FYI, adventure junkies of Coimbatore: There’s a newly installed ladder climbing tower at Prozone Mall
The Hindu
The 40-feet climbing tower is open for ages eight to sixty-plus
You must have, by now, watched the trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home. If you want to emulate the climbs and falls of the friendly neighbourhood superhero and experience the thrill of height, there is now a place to do it in Coimbatore. Just outside the parking lot of Prozone Mall, a 40-feet tall ladder climbing tower has been erected. On a gloomy Wednesday evening, Vikashini S wore the safety harness to climb the ladder for the first time. Five years ago, to get rid of acrophobia, she took up climbing. She soon got hooked on it — so much so that she wanted to be a professional mountaineer instead of the engineering course she had planned to take up.
Vikashini S ultimately stuck to engineering and is in the first year of her course. Climbing, despite not being her primary occupation, continues to be a passion. She heads to K’sirs International School in Chinnavedampatti almost every week for a wall-climbing session at the wall set up by NALS. With the fear of heights conquered, Vikashini clambered up the climbing tower at the mall in just over 20 seconds. Then, from the summit, she jumped, experiencing a near free-fall. Harnessed to the safety ropes, she swayed a bit towards the 2.5-tonne steel structure as she fell. But, perhaps due to her prior experience in wall climbing, she did not have any awkward bumps. Vikashini is not the only one who has tried out the climbing tower.
The hundreds of others who have, since the structure was set up in October, include housewives, children, a 70-year-old painter among others, says Seshadri Venkatesan, who heads NALS Outdoors India, the company that put up the wall. NALS offers adventure activities, experiential learning programmes, adventure infrastructure development and operations in Coonoor, Udhagamandalam, Manali and Ladakh apart from Coimbatore. The tower is part of their Super Climber Offshoot, which exclusively promotes climbing.