Outdoor climbing structures must meet the regular demands of climbing activities, like any indoor climbing wall, but also  they need to resist the weather conditions. Constructing these outdoor facilities involves considering additional factors such as snow and wind loads, the impacts of rain and sun exposure, temperature fluctuations, etc. To make these outdoor structures both durable and suitable for use, the selection of materials differs significantly from those used for indoor climbing environments. This ensures their longevity and adaptability to outdoor conditions.

The metal structure of indoor climbing walls is primed and painted, usually with polyurethane or alkyd paint. However, when a climbing wall is set up outdoors, particularly in humid areas, the painted metal can begin to rust within a year.

This leads to the need for regular repainting by the operator, incurring significant annual maintenance costs. To avoid this, we apply hot-dip galvanization to all components of our outdoor metal structures, effectively preventing corrosion. Additionally, all fasteners used in the assembly of these elements are made of stainless steel or are also hot-dip galvanized.

Walltopia recommends adding roofs for outdoor climbing walls and boulders. The roof provides protection and longer lifespan of the climbing wall panels and structure. It also offers better customer experience, allowing visitors to climb even during bad weather conditions.

Introducing a new technology, Walltopia Premium Outdoor Panels are highly durable and weatherproof, resistant to impact, water, heat and fire. The material does not change its characteristics over time while offering the precision, automation and speed of plywood production. Walltopia premium panels are also very easy to maintain compared to fiberglass* as they allow change of individual panels with precise dimension up to 1 mm.

*Fiberglass does not allow replicating a mould with such precision.

It’s not common practice in the industry to impregnate the back of the plywood panels, installed outdoors. This can be very damaging as the humidity can spread within the panel and dramatically shorten its lifespan. This is why we impregnate the back side of the panels for outdoor climbing walls just as well as, giving them better protection from the contact with the elements.

However, plywood is not completely weatherproof and does have a shorter lifespan, compared to the fiberglass and Walltopia premium outdoor panels..

More durable material compared to plywood, fiberglass is 100% water resistant, it does not change its characteristics over time. Fiberglass also gives the freedom to design and produce any imaginary shape including rocklike structures and curves. It lacks the precision of the shape, achieved within a CnC machine and doesn’t allow painting automation, which may lead to color imperfections. Fiberglass needs longer production time, compared to plywood and Walltopia premium panels.

In order to ensure maximum water resistance and durability for the product, we equip our outdoor structures with stainless steel t-nuts and stainless steel fixing screws.