Artificial wall climbing is a popular sport that has recently been included in the Olympic games. This sport will make its Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2020. Unfortunately, Bangladesh is yet to explore and experience this sport at a professional level. Rope4 artificial climbing wall facilities may widen the opportunity among enthusiasts. 

Adventure activities are still in the novice stage in Bangladesh. Mountaineering, climbing, high-altitude trekking activities might be the alternative options for a healthy lifestyle. To qualify for these activities, one must practice a discipline and vigorous lifestyle. Introducing small changes in everyday life might be the inspiration for healthy living. Rising interest in extracurricular activity might stimulate to bring those small changes in our lives. 

Introducing and promoting an unfamiliar activity is always challenging around the world. Our mindset is automated to be acquainted with known practices. This is very easy to place a question, but it takes a lot to be questionable!

A group of young people belongs to the newly formed Rope4 Adventure Club of Bangladesh are in a tireless effort to nurture the aspiration of a healthy lifestyle by promoting positive adventure activities with a vision of taking part in the Olympics in near future! Establishing a climbing wall is a step forward to fulfill that dream. A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with climbing holds for hands and foot, usually used for indoor artificial wall climbing practice.

Engaging in such activity will sooner or later prevent our next generation from harmful or negative practices, drugs for instance! A private organization is working for a healthy lifestyle for Bangladeshi youth by organizing a yearly award-giving event. They are motivating young people to leave negative practices like smoking and so on. The inspiration brought the positive result as the few members left smoking to be part of the group! This is the biggest achievement mentioned by the Club President.

Bangladesh has a lot of prospects for alternative youth development. We need to mobilize them with proper and innovative guidelines. Breaking out of our comfort zone and physical limitations or our mental abilities, this will lead us to a scene of victory! Establishing such a feeling of victory and create an open platform for all to explore was pursuing a struggler Mountaineer of Bangladesh with very limited resources. It took a few years to arrange a small place with a minimum facility. 

Series of planning, mathematical calculation, and gathering budget finally brought light to a visual Climbing Wall of 10 feet high with a degree of overhang. Another challenge came across as the holds for hands and feet are available in the international market at a high price! The required holds were locally made under the supervision of a Rope4 which is a private outdoor education organization with the collaboration of the Rope4 Adventure Club’s local expert. This was the enthusiast result of the determined effort of research and development practices mentioned by the team members of the Club.

The Health benefit of this climbing activity is calorie-burning! 30 minutes or uphill climbing, a person can burn between 330 and 498 calories, depending on their weight. Harvard Health reports that a person weighing 125 pounds will burn 330 calories. An individual weighing 155 pounds will burn 409 calories, and a person who weighs 185 pounds can burn 498 calories. Climbing uses lots of muscle groups, both in the upper and lower body. Our back, abdominal, and leg muscles all get exercised as well as our fingers, shoulders, and arms. Regular climbing practice can improve stamina and endurance as well as muscle strength. In addition, all the reaching and stretching for holds improves flexibility and agility. This is also a good aerobic exercise.

The climbing practice offers a wealth of health benefits that are not just physical. It improves our self-esteem, mental agility, and self-awareness. This is a great stress buster and a full-body workout, so it is good for general wellbeing. Climbing requires a lot of problem-solving, mental concentration, and focus, so it helps sharpen our brain. A lot of people like it as it allows us to escape everyday worries and just focus on the climb. It also can give a great sense of achievement.

Climbing can be a very sociable activity. Sport England’s Active People Survey results show that most people say they participate in the social aspect. Strong friendship can be developed with our climbing partners due to the level of trust involved and through sharing challenges and experiences. 

Clum members named the Rope4 Artificial wall climbing ‘Sazal Khaled Wall’, after the name of Mr. Mohammad Khaled Hossain who was an outdoor activity enthusiast and introduced many youth development initiatives. He was a Mountaineer and perished in Mount Everest following the descend in May 2013 and stayed there for good! He was the 5th Bangladeshi to Reach the summit of Mount Everest! The group members are his follower and would like to keep his contribution alive through this title!   

This Rope4 Artificial climbing wall is a successful prototype as far as the technical reliability and safety measures are concerned. This accomplishment made the group confident to establish a formal outdoor artificial sport climbing wall in the near future which is subject to the availability of space and amenities. Considering an alternative and innovative option for youth development, we should patronize such initiatives as part of our social responsibility for the youth development of Bangladesh.