With the cold weather forcing Chattanooga climbers to flock to indoor climbing gyms, there’s no better time to consider building your own private bouldering wall at home.
Not only is a workout wall in your garage or basement a great way to avoid noisy crowds (or, if you’re like me, avoid strangers watching you flail and fall off the same boulder problem for the third time), it’s also a great way to improve your strength and technique on your own time year-round.
Building a wall requires a rudimentary understanding of construction principles, but even if you can’t tell a T-nut from a T-bevel, you can still get the perfect wall by contracting a local carpenter or bribing a construction-savvy friend. The design, however, will be totally up to you. Here are a few pointers to get you started.
STEP 1: Pick a location.
Before you start measuring your bedroom, know you can’t just build a boulder wall anywhere. You need to make sure your chosen space can support the weight of your wall – which could be hundreds of pounds – as well as your bodyweight. Contact an engineer to be safe, and even if s/he gives your bedroom the thumbs-up, consider these alternatives:
* Garage: Usually has higher ceilings for longer walls, but may not be warm year-round. If space is needed for parking, plan to adjust your wall’s angles to provide enough room for your car and the garage door to open. If room is needed for storage, the area behind the wall can be used for additional stowaway space. If your wall will block a window, make sure you have another source of light.
* Basement: Usually has lower ceilings but usually will remain a constant temperature throughout the year. Remember to separate the wall from your living space, as falling can be loud and chalk, obtrusive.
* Outside: Yes, you can turn the side of your home into a bouldering wall – just remember to make it weatherproof, as it will substitute for siding.
STEP 2: Design your wall.
* This is the fun part. But before you attempt to draw up a design that puts High Point to shame, ask yourself these questions:
* What do I want my wall to look like? Sounds simple, but it requires some homework. Visit local climbing gyms and look online at other home gyms. Take measurements, if you can, and note what you like and don’t like.
* What kind of workout am I looking for? Flat, overhanging walls between 20 and 35 degrees typically offer the best variety. Walls tilted at 45 degrees are great for building core strength and endurance but might do little for improving footwork. (Remember to leave room for a kicker board at the bottom for walls this steep.) Roofs and vertical walls can be good for a fun climb, but the variety of movements will remain the same no matter what holds are used.
* Will this design work? Time to bust out the high school trigonometry. Take measurements of your space and draw a sketch of your proposed design with graph paper and a protractor. If you’re like me and prefer to avoid math like the plague, you can use 3-D design software or build a model to scale from cardboard. Make sure the area beneath your wall is safe for falling. There should be enough room for swinging falls, which could take you beyond the edges of your wall. And dont forget to lift your wall into place.
STEP 3: Set the holds.
I lied. This is the fun part. After your wall’s been built, you can make your own holds or buy in bulk online. Brands like Element and Metolius typically offer good selections, but you should find out what brands your favorite gym uses and start there. Here are a few suggestions for route setup:
* If you have a small wall, add as many holds as possible to make it interesting.
* You can set up specific problems over time, but the easiest way to start is to set your holds randomly, then move and tweak them to perfection as you climb.
* To keep your wall interesting, have friends set problems for you or create problems that must be scaled side to side instead of bottom to top.
* If you set a good hold, mark the placement of holds and number of movements so you can revisit the workout later.