ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996               TAG: 9601290065
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
COLUMN: New to the Valley 

DIVERSIFIED CLIMBING STRUCTURES

Owner: Dean Crane

Phone: 382-1301

Products: Diversified Climbing Structures designs and builds indoor and outdoor climbing walls. The walls are popular with outdoor rock climbers who use them for practice, and are becoming more popular with customers who may not be avid climbers but still want full-body, low-impact exercise. Indeed, some climbers climb exclusively indoors.

Crane's business, which he started in October 1995, is part of a growing national interest in climbing. The walls range in price from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, and can be small enough to fit into a garage or big enough so that it must be outside. Crane, who is director of parks and recreation of Blacksburg, so far has built two walls, a small, garaged-size wall in Radford and a larger one in Roanoke. Construction time can be as short as two weeks.

Crane designs the wall with a structural engineer, based on input from the customer, and provides maintenance and training. His walls come with positions for a variety of hand- and foot-holds, making for an almost unlimited number of climbing routes.

LENGTH: Short :   31 lines