Hey guys, I'm gonna start by just getting this out of the way and saying, I am by no means an engineer.

But I know some of you guys have a pretty good handle on things like that. So here's my project.

Wall Submitted By: Brian Taylor on Jan 11, 2013

Would you be open to adding vertical support beams on the sides? If so, you could probably get away making the supporting structure out of wood. If not, I don't see how you'd be able to support the weight of the wall, much less a lounge, w/o using steal beams.

I'm no engineer either, but I am interested to see some educated answers.

are you going to end up torching it on the playa?

better use wooden holds.

That's a big cantilever. You would need a pretty heavy counter weight or some guy lines or ground anchors if you want the free end to be unsupported.

Ok, so we're not going to burn it. Steel would be fine so long as we can assemble it out there, or at least have the frame be in small enough pieces that we could fit it in a trailer and get it out there. We're totally open to the idea of support beams, but we'd rather not if we can avoid it. (The silhouette pictures would be way less cool with support beams)

Thanks for the video Denny, BUR-NING-MAN. haha

I appreciate good route setting and I also appreciate good art however I've never considered that the two are even remotely similar.
In my experience what constitutes a good route has nothing to do with it's visual impact. And regardless of how amazing the colors and arrangements of the climbing holds are they are seldom indicators of stellar climbing.
So, I would have to hear more about why mixing route setting and art together makes sense.

As far as taking something to burning man and setting it on fire I'm all in.

Have fun at burning man - hope nobody gets crushed!

I'm not an engineer but I have been building things (like houses etc) for nearly 40 years. I have also built several climbing walls over the years. You simply cannot build that structure free standing in a practical way without some supports near the front. If you plan to take this to a public outing I assume you will be buying a large liability insurance policy on it (you'd better be). The insurance company may well demand engineer involvement and plans.

The easiest thing to do might be to sink a few ~10 ft 4" schedule 40 pipes into the ground at the support structure (easier and more stable than a cumbersome cantilever). Then you could build trusses off of the sunk pipes. The calculations are all relatively straightforward, though you need to make a number of assumptions about the soul quality. Though I don't have much structures experience, so maybe a civil engineer can chime in.

Can you pour concrete? What's the soil composition like? As far as the framing goes, you could stick with wood and just use carriage bolts to get sections together onsite. And then screw in the pre cut plywood panels. You are going to have to overbuild the thing somewhat. The real problem with what is pictured is keeping the thing upright. You don't want to kill someone.

Ideally this would be something that could be set up, taken down, then set up somewhere else. Because we can't leave anything at the festival (They have a strict LNT policy) Steel poles into the ground actually might be a reasonable possibility at burning man though, because it's basically just an empty ancient lakebed.

drmartindell- As far as routesetting and art are concerned, how is setting NOT art? You're basically choreographing a vertical dance up a rock face, we'd just be using paint and lights to enhance that aspect.

The simple solution would be to just build a bigger frame around the cantilevered end.

Head on view:

frame Submitted By: Steve86 on Jan 11, 2013

Although it would change you design, you could consider adding a mirror image to the other side. It would provide some counter balance and you could have your lounge in between. It would also double your combustible material if the mood strikes you.

Steve86- do you think we could do the frame from above at an angle so it frames the wall from one side rather than head on?

Like this?



Side view

Another idea would be to have some kind of anchor still at the base, then have cables running from the top of the wall to even further back behind the wall to another anchor/stake. This would allow you to get away with a shallower anchor at the base, and keep the silhouette you desire. Then its just a statics problem to figure out how thick the cable needs to be and how far back the cable's anchor/stake needs to be to support the wall and climber(s).

What is represented by the dark grey rectangle pictured below the structure? If it is not meant to be a base, maybe it should be. You may be able to engineer enough bracing that a long base could support the structure, sort of a U shape rotated 90 degrees. You could hide the base with astro turf or some other material.

This has "train wreck" written all over it - hire someone knowledgeable to design this thing before you hurt someone badly.

It would be much much much cheaper and easier to make a freestanding wall that isn't ridiculously overhung like that. And do you actually want people to climb on it? If so, how many people at burning man do you think are going to be good enough to do anything on what appears to be around an 80 degree overhang? Most gyms don't even use overhangs that severe, and if so it's only for very small sections of the wall.

If route setting is the "art", keep the "canvas" simple.

Ian- I've been leaning the less steep way for a while now, thanks for the feedback. I'm gonna draw up another one and post it soon here.

I'm no engineer and this ain't pretty (drew it in MS paint), but this is a cheap way to build a semi-portable and sturdy bouldering wall. Maybe this helps, maybe not. Of course, it will have to look more like art if you're going to take it to burning man.

basic climbing wall schematic Submitted By: Jon Zucco on Jan 11, 2013