URBAN CLIMBING

Oklahoma has a rich history of urban climbing; buildings, bridges, and other structures. We may not have the best crags in the world but we make up for it in the creative climbs we unlock or create elsewhere. This is a snapshot of the urban climbing scene in Norman and Oklahoma City.

The University of Oklahoma

I went to school at OU and spent a lot of time climbing on campus. I've written two books about urban climbing at the University of Oklahoma. The first was OU Excellence: A Climber's Perspective and was written in 1997. About 20 copies were printed at Kinko's - just for friends. The follow-up book was Urban Assault: A Historical Climbing Guide to Norman, Oklahoma and was written in 2000. Self-published and professionally printed by a short-run press, the book was sold online through this site, at Backwoods, and Borders.

(Left image is the cover photo of OU Excellence, right image is the cover of Urban Assault, my second book)

(buildering pics from the early 80s. from left to right: marion and ?? on the now extinct dog wall, ?? on monet hall/old law bldg. mantle, duane raleigh hal niemann wall, marion on hal niemann wall)

(more pics from the 80s. left to right: marion on hal niemann wall, ?? on botany/micro bldg., ?? on physcial sciences bldg)

(modern day - left to right: hal niemann wall, "photoshoped" rock in front of library, adam on bruce lee (?) the library, route up the dorms, slam dunk dyno on the honors dorms)

Just a couple of notes about the above photos: the corner adam is climbing is a favorite of adam's. in the pic adjacent to it, the dorms route, climbs through each of the 12 rectangular holes to the top of the building - better know how to mantle and stem. did this one at night. thr pic on the far right is one of my finds. it requires you to dyno from the concrete bench out to the edge of the awning! one of my all-time favorites.

(left to right: adam on the missing brick problem, aaron on the physical sciences bldg., aaron on ellison hall, adam on the physics bldg.)

Notes: the missing brick problem was one i found like heading to class one day. it's been a classic since day one - this one was always in the circuit. one day i actually completed the sit-start to the physical sciences building (2nd picture from the left) - i was psyched, but never got it again.

Andrews Park

(aaron and jerel climbing the north wall on the pavilion at andrews park)

Notes: andrews park has had a bit of a resurgence in the local climbing community. there are some great problems there.

Bridges in Norman

There are three bridges in Norman for climbing: the north end of the I-35 bridge over the South Canadian river, the Hwy 9 bridge near Shaklee, and the railroad tressel bridge on Hwy 9. Climbing at the I-35 bridge features glued-on rocks on box-roof like features and traverses. Many of the climbs have evolved over time with some rocks breaking off and others added to change the nature of the routes. There was a short period of making long lead climbs across the concrete beams. These climbs were protected by specially designed metal plates with welded rings. These metal plates were adhered using Bondo to the cement - that's right the lead anchors were actually glued onto the concrete beams and used to catch falls - usually huge swinging falls!

(mike galoob and me on some early ascents at the south candaian river I-35 bridge, of particular note is pic 4 which shows me setting up a "test rig" for the newly-installed bondo lead anchor)

Notes: i talk about the bridges routes in a story i wrote called the bondo daze. all i can say is, there was a time when we trusted our lives to bondo - gezz.

The Hwy 9 bridge was a different story. Where the "ethics" at the I-35 bridge was to not make any holes in the concrete, hence gluing lead anchors to the wall, the Hwy 9 bridge featured nothing but drilled pocket climbs and lead bolts. The routes were (and still are) about 20-25 feet tall and range in difficulty from 5.9 to 5.12. I put all of these up - except for the incomplete route. I haven't been here for years. Last I heard someone took a whipper on one of the cold shut lead anchors (unwelded, I might add) and bent the thing open nearly 90 degrees! Yeah, I'd say the shuts need to be replaced.

Here's some route descriptions for you:

East Side of Northeast Pillar
A. The Stallion (5.12) The hardest route on the wall. 2 bolts, 1 anchor bolt.
Aid Line(A?) Four rivets that might hold. Drilled on lead, bottom to top in under one hour. Could be A1 could be A3, who knows.
B. Mr. Friendly (5.9) The easiest route on the wall. 4 bolts, 1 anchor bolt.
C. Pickled Pockets (5.10+) A personal favorite. 2 bolts, 1 anchor bolt.
D. Flash Flood (5.10) Fun route that ends in an akward position. 2 bolts, 2 anchor bolts.
West Side of Northeast Pillar
E. Pseudo Crotch (5.11) Beware of the moves after the second bolt. Not only are they difficult but a fall above the second bolt has opened the cold shut. 3 bolts, 1 anchor bolt.
F. Free Ride (5.10) The first route at the bridge. Fun. 3 bolts, 1 anchor bolt.
G. Incomplete Route

OKC Bridges

(the once-spectacular bridge routes at the reno bridge in okc - unfortunately, removed by the city)

Note: Mr. Steve G. put in countless hours designing routes at this bridge and each route was unbelievable. I would go as far as to say that this could be considered a destination climbing area at one time - it was a truly awesome novelty. The lines Steve came up with were technical, powerful, always challenging and downright fun. He painstakingly picked, grinded, arranged, and placed each and every stone in such a precise manner as to make the climber think and work to send a route. I hate that these routes are gone. BUT if you want to pick up where these routes left off you can visit OKC Rocks and try some of Steve's new glued-rock routes - you will not be disappointed (unless you have a delicate ego in which case it is likely to be crushed - consider yourself warned).