About Ultimate Rope Climber

Darrin immediately had an idea for a safer alternative by using a rope on a continuous pulley system. He started drafting prototypes and with the help of his brother Kelby was able to bring his idea to life for the first time. The original prototype is still fully functional and in great shape nearly 20 years later. The rope was a unique issue we did not consider. To perfectly splice a rope so it is a seamless, continuous rope proved to be a challenge. Our original prototypes had a large bulge of adhesive to keep the two ends together, which we found frayed and separate with use. Our ropes are still hand braided, spliced and custom made for each of our rope climbing machines. We encountered many problems at every step! Financial problems, licensing problems, getting patents and sales licenses, etc. It was a huge effort to get this product off the ground and to start making sales at the government level.

“I quickly realized that this was going to happen in all the schools and rope climbing might fade away entirely,” Kamp recalls. “My mind immediately started working on how to create an alternative.”

I did not have any engineering background of any kind, but after growing up on a farm and helping my family build their homes I have always been very handy and had a knack for designing useful products. I didn’t research any other products on the market. I simply had a desire and passion to make the concept in my mind a reality. My brother was a mechanic with a garage full of tools and welding equipment and we got to work on the prototype. I worked on this machine in my free time, outside of work and raising a family, and it took around 5 years to get the prototype finished. Which is amazingly still in use with its original parts over 20 years later. We went to work on the first model in 1998 and had it finished in 2002. It was always my intention to make a business out of this product. I sold my first machine in 2007.

The rope has always been a challenging feature of creating this machine. It took us years to find the proper rope. The original models used a rope that was glued together and held together with a thick, unsightly plastic bonding agent. Getting a seamlessly braided continuous rope of over 50 feet in length proved to be challenging. All machines come with a hand braided eight-strand rope. This is a handmade rope that cannot be created with a machine.

We have overcome many challenges, from obtaining proper licenses and trademarks to creating a seamless, 34-foot rope that runs smoothly through the machine. It been a long journey thus far but we’ve built up our muscle and stamina to keep climbing higher!