American Ninja Warrior 9's Elevator Climb
The Elevator Climb is an obstacle, firstly introduced as the tenth and final obstacle in every city finals course on American Ninja Warrior 9, replacing the Invisible Ladder from the past two American Ninja Warrior seasons.
Competitors must use two levers that only move upward, and pump their arms up 35 feet (10.67 meters), similar to the Invisible Ladder. However, unlike the Invisible Ladder, the space between the walls was decreased to 4 feet (1.22 meters), which was similar to the Spider Climb (although competitors were still not allowed to use their feet while attempting this obstacle). Also, just like the Spider Climb and Invisible Ladder, the starting platform at the bottom of the walls would move slightly upward when the competitors scaled the obstacle, in order to soften the impact, in case the competitors failed to complete the obstacle and fell.
Because of the immense amount of upper body usage, this obstacle was much similar in function to the Invisible Ladder, as it served as a challenging final test of endurance after competitors had spent a lot of energy on the 9 previous obstacles. However, the Elevator Climb proved to be much harder than its predecessor, as it ended many veterans' runs. Even people who cleared the obstacle struggled a lot to finish it and were completely exhausted by the end. Nine competitors in total failed the obstacle: Brent Steffensen, Flip Rodriguez, JJ Woods, Jessie Graff, Sean Darling-Hammond, Nicholas Coolridge, Thomas Stillings, Gabe Hurtado, and Mitch VeDepo, while the other nine were able to complete it, which overall amounted to a 50% clearance rate by the end of the city finals round. This obstacle holds the records for both the lowest number of clears and the lowest clearance rate of any final obstacle in a city finals course.
This obstacle had the most amount of clears in the Los Angeles finals, having four competitors completing it that round: Adam Rayl, Charlie Andrews, Josh Levin, and Sean Bryan. In contrast, the Kansas City finals was the only city finals round where the obstacle had zero finishers. Both the Kansas City and Denver finals had only one competitor attempt the obstacle each, whereas Mitch VeDepo did not complete the obstacle in the Kansas City finals, Ian Dory completed it in the Denver finals. The other four competitors who completed the obstacle are Daniel Gil in San Antonio, Drew Drechsel in Daytona Beach, and both Joe Moravsky and Jamie Rahn in Cleveland.
Jessie Graff is the only woman to have ever attempted this obstacle. During the Daytona Beach finals, she became the first woman since Kacy Catanzaro in American Ninja Warrior 6 to attempt the final obstacle on a city finals course. Unfortunately, she gassed out a few feet away from the top, thus failing the obstacle.
Likely because of its difficulty, the obstacle was only used for one season, and it was replaced by the Spider Trap in the next season.
Other Appearances[]
Ninja Warrior Germany[]
Ninja Warrior Germany 3's Elevator Climb
In Ninja Warrior Germany 3, the Elevator Climb, locally called Kamin mit Hebeln (literally Chimney with Levers), appeared as the ninth and final obstacle of the Semi-finals. The total height of the obstacle was 7m (22.97 feet). Possibly due to the more minor height, it was less brutal than the original obstacle of American Ninja Warrior, as out of twenty-one attempts, only seven ninjas failed it.
Four Nations Special[]
Then, during the Four Nations Special, Elevator Climb reappeared as the ninth and final obstacle of the First Stage with no modifications. This time, three of the four competitors to attempt the obstacle failed it, namely Sergio Verdasco (Team Spain), Renรฉ Casselly (Team Germany), and Tim Shieff (Team Great Britain), while only Moritz Hans completed it and the stage altogether.
Competitors' Success Rate[]
- All results based on the NBC broadcast and external information found.
American Ninja Warrior[]
| ANW | City | Clears | Attempts | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANW9 | Los Angeles | 4 | 6 | 66.67% |
| San Antonio | 1 | 4 | 25% | |
| Daytona Beach | 1 | 4 | 25% | |
| Cleveland | 2 | 2 | 100% | |
| Kansas City | 0 | 1 | 0% | |
| Denver | 1 | 1 | 100% | |
| Total | 9 | 18 | 50% | |
Ninja Warrior Germany[]
| NWG | Clears | Attempts | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| NWG3 | 14 | 21 | 66.67% |
| NWG: FNS | 1 | 4 | 25% |
| Total | 15 | 25 | 60% |
Trivia[]
- Coincidentally, Flip Rodriguez and Thomas Stillings failed at both the Elevator Climb and Invisible Ladder on their first attempts.
- Both the Invisible Ladder and Elevator Climb had one city finals round where no competitor could complete it, leaving a city finals round with zero finishers. This occurred with the Invisible Ladder during American Ninja Warrior 8's Philadelphia finals, and it later occurred with the Elevator Climb during American Ninja Warrior 9's Kansas City finals. Both instances marked the first and second times respectively where no competitor finished a city finals course in ANW.
- Charlie Andrews was the only rookie among the nine competitors that were able to get past the Elevator Climb on American Ninja Warrior 9.
- Cleveland and Denver were the only two qualifying cities on American Ninja Warrior 9, where no competitor had failed at the Elevator Climb.
- San Antonio, Daytona Beach, and Denver were the only qualifying cities on American Ninja Warrior 9 where only one competitor could get up the Elevator Climb, as Daniel Gil, Drew Drechsel, and Ian Dory were the only finishers in their respective cities. For Daniel Gil and Drew Drechselโs cases, both of them were the last competitors to run the course and saved their respective cities from having no finishers.
- This obstacle has the shortest amount of appearances for a final city finals obstacle, only appearing in one season, likely due to its massive difficulty.