Which Tension Board Angle with 9' Garage?

I'm moving soon where I will  no longer have easy access to a climbing gym and looking into the system board options (not a spray wall). I like the Tension board after doing a lot of research and now trying to figure out which route to take since the garage has 9 foot ceilings. Below are the options I have, any thoughts on which route to take? I'm able to get outside and climb 2 to 3 times a week (assuming weather is good) but there are stretches of bad weather especially in the winter. Overall climbing goals are just to continue progressing and be an all around strong sport/trad climber. Garage will also have hangboard and small warmup wall at a reasonable angle.

For reference, the rafters across the ceiling are 24" apart.

Option 1: Full Tension Board @45 degrees
This tops out at 9' 6" (see image below) so with the correct placement the last 6" of the board would be in the rafters but looking at the tension board plans there is 4.7" between the last hold and the top of the board so it seems this would slide in nicely into the current space without modifications. The downside is that I climb in the 12s, project low 13s and don't boulder all that hard. 45 seems less than ideal, my wife climbs in the 11s projects in the mid-12s, would she hate it more?

Option 2: Full Tension Board @40 degrees, raise ceiling
This tops out at 10' 3" so to fit it in the garage I'd need to modify the rafters. With the rafters 24" apart I'd likely only have to raise 1 rafter up so the board could go up higher (obviously I'd need to get proper engineering done, contractor etc which is some unknown amount of $$). The tension board is already hella expensive so this is more $ but potentially makes it more enjoyable?

Option 3: Non-Full Tension Board @40 degrees
The tension board supports 2 'short' board options that I could make fit in the 9' space without modifying the ceiling:

• No Kickboard: so a full board without the kickboard which would decrease the height by 1' and I could fit it in @40 degrees
• Short wall which decreases the main wall from 12' to 10' and I could fit it in @40 degrees

I've discounted the 2 'Non-Full Tension Board' options a bit since I'm pretty close to being able to fit it into the space but maybe they are awesome?

Any thoughts would be appreciated?

Would making slit cuts on top of the board to accommodate rafters make sense?

Is there an adjustable tension board somewhere where you and your wife can try it at different angles?

Imo there is plenty a motivated 11 climber can do on a tension board, even at 45 degrees, but if it isn’t the angle she likes to climb outside, then I can see it being a turnoff. and it’s a lot of expense to put in a board that you don’t use. 5 degrees do make a lot of difference.

Having tried with/without kickboard, my personal preference would be to go with a full kickboard, 40 degrees, and cut the board short at the top. You’d be just removing one final move on most boulder problems. No more. Doesn’t seem like a big deal. Likely optimal money-wise, too. 

Just my two cents having done a decent amount of training on the Tension board in the past (huge fan).

45 degrees is steep and will really make you learn your tension (hmm...) and can be a great training tool if you don't do a ton of super steep climbing outside. Like you mentioned, it can be so steep to be frustrating. However, I honestly can't tell the difference between 40/45 degrees when I've climbed on adjustable walls (the noticeable difference seems to be about 10 degrees for me), so I don't think that 40 degrees will really alleviate any of the potential problems, and from your measurements above, might create some more installation problems.

In terms of training on something that steep, when I was climbing at roughly the same grade as your wife (mid 11s, some low 12 projects), I did a lot of training on the board at 40 degrees and didn't really have any issues. Yeah I was doing V1s and V2s and they felt like V4s in the rest of the gym, but there were tons of options in that grade range and I was never stuck just flailing on the bottom move with no potential easier problems.

Another thought in terms of variety/easier problems: You mentioned also making a warm-up wall at a "reasonable angle." Honestly I've also gotten tons of training value out of a fairly short 15 degree wall at home (really hard to do endurance work on a 45 unless you're a enduro monster). As long as you invest a bit of time into setting/getting some good holds, you can also use that for a different style of training and a chance to not just do steep power pulls. Even that wall alone could get you just as much training value as a Tension board if you invest in it right (but if you have the dough and the space for a Tension board, absolutely do both).

Happy Training,
-Sebastian

I’m actually looking at the same setup. Ive played with the different setups a bit and thought I might go with the no kick at 40 degrees.
Anybody have any good reasons not to go with no kick?

Try to keep the kicker if you can.  I have big feet so having the full 12'' for the kicker is really helpful for dropping my heals.  Having the kicker will greatly increase the number of boulder problems at your fingertips and adds some fun traversy starts that pack even more pump!  I rarely go to 45* on my board but maybe I'm just too weak.

I'd suggest going with the full kicker and 45 degrees, but only if you want to get stronger. Benefits from training on 45 will transfer well to lower angles as well as steeper ones. Training at 30 degrees, for instance, doesn't carry over as well to steeper climbing.

