BOULDER MAGAZINE FEATURE ARTICLES Features Art at the Heart Local History: The Killing of Alpha Ray Hot to Trot A Pain in the Bark: Pine beetles threaten Boulder County Portfolio: Ice Patterns Writing in the Bubble Boulder As Muse: Local authors spill the beans Cancer Care in Boulder County Mixed Up in Boulder Longmont Treasure Hunt One Long Road A Keg of One's Own Planting the Seed The Back Page: Purls Ain't Just for Girls Departments Boulder Buzz HEALTHY LIVING • Learning to Eat • The "Good" Bacteria • Body Breakthroughs ARTS • Fast Forward: Boulder International Film Festival SPORTS • The Great Indoors • How to Build A Simple Climbing Wall • Chilled and Thrilled to the Gills • On the Stick: CU hockey breaks for the goal RESTAURANT PROFILES • Organic Orbit www getboulder.com

Boulder Magazine Winter/Spring 2007-08
web-only feature

How to Build a Simple Climbing Wall

Rock-climbing walls aren’t just for gyms. You can build your own practice-size wall in a garage, basement or back yard with just a weekend of labor and a few hundred dollars’ worth of materials.

Books with detailed instructions are available for less than $10, but the process is fairly simple. You’ll need:

TOOLS: A hammer or drill, measuring tape, chalk or pencil, a straight edge, a wrench to fasten bolts, sandpaper, and a paintbrush if you’re going to use a finish

• Two or more 4x8-foot sheets of plywood, at least ¾ inch thick

• 2x4s to brace the plywood at 18-inch intervals (nine, 8-foot-long 2x4s for an 8x8-foot wall)

• Nails or screws to build the frame and attach the plywood (at least 35 nails per 7-foot square)

• A waterproofing finish if the wall is outside and uncovered

• T-nuts (3/8”-16 thread) to form the sockets where you’ll bolt in movable holds – 122 for an 8-foot-square wall

• A starter kit or compiled collection of movable holds, which costs up to $100 for up to 40 holds (possibly including T-nuts in the set)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut the plywood to the desired measurement. In this example, an 8x8-foot wall can use two 4x8-foot panels that do not need to be cut.

Ideally, a wall should be taller than the people who are likely to climb on it; but since climbers can traverse horizontally, the wall can still be useful even if it isn’t very tall.

2. Build the frame out of 2x4s. Use four 2x4s to form an 8x8-foot square, and use vertically aligned two-by-fours, placed at 18-inch intervals, to fill in the square frame. The boards should be aligned so that the narrow, 2-inch edge will contact the plywood.

3. Nail or screw the plywood onto the frame. Sand down rough edges to avoid splinters.

5. Drill holes in the plywood for holds. These can vary in distance, but can’t be too close together or they’ll weaken the plywood. If you start 4 inches from the edges of the wall and create of grid of holes spaced 8 inches apart, there will be 122 places for holds.

6. At this point, apply paint and/or a waterproofing seal (optional).

7. Fill drilled holes with T-nuts, which are inserted through the back of the wall.

8. Attach your holds in a pattern you like, and climb! Since holds are movable, there’s no limit to the number of patterns you can create on your wall.

You may want to buy a mat or use an old mattress at the base of the wall to prevent hard falls, especially if young children are using the wall.

VARIATIONS

Some climbers like to tilt the wall forward to achieve an “overhang” effect. In this case, the wall should be mounted to a stable structure. Freestanding walls, on the other hand, are portable and can also be two-sided if another panel of plywood is attached to the back. Two-sided walls require some type of base, usually thick boards attached perpendicularly to the bottom of the wall to keep it upright.

Read Boulder Magazine's feature sports article "The Great Indoors: Snow, rain, and gloom of night ... a climbers gotta climb"

See GetBoulder.com's listing of Rock Climbing & Mountaineering Schools and Clubs in Boulder County, Colorado