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In 1985, in France, a passionate climber named François Savigny dared to dream differently. At a time when climbing was mainly practiced outdoors on natural rock, he had a revolutionary idea:
What if we could recreate the experience of climbing… indoors and modular?
That dream became a movement. And today, 40 years later, Entre-Prises — now EP Climbing — is recognized as a global pioneer in the climbing world. The evolution of EP is deeply intertwined with the rise of indoor climbing on a global scale, leading all the way to the Olympic Games.
To celebrate our 40th anniversary, we wanted to go back to where it all began.That’s why we’re thrilled to share with you an exclusive interview with François Savigny, the founder of Entre-Prises. In this intimate conversation, he recalls the early days, the challenges, the excitement, and the vision that sparked a global movement.
In 1982, François Savigny began by sculpting holds and volumes by hand in polyester resin, designing early climbing surfaces with a simple yet bold goal: to make climbing accessible year-round, everywhere.
In 1987, EP built its first artificial wall. Just two years later, in 1989, the first Climbing World Cup was held in Leeds, UK — and EP built the competition wall. This was the spark that ignited the expansion of indoor climbing across the world.
By the 1990s, EP was the go-to wall builder for major international events, including the pre-Olympic week in Albertville (1992) and many IFSC World Cup competitions. Over the decades, EP continued to innovate, building iconic structures for national federations, private gyms, and international championships.
Today, EP is the official wall supplier of the Olympic Games, designing and producing the TITAN bouldering wall, an IFSC standard wall now built worldwide and used at Paris 2024.
Behind every wall are stories. Of bold ideas, late-night builds, thrilling competitions, and personal triumphs. EP is much more than a company — it’s a community of climbers, builders, shapers, setters, athletes, and dreamers.
Some of the sport’s most legendary figures have worked with EP: Patrick Edlinger, Petit's Brother, François Legrand, Laurent Laporte, Lynn Hill, Chris Sharma, Muriel Sarkany, Shauna Coxsey — just to name a few. These athletes and many others helped write the story of indoor climbing as we know it today.
And EP has grown alongside the entire ecosystem: supporting the development of indoor gyms, designing adaptive walls for schools and public spaces, and now creating modular, sustainable, and creative structures for the climbers of tomorrow.
This milestone isn’t just about us — it’s about the entire climbing community.That’s why we’re inviting you to take part in the celebration with #EP40years.
👉 Tag your posts with #EP40years and help us build a collective timeline of climbing history — together. Let’s relive the early days of indoor climbing and celebrate how far we’ve all come.
We’ll be sharing community posts all year long — let’s fill the feeds with climbing love!
Your throwback photos, your favorite old-school gym setups, competition pics, or stories about your first climbing experiences — especially if they happened on an EP wall.
EP has come a long way — but we’re just getting started. Today, we’re focused on the future:
Our mission remains the same: Make climbing accessible to everyone, everywhere.
From all of us at EP Climbing — thank you for 40 unforgettable years.
Let’s keep climbing, dreaming, and building together.
Tag @EPClimbing with #BringsClimbingToEveryone