New woody

I'm just after some feedback on my design thoughts for my new woody. I live in Aus and have just purchased a new house. It has a big outdoor space which will be doubled in the next week.

I speak in both metric and imperial so don't worry about any conversions.

The wall 2400mm(LHS)x4800mm(L)x2100mm(RHS) (8'x16'x7') this leads into a massive roof. I was thinking of building 2 walls.

1st:
1200(h) x 2400(l) (4'x8') vertical
1200(h) x 2400(l) (4'x8') @45 degrees

2nd:
2400(h) x 2400(l) (8'x8') @25 degrees

Both of these will lead into a 16'x8' roof.

They will be side-by-side so there will be some little corners to fill.

I would suggest foregoing the vertical sections for over hanging.They tend to become boring after only a short period of time.And dead horizontal roofs tend to lead to only certain kinds of moves to be set. Our woody is 12 years old and we have removed the vertical and horizontal sections because we felt they limited what you can do. We now have different degrees of over hang ranging from 15 to 40 degrees and this seems to be good for our needs.Also if you have any plywood left over you can use it to build features that can be moved around to help with variety.Just my two cents. sounds like a good size wall. Have fun with it

You list the dimensions as 8'x16'x7'. Does that mean you're limited to 7 feet in height?

If so I agree with Keith. A 1 to 2 foot vertical "kicker" tends to be best for most steep woodies. A 16x8 roof would be huge. Your time, materials and money might be better served by making more overhang and less horizontal if your space and design can accommodate it.

One of my older woodies was limited to a basement ceiling height of 7'2". I built a free-standing box that took up nearly the entire room with a half-inch to spare at the ceiling. The kicker for the larger section was 3' and the overhang worked to about 55 degrees. Good luck.

There was a similar post a while back that may (or may not) help.
What Does Your Woody Look Like

My wall is in there somewhere. I have a 40 degree wall in my garage. The bottom of the rafters are at 8'6". Building a roof wasn't so easy in my garage. Instead I extended my wall 24" into the rafters which worked surprising well for finishing holds on the routes. The rafters have a horizontal spacing of 24 inches.

In my opinion I wouldn't bother with a vertical wall. Bring it back at least 10 degrees. Also, I believe that walls need to be wider as the angle decreases. My 40 degree wall is 8 feet wide which is perfect. A 50 degree could probably drop to 4 feet wide. Anything less than 25 degrees and you will want the wall at least 8 feet wide.

Basically what I'm trying to say is keep it simple. I assume most people build walls to get stronger. A bunch of angled sections in a small amount of space isn't exactly ideal.

Then again, as The Dude would say, "Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion man."

I suggest that your 45 degree wall be 8 feet wide, and ditch the vertical section. Then, use 20 degrees instead of 25 for the other wall.

Echo the above comments on don't have any vertical. You can have a 1-2ft kicker but that is all I would have.

My woody is 12ft wide x 8ft long at ~30 degrees going into a 12ft wide roof (not horizontal) and 6 ft long. Your design ideas are not much different from what my wall actually is.

If I were to change my design I would make the bottom section a couple feet higher (which with a 1-2 ft kicker may be perfect) as 8 ft at 30 degrees makes the wall only 7.5 ft tall (ideal height would be 9ft or so before going into the roof). I also don't have a steep section on my wall like you are proposing and I like it that way but I can see it as a good possibility since your wall would be 4 ft wider.

What I like about the wide wall at the same angle is that you can start in one corner and make upwards traverse moves into the other corner for some big routes. But with a big transition in the middle you are looking at a sweet arete in the middle of your wall. Also maybe explore doing something different with the roof angles if you have the room.

Here are more details on my wall: andylibrande.com/homeclimbi…

If you pick around on that website you will find other tips/tricks I have come-up with as well that may help you.

I also agree that a vertical kicker is needed on most overhanging walls.

Andy, I admire your enthusiasm for home walls. I love your website. Your outdoor wall has me conjuring new ideas. I'm especially jealous of people with taller walls. Is your wall anchored to the ground in anyway?

Trendsetter, do you have any pics of the space you are working with?

Dan S. wrote:Is your wall anchored to the ground in anyway?

The wall in anchored by gravity! It just sits on top of the hard-dirt in my backyard and has been there since Oct 2008 holding up solid.

Glad you like the website!

Kickers take away usable climbing space and remove the need for good technique/core strength for the first couple moves.

JohnWesely wrote:Kickers take away usable climbing space and remove the need for good technique/core strength for the first couple moves.

How do you figure? First of all, if you just let a 45 degree wall go straight into the floor, it won't even be a foot off the ground until you're a foot away from where the wall meets the wall. My feet are near 11 inches long, so using anything in that space < 12" high would mean I'd just be hitting my heels on the floor with any kind of rotational foot movement. How is that any better than just having a 12" kicker? If anything it seems like NOT having a kicker would waste a good foot around the bottom perimeter of the wall.

And as for technique, that's not solely dependent on the wall angle. A vertical kicker with small slick chips can require as much (or even more) technique as an overhang with big foot holds.

(Note: I'm genuinely interested in why you think that...I'll be eventually building a woody in my basement with an 8ft height limitation, so I want to make the best of it)

would you recommend buying a start set of holds, if so what brand, or just buying individual holds?

i really like the holds at my local climbing gym and went to the website to piece together holds so I could set very similar routes but theoretically the holds I picked out would be $700+

I agree on the need for a kicker on 40 degrees or steeper, I have a 40 degree section on my wall and and I put a real tiny one on. I'm not wasting any space- the section of the wall covered by the kicker would be inaccessible, since you wouldn't even be able to get your foot in there. Pictures of my wall here .

I went with two relatively narrow sections of 30 and 40 degrees, and I have mixed feelings about it. If I were to it again I'd maybe make it one wide section- it certainly would have been easier to build. As is, these sections feel a bit cramped, but the arete adds a lot of interesting potential and I do like having both angles. Ultimately, a straight 40 would have been better for training, but the way it is now is better for setting interesting problems.

I also set a vertical wall in the space left over on the side, and I'm glad I didn't devote more space to it. With the height I have access to, this section is limited to traverses. It is good for working with very marginal holds, though, and is good for when kids come over to climb.

Good luck!

Forget the vertical! I never use my 15 degree wall just to quickly transition between my 30 and 45 degree wall. So vertical is just silly. Make a 45 and 40 degree sections on the other side make it 30 degree. Your going to lose some roof space but a 16 x 8 roof is huge. And a fall to your back would suck. Look into a moon board on one side and a 45 on the other then the roofs. PM me if you would like some of my ideas and ways to protect a ground fall on your roofs. Happy climbing! Cheers.