buildering

I think it could be fun...anyone do it?

At Texas A&M I had many an entertaining night buildering. Sometimes we did boulder problems with pads in a crew of 3-6 people. Others I would go out alone or with a partner to climb taller lines. I've got tons of stories from fun experiences climbing on buildings. And I'm sure some of the guys from round there know it too.

I know a bunch of guys that would do it around UNH, there was actually a article about it in Climbing a couple of years back (Jeremy Johnson buildering on Thompson Hall).
The authorities hate buildering, so don't get caught!

I was buildering on the fairly easy pillar at the local Kohl's store and when I got to the top I stuck my face into the parking lot security camera. Within minutes the cops were there and the Kohl's security guard was running all over the place but by that time I was inside the store, shopping for Christmas presents.

Buildering makes walking around the city so much more entertaining! Found some great routes when I lived in Portland, OR and now at my university there are tons of great problems. Not ideal but it sure does make it more enjoyable to live in a city!

You can't do it anymore (due to chalk), but Denver's Observatory Park was almost a real destination. Red Sandstone crimpers all the way around the building. It was a 200' traverse including some doorways and windows to negotiate. Pat Adams once climbed up to the 2nd story roof for a top out, that ascent almost made the rags.

Spiro wrote:I think it could be fun...anyone do it?

There's a bunch of shit in downtown Boulder that's a blast after a few Gin and Tonics.. or so I've heard.. :)

--Marc

mountainproject.com/v/color…

At Purdue we wrote a buildering guide for the campus. Everything had a rating for difficulty and for police visibility. As well, there was roped climbing on campus. We did several ascents, placing gear or clipping features on the parking garages and on the smoke stack of the power plant.

Police response to buildering then was unpredictable. A few cops watched with interest, and some shooed us off. Once a few started asking questions & I tried to defuse the situation by handing them my camera and asking them to take some pictures of us. It was my way of implying that if there was anything wrong with what I was doing, that I didn't know better. Sure enough, they quit asking questions, took pictures, gave me back my camera, then left.

The response to roped climbing was universally bad. We got busted leading the power plant in 1993. After that time, the main objective of buildering (though never achieved) was to figure out how to get on top of the campus police station to disable their communications equipment up there...

Tony Bubb wrote:At Purdue we wrote a buildering guide for the campus. Everything had a rating for difficulty

My hometown (Boston) used to have a buildering guidebook like that. Once I was over my initial fear of heights, I cut my climbing teeth on the area's manmade structures (Wellesley Arches, Kenmore Square overpass, Charlesgate, Park Plaza Hotel, Harvard, etc.).

The granite-block bridges, overpasses, and aqueducts offered some of the best and most difficult face climbing in the area.

I lived in Germany for a short time and used to go out in my approach shoes and builder whenever I got drunk. The buildings over there are perfect for it, lots of edges and features. A bar owner once bought me a shot because I was able to climb this statue thing in front of his bar. I immediately threw up.

I was very carefull to avoid the Politzei. I'd heard many bad stories and one of my friends saw a couple Politzei beat the hell out of a guy for urinating in a bar. The Germans told me the cops there beat first and ask questions later. Ups the fun factor a little.

Either Climbing or Rock & Ice (I think Climbing) had a photo of someone doing a tough problem on the underside of one of the exterior stairways at CU-Boulder's engineering center. It was part of some photo special. Pretty rad photo, he was turning a steep corner.

Climbing did a article on buildering in issue 153, page 84.

Buildering has a long and storied history. See Night Climbers of Cambridge

There was also a video about the first ascent of University Wall in Squamish that showed some great footage of climbing on some UBC buildings in the sixties or seventies. 'Don't remember the name of the video though.

The Tropicana in Vegas has a few fun easy problems. I used to builder quite a bit in Austin... Mostly limestone walls though, not actual buildings. It's always nice to find a good traverse when your cruisin downtown!

Off width in Cleveland



Not mine, but thought it would do for those who just don't understand what buildering is.

More photos of early 1990's buildering at:
mountainproject.com/v/tony_…

so does anyone builder in NY? If so where????

go.middlebury.edu/buildering