre has all the charm of a student digs – a world away from rocks, wind and weather. The athletes train on climbing walls made of syn- thetic material. Outdoor rock climbing is not a priority at the moment. “Rock climbing will remain on the back burner during the next two years until the Olympics are over,” says Klingler. For Switzerland – the country ofmountains – theOlym- pic moment of truth will be played out not on a rock face but on an artificial wall. Although this reflects the evolu- tion of the sport in Switzerland as well. Until the 1990s, climbing was purely an outdoor pastime. In 1993, Switzer- land’s first-ever indoor climbing centre opened in Nieder- wangen (canton of Berne). Hanspeter Sigrist and his wife Gabriele Madlener Sigrist currently manage the facility. Si- grist is also the SAC’s performance director for climbing. “Everyone thought we were crazy when we said we were planning to build a climbing wall,” he says. Alpinists, most of them male, could not yet imagine themselves climbing on an indoor wall. There are now over 50 indoor climbing centres in Switzerland, while countless schools have at least one climbing wall in their gymnasium. The country’s big- Olympic climbing A total of 20 female athletes and 20 male athletes will take part in the first-ever Olympic sport climbing competition at Tokyo 2020. They will have qualified for the event primarily on the basis of their performance at international meetings. The competition in Tokyo will consist of three disciplines: ■ ■ Lead climbing – climbing as high as possible using a rope and harness ■ ■ Speed climbing – scaling the wall as fast as possible on a safety rope ■ ■ Bouldering – climbing without a rope on a low-level wall Only the best athletes in all three disciplines have the chance of a medal. World champion Petra Klingler: “I can now make a modest living from climbing.” Photo: Danielle Liniger