A Monday evening in October, a stone’s throw from the Porte d’Orléans, in Paris. Slippers hanging from the rucksack, swarms of thirty-somethings rush at regular intervals at the entrance to the Arkose Didot climbing hall. Plenty of green plants, wooden furniture and tropical graffiti welcome these urban Tarzan, who have come for their bouldering session, that is to say without a harness, carabiner or rope. We climb here on walls limited to 4.5 meters high, studded with holds of different colors and protruding slopes. No need to learn, the safety rules are simple, and falls are cushioned by crash pads, large, fluffy floor mats.
Every day, 250 climbers, from 7 a.m. to midnight, set off to attack their artificial summit on 14e arrondissement. As often, that evening, there are as many people on the walls as at the bottom of the carpets. Nose up, spider men and women in Lycra look at each other, give each other advice, encourage each other. “Put your foot on the blue one and push on your legs to propel yourself upwards”, explains a sportsman at rest to a beginner stuck on his wall.
“It is the most collective of individual sports”, believes Grégoire de Belmont, co-founder and partner of Arkose
To learn, train, have fun, meet, the blocparks have become in a few years an “afterwork” meeting popular with young urbanites. A craze that has seen the emergence of rooms and the multiplication of practitioners. “More than twenty rooms have emerged from the earth during the health crisis, and as many should be opened in 2022”, welcomes Ghislain Brillet, president of the Union of climbing rooms (UDSE) and manager of two spaces in Strasbourg. In total, three million people would push the doors of some 200 French cinemas each year.
Not embarrassing to come alone
If bouldering is so popular with young people (18-35 years old), mostly male (between 60% and 70% depending on the room), it is not only because it harmoniously muscles the body, for a relatively affordable price (15 euros on average per session, a fifty euros monthly subscription, or even less, depending on the time). The activity, very friendly, responds to the need to socialize. “It is the most collective of individual sports”, supports Grégoire de Belmont, 45, one of the co-founders and partners of Arkose (300 employees, 20 cinemas in France). “The discussion starts naturally on the mats, you have to really want it to meet no one there. “
You have 59.16% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.