Ever heard of buildering

December 15 2000,

Sometimes it's also called urbanning. Both are English words, but I think they're invented by the Dutch. As Holland is a very flat country, a dutchman who wants to climb has few solutions: they can come to Belgium - which they do in too large quantities - or look for other things to climb.

Most common are climbing halls, but these never give this sense of adventure real rocks give, at least when you lead. And if you just want this extra bit of adventure, you should look for inspiration at this month's site of the month: Urban Adventure in Rotterdam.

For those who still don't have a clue what's meant with "buildering", it's bouldering or climbing on buildings. This can vary from boulders on small constructions like bus shelters, to multipitch climbs on chimneys or towers.

If you just want the adventure, and not only climbing, you even have a lot more possibilities to experience an unusual adventure within your own urban neighbourhood. Maybe this is an addition to The North Face's theme "Never stop exploring" : "Exploring starts right next door."

The problem with most of these activities, is as you may guess, they are often considered illegal. You nearly always risk being accused from trespassing, or maybe being a public danger. We could have a nice discussion about this matter, but let's keep it for the café, ok? Just leave a message over there... I rate the contents of this website very high. I must admit I spent a lot of time exploring it (it's rather extended) And if you also start exploring the link collection...

Lay-out

Having explored the site and some related sites, it shows they all have a dark, modest look, as if you are already exploring some long abandonned dungeon. So the least you can say is that the layout fits the contents. Even the pictures (the author always takes his camera with him) are mostly grayscale.