Thanks for all the feedback, I found a gym with an adjustable angle board so we’re going to check that out to see what 45 feels like vs 40. Likely going to aim to squeeze in a full 40 degree board.

I'm in a similar situation to the OP, and am trying to figure out how best to fit one in the garage.

What are people's thoughts on a 1/2 size kicker? (Too small to be useful? Better than nothing? Etc.)

Thanks,

Xan

On a 45 degree or steeper tension board, some of the problems already have really scrunchy starts.  A reduced height kickboard would make the bottom holds unusable and many of the starts unclimbable.

Stephen Felker wrote: On a 45 degree or steeper tension board, some of the problems already have really scrunchy starts.  A reduced height kickboard would make the bottom holds unusable and many of the starts unclimbable.

+1!

(and I’m aspiring to 5’2”, so if some if the starts feel scrunchy to me with a full kickboard...)

Thanks for the info! Sounds like I'd be better off lopping a row or two off the top, maybe prohibitive in a less annoying way than no or minimal kicker?

The tension board app has settings for a wall sans kicker so you can get community problems. They don't however have a setup for dropping the top few rows of holds so just be aware.

If you are already spending thousands on a tension board, then you probably own the house.  Consider what others have done- digging down a couple of feet so that you can install a full board.  The extra construction mess will be worth it.  Just don't forget a sump pump!

Stephen Felker wrote: If you are already spending thousands on a tension board, then you probably own the house.  Consider what others have done- digging down a couple of feet so that you can install a full board.  The extra construction mess will be worth it.  Just don't forget a sump pump!

This can be risky. You don't want to undermine the footings of your foundation and there are plenty of contractors willing to do so for you without knowing any better or just wanting to make a buck. 

Tylerpratt wrote:

This can be risky. You don't want to undermine the footings of your foundation and there are plenty of contractors willing to do so for you without knowing any better or just wanting to make a buck. 

Why assume it would be done wrong? Most footings in cold zones are 4-5' deep, this guy needs a foot.

I wouldn't get the Tension honestly. Beastmaker can build you a board with a ton of options for climbing style, grade, etc. for a fraction of the cost.  You could buy a ton of great holds for $1k or less and just throw them up and adjust. Actually setting your own problems will make both of you far better climbers in the long run even if there is no app to confirm how hard you think something is.

Karl Walters wrote: I wouldn't get the Tension honestly. Beastmaker can build you a board with a ton of options for climbing style, grade, etc. for a fraction of the cost.  You could buy a ton of great holds for $1k or less and just throw them up and adjust. Actually setting your own problems will make both of you far better climbers in the long run even if there is no app to confirm how hard you think something is.

I listened to a good podcast on the pros/cons of system boards vs spray walls. Both can be awesome tools but I fell into the "a system board is better for you" category mainly because: I'm going to be training alone mostly, I have zero experience setting routes/problems and I also don't have tons of free time to try and set my own problems. Also sounds like if you just set your own problems you'll tend to set them to your strengths, even if you really try not too so you need other peeps setting problems on your wall. There was also a discussion of the overall price, building a dense spray wall wasn't much cheaper than a moon/tension board if you actually factor in your time which some people do and some don't, depends how much free time you have I guess.

It's really not that hard to set things not to your strengths and a valuable skill as a lot of figuring out cruxes follows a similar logic.

Find a hand move. Find feet for it. Is it not very far, too easy? move the move further, adjust a hold. Move a foot further. Repeat.

I do agree it can get costly, however, a Tension Board is far, far more expensive than a Moon plus spray or spray if we are talking about price. For that price I'd build any of the boards precisely to spec.

For tension board aficionados, if you could only afford 1 hold set, which would you get? Training for 13+/v10?

Also Karl, having preset problems is a huge advantage for a solo home trainer. It allows you to train moves that you wouldn't think of on your own.

MorganH wrote: For tension board aficionados, if you could only afford 1 hold set, which would you get? Training for 13+/v10?

Also Karl, having preset problems is a huge advantage for a solo home trainer. It allows you to train moves that you wouldn't think of on your own.

Set A has bigger/more incut holds, and is easier than set B. I would guess that you need set B, but I guess it depends on the angle of your wall? I've only ever climbed on full tension wall with all holds, so I wasn't paying much attention to which problems are set on which holds.

Agree on the second part. I used to set routes in gyms for about 12 years, and I think that it is really hard to set challenging moves in the style that isn't your strength. All setters develop their own styles after a time, and if you are just climbing solo and setting up problems for yourself, you often end up doing more of the same thing.