A huge climbing wall that steals the eye.
The first thing you see when you enter the restaurant is a huge climbing wall.
It is the first store in Asia to have a climbing wall of this scale, which is well over 5 meters high. It is the first of its kind in Asia, and the routes have been carefully selected.
And if you look closely, the holds are carved out of natural wood. There are even some that seem to make use of the bumps in the wood as they are. Naturally, they are all one-offs. When you get closer, you can see that the surface of the wall also has a texture similar to granite, which is different from the so-called "ordinary" artificial wall. The combination of these elements creates a wall that blends in well with the chic interior of the store.
Ken Takagi, the brand head of Arc'teryx, says that this wall can actually be used for top-rope climbing, a feature he really wanted to incorporate when he opened the Kobe store.
The origin of Arc'teryx is the climbing harness. Ashiya Rock Garden on Mt. Rokko is said to be the birthplace of climbing in Japan, so we wanted to build a wall in our Kobe store that could be properly climbed.
Aside from its impact as a display, the main purpose of this wall is to test the comfort of the harnesses. Since it is a piece of gear that we trust our lives to, fitting before purchase is in some ways more important than shoes or clothing. The ability to actually use the wall to check not only the size and fit, but also the load when actually falling is quite revolutionary.
