From the early days of climbing wall construction, two products seemed to prevail, pea gravel and shredded rubber. Both products are a loose product and tend to get tracked all over the facilities and even on occasion hitch a ride with your participant all of the way home attached to shoe strings or clothing.

 

 

Over time, pea gravel has fallen out of favor due to wear issues on ropes, anchors, and other equipment and shredded rubber, although still a viable option, has containment issues as well as having rubber dust and a rubbery odor. In an effort to eliminate these containment issues, Nicros introduced our Nicro-Mulch™ (a natural-looking poured-in-place surface) and Nicro-Mat™ (an EPDM coated, custom-color, poured-in-place surface).

Over the years we have had multiple requests for a more economical, less labor-intensive, easy-to-install landing surface to complement our other landing surface products. Nicros is proud to offer the best seamless, carpet-bonded system in the industry in our Nicros-DropZone™ product. The best part is that it’s even customizable to the project and the end user can install it themselves.

Nicros-DropZone  uses the same foam underlayment as Nicro-Mat and Nicro-Mulch and can be provided in a number of thicknesses. The top layer is carpet that is heat-bonded to a stiffer foam and is available in three colors – red, blue, and gray. Because Nicros-DropZone™ is a seamed product, it is easy to install and easy to replace or repair. It also provides a cost savings over poured-in-place landing surface products.

Nicros-DropZone™ is very easy to maintain, clean, and vacuum. There is no rubber involved which often marks up other floors and surfaces. It provides a very uniform surface and can be used without crash pads above it – even in a bouldering cave. This is an added advantage because with this flooring in place, it eliminates the possibilities of climbers rolling an ankle while falling off the edge of a crash pad. One nice thing about Nicros-DropZoneTM is the ease of installation and the ability to easily replace sections should they become irreversibly soiled. Should you find a section in need of foam underlayment replacement, this can also easily take place without having to replace the entire landing surface.

The Nicros-DropZone™ has a top surface that is carpeted. This surface makes it easy to wipe your feet off before trying again and it’s an easy surface to vacuum when too much loose chalk is used. With all of the layers of foam in place, it’s dense enough that you don’t feel like you’re bottoming out when you land on this surface. The top layer is more dense to spread the impact on the less dense layers below which gives this system a nice, soft catch.

When landing on this product, the feel is fairly stiff. The foam definitely does not give way under the pressure caused by falling onto it. In other words, your fall is cushioned rather than the foam totally compressing and you bottoming out onto the material below the landing surface.

Nicros-DropZone™ is a minimum of  5  5/8 inches thick but can be customized to be thicker in two inch increments.

Because Nicros-DropZone™ is a custom product, there is a price range and the cost will vary depending on a number of factors including total square feet, desired thickness, and overall shape of the landing surface. The product can be provided for self-installation or we would be happy to provide a full custom install. Generally, the price range for this product is between $12 and $18 per square foot. To get an accurate quote for your facility, please call a customer service representative.