The Building of the Climbing Wall

Many freshmen arrived at East Campus, and we immediately used their slave labor to build an assortment of ridiculous wooden structures.  Construction of the climbing wall went very quickly and fairly smoothly, and I didn't really take any pictures of the process.  Fortunately a more talented and better equipped photographer got some good photos and video of the process.  All photo and video credits to Billy Demaio.

Some of the construction footage compiled:



Assembling the uprights:

Building the rings.  Unfortunately no pictures were taken of the process where we lifted the rings onto the axle.  About 10 people lifted each ring, while I stood on the top of an upright to manipulate the axle into place.  Someone on the other side of the axle pushed it through, while another couple people held a crutch in place to support the weight of the rings and axle.  This was repeated about 6 times, because we had to remove two of the wings to widen the holes in the plywood.

Some other of the courtyard structures.  In the background is most of the four-story fort.  To the right, part of a ride called the "Frosh Wash", and in front to the left an impromptu swingset.

Before we put the plywood and climbing holds on, we found a bunch of fun activities to do with the structure:




The climbing actually worked well.  We found a brake position that worked for a fairly wide range of climber weights.  Two people on the sides of the cylinder would help turn it to make sure no one climbed too high up.