ROCHESTER, MN — elektraLite LED fixtures are helping rock wall climbers scale new heights at Rochester, Minnesota’s Roca Climbing & Fitness. According to Jeremy Schaar, owner of the indoor rock climbing gym, he required small, lightweight lighting fixtures with clean white lighting that would shine like daylight on the rock-climbing wall. “We needed clean white light because we set our climbing routes on the wall by the color of the ‘hold,’” Schaar explains.
More details from elektraLite (www.myelektralite.com):
“To climb a route properly, one must stay on the same color of hold all the way to the top of the wall. If the lighting is too orange or the light fixtures don’t match color temperature, it can make the climbing holds on different sections of the wall look like different colors. That makes it harder for the climber to stay on course.”
Schaar contacted Jeff LaPell at Stage Lighting Store in Jacksonville, Florida for suggestions. LaPell says he works with customers who frequently need lighting guidance. “He wanted to exhibit real life lighting—daylight on the wall, just white light,” says LaPell, who recommended elektraLite LED products, specifically two elektraLite Dazers and two eyeBalls. “As some fixtures were going to be mounted close to the wall, the eyeBall was the obvious choice. Conversely, some long-range lighting was needed as well and the powerful Dazer was the ideal solution. As both have the same color temperature, the fixtures complimented one another perfectly and are not a distraction to the climbers.”
Schaar installed the fixtures in time for the Full Tilt Climbing Competition earlier this year, billed as Southeast Minnesota’s biggest such event. The elektraLites were hung up high in the facility, pointing at the “competition wall.” During the Full Tilt event, the rest of the gym was dark except for the lights shining daylight on the wall.
“I describe it as a ‘Vertical Stage,’” Schaar explains. “It was super dramatic and everyone loved the effect! Nothing like this has been done at a climbing competition in Minnesota before. It felt like a big-time competition in a smaller market. Ending the competition with such a dramatic show really left a lasting impression on climbers and spectators alike!”
The elektraLite Dazer CW offers clean white light using 36 powerful five-watt LEDs. Should the venue decide to go beyond white light, the fixture includes a color frame for diffusion and color media to be used. Included with each fixture are four interchangeable optics providing choices of 15-, 25-, 40 and 60-degree beam spreads and offering the venue more options to illuminate its other fitness events, such as yoga and beyond.
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Roca Climbing Installs elektraLite / Add One
The elektraLite eyeBall Architectural 18-3W is available in warm white or cool white using 18 three-watt LEDs. Its output delivers at distances of more than 75 feet, and its low profile and small five-pound size allow it to be hung in tight spaces and low ceiling applications.
Both elektraLite products offer unlimited mounting options and built-in plug and play functionality, which enhanced its appeal for the fitness facility. Schaar admits to not knowing much about lighting, although he’s been an amateur DJ since high school and had aspirations to open a nightclub at one time. Despite being a lighting novice, Schaar found the fixtures “easy to set up and figure out,” he says. “Now that I have a great base to my setup, I am very excited to add to it in the future.”
For more info on Roca Climbing & Fitness, visit www.climbroca.com. Stage Lighting Store can likewise be found online at www.stagelightingstore.com.
