Warped Wall and Salmon Ladder
At its core, American Ninja Warrior is a sport obsessed with obstacles. There are two obstacles that are synonymous with American Ninja Warrior: the Warped Wall and the Salmon Ladder.
Warped Wall
Have you ever tried to run up a wall? What if that wall was curved and fourteen and a half feet tall? That is the challenge that every ninja faces in the city and city finals courses.
The Warped Wall spells the end of many smaller competitors’ runs. On the opposite end of the spectrum, taller competitors generally handle the Warped Wall with relative ease.
To test the limits of the athletes, ANW holds the American Ninja Warrior: All Star Challenge. In the second edition of this challenge, there were five competitors: Jon Alexis Jr., Jesse Labreck, Najee Richardson, Flip Rodriguez, and Joe Moravsky.
All five of them completed the seventeen foot wall, even the Jesse “Flex” Labreck. On the eighteen foot wall, Flex Labreck got her fingertips above the edge but couldn’t keep her grip and was eliminated. While all of the remaining four managed to climb the eighteen and a half foot wall, only Jon Alexis Jr., who is six and a half feet tall and nicknamed “The Giant,” could climb the nineteen foot wall.
While these exceptional athletes make the Warped Wall look easy, the obstacle is extremely challenging.
Salmon Ladder
Most people hate pull ups. Now, imagine each pull-up requiring enough power to elevate the pull up bar an entire foot. Exhausting, right?
As if the Salmon Ladder was not already difficult enough, the course designers made this the seventh obstacle of every City Finals course, directly after the Warped Wall. Quickly, however, this obstacle proved to be too easy. Generally, when a new obstacle in ANW proves to be difficult or a ninja-killer, the entire community trains relentlessly towards defeating this obstacle. Now, being able to finish the Salmon Ladder is expected of most ninjas.
As the ninjas evolved, so did the course. During Stage Two from ANW4 through ANW7, competitors would face the Double Salmon Ladder. The Double Salmon Ladder forces competitors to turn at the top of a normal Salmon Ladder, launch with the bar across a gap, and climb a second Salmon Ladder. When this obstacle became too easy, the Double Salmon Ladder was replaced by the Down-Up Salmon Ladder, where the competitors would climb down the wall, launch across a gap, and then climb up the wall on the other side. Again, this obstacle proved too easy and was replaced in ANW9 by the Criss Cross Salmon ladder, requiring ninjas to launch across the gap twice on the way to the next obstacle.
Similar to the modified Warped Wall, ninjas faced a modified Salmon Ladder with thirty-five rungs (any higher would be a safety hazard) in the skills challenge. Amazingly, Karsten Williams managed to climb all thirty-five rungs, with New York firefighter Mike Bernardo climbing thirty-four.
Both of these obstacles, the Warped Wall and the Salmon Ladder, are staples of American Ninja Warrior. It is safe to say they will be a mainstay of the competition for years to come.
<http://sasukepedia.wikia.com/wiki/Salmon_Ladder>
Dante,
This whole passion blog is really interesting. I myself have never really paid attention to ANW, but now that you say it, all of these obstacles do seem very physically daunting. You know what would be great for the sport? They should have an episode where star athletes from other sports come over and attempt to complete the course. We can leave out the baseball guys because half of them are pudgy anyway, but can you imagine an all-star squad like LeBron James, Cam Newton, Russell Westbrook, Usain Bolt, or maybe even 5 time pro bowling champion Pete Weber? It would be amazing. Everyone would turn out to see how fast Usain Bolt could go, or how many obstacles LeBron could run over, or to see Pete Weber dry hump the air and tell the crowd to ”Suck it” as it were. It would be fantastic. The best part would be that everyone would gain a new respect for the sport as the athletes fell off the wagon. Let’s make it happen!
Dante,
As someone who has watched American Ninja Warrior, I enjoyed reading your post. It’s wild to think that people train for this competition so much that being able to complete tasks like the Salmon Ladder and Warped Wall are expectations. The amount of strength, energy, and commitment it takes to succeed in this competition seems unreal.
Hi Dante,
Ah yes, the beloved Warped Wall and Salmon Ladder! These two obstacles are undoubtedly the most entertaining parts of any course to watch. They represent the pinnacle of both coordination and strength, showing any audience the success that can come from training at a particular level. I really enjoyed reading about the progression of difficulty for the Salmon Ladder, as I had no idea it was originally only an “Up” ladder! Your inclusion and description of each event’s most successful athletes gives your piece a relatable feeling, giving me the feeling of being there live watching the action unfold, which is a great personification technique. It’s quite amazing to think that people devote hours a day to training for each of these events. The relentless difficulty these events pose is entertaining to watch, and I feel would be even more exhilarating to try out for myself! I think I have a new challenge on the horizon.
Thanks for sharing!