Garage Bouldering Cave
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I have been toying with the idea of building a bouldering cave in my garage, and I was wondering what expertise/experiences anyone might have re: the best ways to go about it. I've read the Metolius book on home gyms, but I was looking for some more personalized, "Do this... Don't do this, it sucks..." type of info. |
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Randy Leavitt wrote a how-to book that's pretty good. My own experience is don't make it all really steep, and it actually takes discipline to avoid buying nothing but jugs. |
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I built a climbing cave in my garage - it has three 8x4 plywood panels at 26 degrees, a vertical panel of the same size to the left, two 8x4 horizontal roof panels, and also at 90 degrees to the three overhanging panels 3 more 8x4's which are vertical (they're fixed to a storage cupboard, I'll make them overhanging one day.) Each panel was pre-set with about 60 t-nuts in a grid pattern. I use lots of jibs for feet and lots of slopers and jugs for the hands - I don't have many crimpers, as I'm prone to finger injuries. I have mattresses on the floor. I have bolt hangers along the roof panels, to practice clipping under physical stress. The whole thing has removable panels to facilitate storage (my drum kit is back there somewhere.) I have created routes and marked them with tape and even printed out a little guide sheet for when my mates visit (I encourage them to create new routes.) I tend to favor Entreprise and Stone Age holds. One can have fun with lighting. I have my old 60w Yamaha mixer and speakers in there - with iTunes ported from my computer. |
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Matt, |
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John, looks like your'e fortunate enough to have a nice high ceiling in that garage. Kind of a key parameter there. |
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I have a 10 foot ceiling that kinda helps... |
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My roomies and i built this wall in a barn we have in the back of our house. It' about 700 square feet of climbing and fun. We started with the low incline wall on the left and than just kept adding and adding as we progressed. For plywood we ended up using shop grade T and G because it was much cheaper. Everything was screwed in. We used a simple grid pattern with some modifications due to braces and existing wood. T nuts are cheaper through some of the machine shops. can't remember off the top of my head who we went through, but most of the manufacturers you call seem to know what it's for and are happy to help. Just have fun with it and get creative. We put a small 45 degree wall on the right, that we actually don't use all that much because it's only one sheet across and hard to do much more with than big dynamic moves because of how narrow it is. One thing that I wish we would have thought more about was using small gaps in the plywood for crimpers and such. On the 45 degree wall (don't know how well you can tell) we used a screw up in our construction to make a nice small finger crack that is really fun. Play around with it. Major benefit is the ability to drink Jack Daniels without gym employees bringing the wrath. Old mattresses are everywhere. Check out freecycle dot com for old beds and things for padding. Being in a college town, kids are always moving and leaving old mattresses and cushions on the side of the road to burn or whatever they do. Don't know if any of this helps. Good Luck! |
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John McNamee wrote:I have a 10 foot ceiling that kinda helps... to hang the ledge, drink beer and watch tv.Damn, and you still manage to park a car in there...good job! |
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I made a small wall in the garage so that I could still fit two cars in. Since the wall was mostly at 90degrees, I just bought smaller holds. If I wouldn't have moved, I was adding a slight angel on the next panels. I also lived 3 miles from a climbing gym, but you can't drink beer and jack all night at the gym (something about insurance is what they told me). I didn't climb on it as much by myself, but people always wanted to come over and boulder, so I got out on it at least several times a week. I'm really missing it now that I live in a 1 bedroom apartment. |
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I made a small wall in the garage so that I could still fit two cars in. Since the wall was mostly at 90degrees, I just bought smaller holds. If I wouldn't have moved, I was adding a slight angel on the next panels. I also lived 3 miles from a climbing gym, but you can't drink beer and jack all night at the gym (something about insurance is what they told me). I didn't climb on it as much by myself, but people always wanted to come over and boulder, so I got out on it at least several times a week. I'm really missing it now that I live in a 1 bedroom apartment. |
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I made a small wall in the garage so that I could still fit two cars in. Since the wall was mostly at 90degrees, I just bought smaller holds. If I wouldn't have moved, I was adding a slight angel on the next panels. I also lived 3 miles from a climbing gym, but you can't drink beer and jack all night at the gym (something about insurance is what they told me). I didn't climb on it as much by myself, but people always wanted to come over and boulder, so I got out on it at least several times a week. I'm really missing it now that I live in a 1 bedroom apartment. |
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I made a small wall in the garage so that I could still fit two cars in. Since the wall was mostly at 90degrees, I just bought smaller holds, which meant it was mostly crimps and small slopers. If I wouldn't have moved, I was adding a slight angel on the next panels. I also lived 3 miles from a climbing gym, but you can't drink beer and Jack all night at the gym (something about insurance is what they told me). I didn't climb on it as much by myself, but people always wanted to come over and boulder, so I got out on it at least several times a week. I'm really missing it now that I live in a 1 bedroom apartment. |
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Matt, I hope you love home projects. I put one in my basement: |
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I found this article to be a great resource when building my bouldering cave. For me purchasing 100's of holds was out of the question and Max (the author) shows some really creative substitutes. My favor is the ski binding toe peice crimper. Looks a bit ghetto but it will get the job done! (you can see the ski binding hold if you look close) |
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I am building a a small rock climbing gym in my garage and wanted some ideas for designs and angles. I have the size measurements if you need them for a reference all you need to do it reply and ask. :) |
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Andy Librande has some great ideas on his website: andylibrande.com/homeclimbi… |
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I can't wait to until I move out of this apartment and into a home so I can build something like you guys have. |
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The only board youll need to get super strong at all angles - |
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i would recomend making it simple. |
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I have to agree with Devin. His description is almost exactly what I am running, but in addition to the kicker I also have a one foot head board( my woody is free standing outdoors). I am a carpenter by trade and have built or assisted in the construction of six home gyms and decided on the sixty degree wall because the ease and cost of construction (my wall cost only a couple hundred dollars and I built it in only a few hours) and because the angle works well. I found that trying to set worthy problems on less angled walls is challenging, unless long traverses are possible. Two of the horizontal roofs I've done are similar in that setting hard problems is difficult and dangerous (they were at ceiling height), another roof was at four feet and is safer/funner. If you have the space for the sixty degree wall it is an awesome workout and even my young children can make it to the top if they pay attention to their footwork. |
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Even a vertical wall can be made fun/challenging. I had only a small area to traverse but it included an arete/projection (structural concrete column)to go around and the holds were unique as I had carved about half of them. I had mostly small slopers, crimps, some small cracks and ledges. None of it more than about a flange deep. |