Why Are Climbing Walls And Jump Towers 34 Feet Tall

The Height of 34 Feet Might Engender Maximum Fear of Heights In Humans

Originally Posted as “Why 34 Foot: Climbing Walls And Jump Towers” at “Old Ones Dream” June 23, 2014.

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It was the summer of 1962 and I was watching a “career change” in process at the exit door of the 34 foot jump tower at Fort Bragg. A Distinguished Military Student from a college in South Carolina who aspired to be an Army Airborne Ranger was stuck like velcro. After what must have seemed like a lifetime of humiliation to him, the sergeant stepped forward and gave him a boot. The story then was that 34 feet is, psychologically, the most terrifying height for the average person. Above that height, wonder and a sense of absurdity begin to kick in and terror tends to decrease. My experience doing millwright work on grain elevators later in life bears this sense out — much of our work was done between 30 and 40 feet off of the ground, and that was less fun than the work at 75 or 100 feet. I googled a lot of phrases including “34 foot jump tower” and I did find two references to the idea that the height of 34 feet might “engender maximum fear of heights in humans.”

Earlier this year there was a good article in the Asheville Citizens-Times announcing the opening of the new Smoky Mountain Adventure Center in the River Arts District of Asheville and featuring a 34 foot climbing wall. I wondered if they knew why their wall was to be 34 feet tall. I read the article and there was no mention so I decided to bet that it was an industry standard. I googled “34 foot climbing wall” and found them galore. So there you go — a sign of the times.

My Google research work with the goal of finding evidence that climbing walls are 34 feet tall for the same reason that jump towers are that height was not fruitful. You would have to assume that someone in that industry knows why they build climbing walls exactly 34 feet tall and then promote them as such, but they are not talking. The most references supporting the theory may be found by "Googling" "34 feet fear of heights". None of the references applied to climbing walls.

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-Images courtesy of Google Photos