Speed Wall Friction

Today on the 30th June 2023, the usual yearly Youth European Cup has been held in Imst Austria, and as every year the wall remains the same fiberglass wall that has an absent friction index.

So i got a cue to talk about that topic with you all and collect your opinions.

Speed climbing walls has always been different from competition to competition, they can have slightly different inclinations, as the rules says, between 4.5 and 6.5°, slightly different holds (even if they are homologated) and “slightly” different Friction Coefficients.

If we read the official SPEED LICENCE RULES about SPEED WALLS we can read:

“The ideal Static Friction Coefficient is between 1 to 1,5. The coefficient measures the friction between the speed panels on horizontal surface and climbing standard rubber (X-Grip2 or equivalent)”

But as we can read it’s only an “ideal” condition and not a mandatory condition and none of the homologation procedures are designed to measure the Friction Coefficient of the wall.

So as you’ve ridden, today the Youth European Cup has been held on the fantastic (obviously joking) Zero Friction™ fiberglass wall of the Imst Climbing Stadt and as you can understand the results of the competition has been widely modified by this condition that has given a very hard time to all the athletes that took part in the competition with times well above their possibilities.

We know that this situation happens, in a more moderate way, even at World Cup Level and this is a very sensible topic even for the best athletes in the world.

So i want to ask you,

what do you think about that topic?

Do you think it should be mandatory to comply to some Friction standards to propose a wall for an international competition?

Do you think that the management of different frictions should be a skill that has to be developed by all the athletes?

Let us know it in the comments

Villars World Cup is coming! Let’s see if we will break some records!