Get Roped into Climbing

Developing Calves of Steel


George Carvalho
Photo by Paul Skrentny

In the 18th-century, fashion dictated that men should have knotted, muscular calves. Guys with string bean legs quietly slipped on padded hosiery before they left the house. If only they’d had access to the brand-new, 32-foot-high rock wall at Bladium Sports Club, where frequent climbers—both men and women—develop calves of steel.
    Loralee Hamilton, 33, comes to Bladium to work out with the free weights while her husband plays roller hockey. She’d never been rock-climbing before, but she managed just fine. After her first go, her forearms were a little sore from gripping the holds too tightly, but the second time felt more comfortable.
    The textured surface of the rock wall has the look and feel of the real thing. Brightly colored holds, some with soap dish-like
handles, others more akin to bits of erratically popped popcorn, are screwed securely in place to form climbing “routes.” The plan is to reconfigure the holds into new routes every six weeks.
    A separate structure is used for “bouldering.” This is where people can practice climbing techniques by themselves. Because you’re never far from the ground, you’re allowed to climb freely without a rope.
    All total, this climbing gym has 5,000 square feet. It cost $200,000 and was designed in Massachusetts by Cort Gariepy, the owner of Rockwerx.
    Stuart Kawamoto, 30, an experienced rock-climber, is the rock wall manager. His job is to literally show people the ropes.
    Brendan Smith, 42, enjoys inline-skating at Bladium’s weekly Learn to Skate Night and brings his 6-year-old boy, Emmet, along. “I like to engage in activities with Emmet where we can be active together,” says Smith.
    Being roped together for indoor rock climbing is also great fun for them. Dad says the kid loves the climbing, and the sport makes Emmet feel strong. Plus, the need to pay attention to a few basic safety rules sharpens the child’s listening and concentration skills.
    Indoor climbing’s no substitute for scaling crusty crags in the great outdoors, but even so it offers advantages. All the equipment is right there, ready to go. This means there’s no need to buy armfuls of expensive gear, and you don’t have to spend time setting it up. Knowing how to tie arcane knots is totally optional, but you do need to attend a 30-minute lesson that covers the proper way to belay. Best of all, though, you can climb regardless of the weather, and the gym is full of potential climbing partners.
    The conventional wisdom is that if you can climb a ladder, you can climb a rock. Bladium offers climbing activities for newbies, children’s birthdays and corporate team-building. So whether you want calves the size of grapefruits or would just like to try something new, now’s your chance.
    Visit www.bladium.com or call (510) 814-4999. (Not a member? No problem: A day pass includes rock wall access.) 

Alameda Seen

  Local artist Alan Leon sees his world through his sketchbook: pen and ink, watercolor, quick images or long studies. He aims for the panoramic view, the undiscovered vista and the startling beauty one never expects to find in one’s own city. Watch for more Alameda Seen in future issues of Alameda Magazine.

About an Artist


Local printmaker and author Marianne Morgan does not fear making mistakes. More often than not, they delight her.
     “Printmaking can be a very indirect technique, in which you don’t know the success of your print until you lift the paper off the plate,” the New Jersey native says. “It’s full of surprises and teaches you about staying with the sometimes challenging process and dealing with uncertain outcomes. I find that the prints or techniques that I may have first thought of as mistakes often had the most appeal or interest. It seems that art is using me to express itself in new ways, as much as the reverse.”
    An Alameda resident for a decade, she is a relative newcomer to the art world, but her passion and devotion to her art is driving her to quickly explore new printmaking techniques, including monoprint, etching and image transfer.
    Morgan’s works center on the feminine figure and often use the curvaceous, symbolic shape of the pear or eroded stone forms to examine themes of tenderness, vulnerability and eroticism. “On the Shore,” a monoprint, features two women’s heads and torsos against the dramatic palette of deep orange and turquoise. She created “Yellow Pear,” also a monoprint, with an oil-resist technique where brightly colored inks are mixed with more oil before being brushed or rolled on the plate, leaving unpredictable negative space on the finished piece.
    The artist has also published a book, Ripe Fruit, which she constructed and bound by hand. It folds like an accordion, features linen binding and showcases original prints and letterpress-set renditions of original drawings with text. Its primary focus is “Ripe Pear,” an image Morgan created using an acid-etched metal plate and sugar-lift technique. The book was the winner of the Steven Corey Award at the Pacific Center for the Book Arts (San Francisco) Member’s Exhibition in 2003.
    Morgan’s works will be part of the exhibit “The Expressive Palette” in May at Alameda’s Frank Bette Center for the Arts. For more information, check out www.frankbettecenter.org or call (510) 523-6957.             —Breean Lingle

Explore Alameda


With longer days and no more rain, you should hop on your bike and ride. And thanks to Bike Alameda (www.bikealameda.org) and its two-wheel-loving volunteers and sponsors, there’s a hot-off-the-presses new bike map, so riding (or walking) Alameda’s paths, lanes and routes is easy. One map side is chock-full of all info bike-related, from rules of the road to bike organizations, while the other is an easy-to-read graphic of the Island. Pick up your free copy from local bike shops—Alameda Bicycle, Cycle City, Stone’s Cyclery, Zach Kaplan’s Recumbent, Rideable Bike Replicas and Mikkelsen Frame Express.