Curious fact for the US is that despite the fact that all states are within one country, every single state has their own legislation and therefore regulations. The heaviest of which turns out to be coming from the Los Angelis municipality in California.
When it comes to assembling a climbing wall indoors there are two ways to build the supporting structure:
- It could be anchored to the building that hosts the wall – making sure the engineering drawings allow the attachment points to can bear the loads that the climbing wall requires.
- The structure can be designed to be completely self-standing by the Walltopia engineers and in this case, it is only anchored to the ground. In this case, though the amount of steel needed for the structure is much bigger and the engineering, production and assembly are much more complicated and time-consuming. Despite these drawbacks, the self-standing structure is often preferred or even – the only possible – solution.
In the state of California there are specific requirements when it comes to earthquake safety and because of these, the climbing walls must be self-standing structures, not attached to the building that hosts them. They also have specific requirements for the production process and the quality of the materials that the structures are made of. That is why the L.A. municipality insisted on sending their own inspector who spent a few weeks in our production plants making sure our production processes comply with their standards. So, after an exciting trip to the exotic destination of Letnitsa, near Lovech in Bulgaria and a slight case of culture shock, the L.A. inspector signed the certificate approving the quality of Walltopia products and so the containers of Bulgarian steel were able to set sails to California.
Sender One is a very successful gym hosting national comps. For us it is not only a recognition of the quality of our products but also a proud showcase of our climbing wall design skills.