An impressive 250m2 indoor climbing wall built in the stadium at the Real Journeys Fiordland Events Centre could be ready for use within weeks.

Te Anau based outdoor adventure group, the FEAR Society teamed up with the Fiordland Community Events Centre Trust to bring this project to life, contracting Uprising Industries – a Christchurch based climbing wall design and build company. The 0.5m thick climbing wall is made of plywood attached to earthquake-proof steel construction, bolted onto the building’s concrete wall.

The project was completed on schedule on March 6. 

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Fiordland College Outdoor Education teacher and rock climbing instructor Vaughn Filmer and President of the FEAR Society Andrew Magness have championed the project, raising nearly $300,000 for the first two stages of the 3-stage project. 

“We are now waiting on ropes and holds that need to be installed, before the climbing wall can be opened to the public. The delivery of those items has been delayed due to the world's shipping woes caused by Covid-19,” Mr Magness said.

Stage 3 will add another 50m2 of bouldering area in the west corner of the stadium at an estimated cost of between $50,000 and $75,000.

The Te Anau community showed strong support for the project, offering machinery use, voluntary labour and free accommodation for the workers. 

“We relied on an impromptu gathering of around 12 to 15 locals to prepare the space for the builders; take down the basketball hoop, remove curtains, signs, put plywood over floor, etc. In addition, 10 volunteers were rostered to provide two full-time people to support the build during the construction week,” Mr Magness said.  

“We would like to thank Northern Southland Transport for getting a scissor lift up from Invercargill, as well as skips for the build site, Evans Freight for help with some of the prep work, loading and unloading the container and use of a pallet jack, Fiordland Events for supplying some safety equipment (cones and barriers), Kennards Hire from Invercargill for a smoking deal on the scissor lift, Parklands Motel who put up the four Uprising [Industries] workers for the duration of the build, and six local businesses (Fresh Choice, Sandfly, Olive Tree, Wapity an Hollyford cafes, and Bao Now) who all provided food for the volunteer builders. In addition to this we had a host of local businesses who put dollars into the final phase of the project, helping to close the gap between our fundraising efforts and the overall project budget.”

Asked how it felt to see the wall completed, Mr Filmer and Mr Magness couldn’t hide their pride and satisfaction. Each spent hundreds of volunteer hours on fundraising and project management. 

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“It’s absolutely amazing to see the wall done within just under two years of the concept taking shape,” Mr Filmer said.

The Fiordland College PE teacher, who teaches rock climbing after hours, Mr Filmer said the college climbing wall catered for six climbers at a time and was available to the college students only. By comparison, the Events Centre wall would cater for up to 50 climbers/belayers at any given time and would attract visitors from all over New Zealand, and hopefully from overseas, he said. 

With a few jobs yet to be done before the wall can be opened to public – hand/foot holds delivery, staff training and routesetting – Andy and Vaughn are hoping to have the wall operational sometime in April.