Odd question: Help mounting a 4'x8' rock climbing wall in my living room

[Dave MacArthur]

Luke,
I had a similar climbing wall which I built (built 3 of them, 2 for friends), and just sold it last year. I have a ton of pics, but they are on my old computer boxed up... I'll try to get them, if you want full up design pics. Let me preface my remarks with some qualifications. In 1992, I began climbing in Texas, and travelling to Hueco Tanks during the winter. While there, I stayed at a "climbing house" owned by Todd Skinner and his wife Amy, who you may have heard of in climbing circles. The house was built specifically as a rock climbing "hostel", with numerous climbing walls inside. My design came from working with him on theirs. It is PORTABLE FOR MOVING, gives a much better workout than a vertical wall, doesn't require any support from your house structure, and you can modify your present wall to something similar. Working out on that wall alone allowed me to reach 5.11c level.


Here are several points for you:
1. DON'T MOUNT IT. Instead, make legs for the top, and SUPPORT it. There are many reasons for this.
2. A vertical climbing wall of that height is not sufficient for you to get a good workout OR improve. The problem is your fingertips will give out much much earlier than your major muscle groups, unless the wall is mounted in an over-hang configuration of about 30 degrees or more, you'll have sore fingers but no workout in 10 minutes on a vertical wall that high.
3. You can reinforce the back of the wall with some 2x6 running vertically, then be sure the top has a 2x4 across it for reinforcement.
4. Make some legs out of 2x4 mounted at 90 degrees to each other, 8 feet high or so, and bolt them to the TOP outside edges of the wall, so they can swing/collapse along the sides of the wall.
5. Mount a 2 foot high "footer" across the bottom of your wall (mine was a separate piece which bolted onto the 2x6 supports at the bottom). Now you have something like (seen from the edge):
.../
./
|
Where the top 2 lines are your existing wall, and the bottom is the 2' high piece as wide as the wall, bolted to the bottom.
6. You bolt the bottom on, then you lift up the top edge to the ceiling, allowing the attached "legs to swing down into place to hold it up. Then you drill appropriate holes in the legs and sides of the wall, about 4 feet away from the pivot point on both, and bolt on a 2x4 support, so it makes a triangle. This will make the thing rock solid and steady.
7. Now you have the best of all worlds:
- a wall that is hard enough (overhang) that your muscles get a good workout before your tips give out.
- a wall that forces you to learn weight placement and balance due to it's overhang
- a wall that can totally use the main portion you already built (very similar to mine, it's perfect for it!)
- a wall that is hard enough you won't outgrow it in 1 month. You can adjust the heightangle by tilting the legs or modding them too.
- PORTABLE! You just unbolt it when done, fold up the legs, unbolt the bottom, and ship it. I moved with the military 4 times with that climbing wall, and I could put the thing up by myself as well as take it down.
- No hassles with messing up your house!
- it fits in a garage bay or in a room, just load some old mattresses and carpet padding underneath, buyable off craigslist anywhere for 50$.


I know it's kind of hard to visualize without pics, so I'm going to try to unpack my old computer and get them posted for you. Everyone I ever met in the climbing community, whether they had their own wall or not, liked the wall so good that they wanted one, which is why I ended up making several.

I hope I'm not throwing a wrench in your plans, but I am absolutely convinced that the 30-45 degree over-hung wall on support legs is the way to go. At one point I had my 3-car garage completely "wallified" in 2 bays, walls and ceiling and this thing, and ran climbing clinics in Del Rio Texas on the big 160 foot high limestone at the Rio Grande/Pecos river juncture. Everyone started out on the "vertical" walls, but within weeks their skills/fingers let them move on to the over-hang, and no one ever went back.

Good luck, I'll post when I get the pics online.
Dave

[Bill Marcheck]

Luke,

Finally I can contribute something on this forum!

Typically you would want a wall that short to be overhanging. I've got a small one in a spare bedroom, it overhangs about 40 degrees. This makes the length about 10 feet or so given my ceiling height. Dead vertical becomes too easy or you end up using holds too small which is hard on your fingers tendons and ligaments.

If you need it to fold flat you could make an A frame that would fold up against the wall, then you could pull the legs out to increase the angle. My first one was totally freestanding with posts at the corner, but it was 10 foot wide so it was too heavy to change the angle.

The other thing you can do for an overhanging wall is to put a 2 x 4 on the wall opposite your climbing wall, then run 2 x 4s from the top of the wall across to the 2X4 on the opposite wall.

3/4" plywood is standard for commercial and municipal climbing wall everywhere I've seen.

As far as only having two feet to climb, that's why you start with your butt on the ground. When the wall overhangs 40 degress and your sitting on the ground, trust me the top is a long ways away.


Bill

[Luke McFadden]

Thanks Dave and Bill for the descriptions. I'd definitely appreciate some pictures and/or drawings so I can visualize your ideas. I like the idea of no bolt holes at all, and being able to move it around.

L

[Greg Cuetara]

George I think what luke is trying to do is moreso to build strength and technique rather than climb 100 feet up a rockface....a lot of rock climbers work out close to the ground so that they can fall and it won't be very far...they go back and forth around the board...this will build their strength up so that when they do get out in the field they can spend their time climbing up the 100 ft rock face rather than building strength and falling...

good luck to you luke..i have had a few friends build small walls and I have tried going up a few rock faces...

[Aaron Frank]

Luke,

I built 3 4 foot panels, using 2x4's and 3/4" construction grade plywood in my 7 foot tall basement about 10 years ago. I no longer have the wall -- lost it in a move some years ago. But, what I can tell you is that this is not hard.

A couple of suggestions:
First thing to do is to try and find a gym that has a bouldering cave. I'm not sure where in Arkansas you are, but there's a gym in Little Rock. Talk to manager and maybe they'll let you go in back and see the skeleton that holds everything up. You might also try doing a google search: 'build rock climbing wall,' you'll get a bunch of info.

Second, I'd build the wall with the studs 12" on center, you'll get a lot less flex in the wall this way, even over only 8 feet. (I'm 6'3" and 200lbs, so this was definitely something I was concerned with.) If you can line up the wall with the ceiling rafters you can drill into them to hold the overhaning wall up. You'd be wise to put in a supporting member midway up the wall to also help control flex. I'm going to try and attach a quick drawing I did, to show you what mine looked like. I unfortunately don't have any pics handy.


For those who don't get this idea, the point is not to get to the top, but to practice one's technique, much like a golfer would go to the driving range and work on their swing.

Good luck.
Aaron

Also I have a whole bucket of Metolius holds. PM me if you're interested.

[Robert Mayer]

Three lag bolts with washers.

Patch three holes when you move.

This is what you should do.

You guys are making it too complicated.

[Randy Denby]

Dave,
You reply caught my attention. You stated that you put on climbing clinics in Del Rio. I know my adopted brother is BIG into climbing and lives in Del Rio....as I did when younger. His name is Monty Stidham......ring a bell?

Thanks, Randy

[Luke McFadden]

Luke,
If you need it to fold flat you could make an A frame that would fold up against the wall, then you could pull the legs out to increase the angle. My first one was totally freestanding with posts at the corner, but it was 10 foot wide so it was too heavy to change the angle.
Bill

In thinking through some options. If I did do a free standing a-frame, how high up would my supports need to be? And how wide would my bottom support need to be? Would the diagonal sides of the A need to go all the way to the top? Are there standard ratios that are acceptable, or a good way to figure this out?

Thanks

Luke

[Dave MacArthur]

Randy, PM sent. Sorry, doesn't ring a bell-- I was stationed there at Laughlin AFB and put in climbing routes in 1991-1994, and have been gone since then.