Excalibur – The Tallest Climbing Wall in the World

In the Netherlands, a country of modest people and humble structures, stands a climbing wall that is anything but. The Excalbur climbing wall at the Klimcentrum Bjoeks Climbing Center in Groningen, the Netherlands, is the world’s tallest climbing wall. Reaching a maximum height of 121ft, this massive climbing wall dwarfs everything around it.

I’ve done a little bit of climbing over the years, and climbing walls a fraction of Excalibur’s height were terrifying for me at first. I can’t even imagine climbing the full height of this wall; I think I would fall from exhaustion long before reaching the top. Unless the various climbs are easy (which I doubt), I’m guessing that Excalibur is designed for climbers with a bit more experience under their belt. That, or monkeys of course… monkeys can climb the shit out of just about anything, including Excalibur. Hell, they wouldn’t even need climbing gear.

Tallest Climbing Wall in the World, Excalibur

From this angle, Excalibur almost looks like an organic, writhing building. The raised platform on the top looks like something you would see at the top of an apartment building, and the two metal pipes look like smoke stacks. Why a building would be rising out of a gigantic litter box, I couldn’t say, but perhaps that’s just how they do it in The Netherlands.

As he looks down, I bet he’s wondering why the hell he decided to attempt this climb. Perhaps his arms and legs are starting to fatigue, and he’s thinking of simpler things he could have done with his day… such as enjoy the wonderful sights and sounds of Amsterdam.

Oh my, this close up photo paints and even darker picture. The fellow is lead climbing, with no top rope. If he makes a mistake, he’ll plummet to the clip below, which would be rather unfortunate. Let’s hope he isn’t as tired as I suggested.

He’s finally done it, or nearly so. Given how high up he is, perhaps a parachute or hang glider is in order? I think that’s a fair way to descent given the amount of work he put in getting to the top. If a person is crazy enough to climb a wall this high, they probably wouldn’t mind a simple parachute ride down.

If you’re a rock climber with a penchant for extreme heights, you’ll find more information about Excalibur on the Klimcentrum Bjoeks Climbing Center website. It’s completely in Dutch, so you’ll have to use something like Google Translate to make sense of it. I mean, unless you speak Dutch of course.