Hello Brooklyn Point Management!

Having a climbing wall in Downtown Brooklyn creates a host of wonderful opportunities. Our climbers have gotten much better in the months that I’ve been employed here and I’ve been able to introduce them and many beginners to skills, techniques and movements. The community’s passion for climbing has been surging. But progress will not be possible without the proper tools. The purchase of new climbings holds can maximize the value of resident’s building fees, broaden the scope of their climbing experience, and increase the marketability of apartments through aesthetics.

To start with, the lack of variety, size and color of the climbing holds limit the scope of what climbers can achieve. I’ve climbed with residents at a local climbing gym and they fill ill-prepared to tackle the challenges of sloping holds, small edges, powerful pinches and many essential footwork techniques, such as toe hooks, heel hooks, bicycles, knee bars and more. 

 While I’ve done my best to incorporate these techniques into their climbs, we’ve neared the limit of what the community can achieve with single-handed, jug shaped holds. The beauty of climbing is that there are infinite movements to explore, which grant athletes healthy, active bodies well into seniority. Without larger holds, slopers, crimps, and pinches, residents movement will be limited.

Secondly, the colors of the building’s holds not only blend in with the colors of the wall, but blend into each other. Climbing routes are usually delineated by color. It is difficult for our climbers to differentiate between light and dark orange, burgundy and red colored holds. This is not only an aesthetic issue but a practical issue that affects them as they climb. Climbers frequently cannot find the next handhold or foothold of the route they’re on because they cannot tell if it is the correct color. Black, light blue, and yellow holds would suit the modern look of the wall and end the color confusion.

Not only this, but there is untapped potential for new holds to sell apartments to potential buyers. Our holds, due to their uniformity of size, diminish the beauty of the wall, peppering it with small dots. Holds come in a variety of shapes which make the wall enticing to play on. Route setters are meant to act as designers, creating playgrounds that play with climber’s imagination and curiosity. “How could that be climbable?” “I wonder what that hold feels like?” 

Climbing gyms sell memberships by the strength of their aesthetics, and this could equally apply to the world of real estate.

Thank you for reading my little rant! I very much enjoy the building and your residents. I am constantly excited by the possibilities that your climbing wall creates and the way it can enrich the lives of your community. Climbing is, above all, a social sport, and relationships are the bread and butter of what makes life so wonderful. 

Thank you for your consideration and for giving New Yorkers such a memorable experience,

James Franch (they/them)