You are kidding me…. Someone is selling 4 of them panels on ebay at present for £100 each.

They’re throwing out the crash mats as well 😯

Arrgh NOOOOOOO!!! They sell for even more.

I have spent a packet buying stuff not even half as suitable as the stuff going in that skip. I am at the other end of the country 🙁

Arse I’m not that far from Guildford. certainly would have driven there.

If I wasn’t training in Torquay right now. 👿

I went as far as getting a phone number for them but then decided it wouldn’t be worth it in the end. I noticed a post up on UK climbers giving a heads up on it too.

built my own wall in my garage last year, for myself not for the kids, wasnt rocket science really, some pretty strong wood beams to support the overhang and ton of thick ply, lots of T nuts and then a mix of ebay old used holds and some new purchased ones. As others have said the hard bit was the crash matting. I managed to source mine from a wall doing a refurb as I only have a couple of boulder crash mats so not enough to cover the area under the full wall.

The bigger question will be how much they use it. Even as a keen boulderer I was using it 3 times a week but then injured my shoulder doing something different and it hasnt been used since jan. I’m not sure if i built one for my kids they’d use it. Its a fun DIY project but it might never get used much.

I knew I should have gone at lunch time – but I dropped by Craggy island after work and all the good stuff had gone – spoke to a couple of guys who were doing the work and they said a lot of the staff had taken stuff for their homes.

So avoided an argument with the wife 🙂

ps the glass fibre was all there still.

ti_pin_man I am pretty sure its gonna get the use otherwise I would just have slapped the boards onto a flat wall and saved myself a hole heap of work. I mentioned this to my daughter 6mths ago and I get reminded every other day she is waiting for her wall.

This is the girl who refused to miss team training because she was ill then proceeded to be sick mid climb……

It will get used 🙂

All the frames are up and I have just one more coat of undercoat to go on the boards tonight. Got a friend coming around to help me lift the boards onto the frames on Thursday night.

This gives an idea. Ends will be boarded and it’s going to be another colour

Nice work. Are you sure that she can’t clout her head on the top of the fence if she takes a flyer from up high?

I suppose technically she could if she dynos a move at the top of the wall and completely misses it she could. Its deceptive as the fence doesn’t run parallel. I dropped from the top a couple of times and landed about half way between the wall and the fence so there is a bit of slack.

A bit of awareness doesn’t hurt, especially as when we go outdoor bouldering she isn’t going to have much choice 😉

It’s worth thinking about and making sure she’s aware of though, there’s a lot of moves that can spit you out backwards bouldering. I pinged off a barndoory crimp move at rothley recently and ended up flat on my back about 8 feet from where I started…

edit: looks good but I’d look for some smaller footholds btw.

Weve had a good chat about it. Not worried about her hitting the fence and don’t plan on putting any moves that would encourage it. Its primarily for fun so she can get stronger without actually training. She can leave big moves for the climbing wall which she is a member of and is 5mins away.

The layout is completely mishmash of holds. I was told to just throw them at the wall, let her enjoy it and then if she wants to start fiddling then encourage her. She has already made some suggestions and I have a few spare holds (Small) ready. There is also a kickboard going at the bottom plus I plan to get some (Small)screw holds to compliment.

Thanks for the concern guys 🙂

30 mins of her telling me where she wanted the holds and I was quite impressed with her results

Nice. Some good little problems there, especially that black

Thanks. Glad you noticed the black. I had a quick go and couldn’t even start it (told ha i was rubbish)

Nice wall.

As someone who dabbles in building and competitions, a couple of comments:

A kickboard (vertical section at the bottom) would give one or two extra moves at the start of problems – in your vid most problems start with a high step off the ground.

Similarly, in comps most problems are going to have two marked start footholds (and skipping one of them means an attempt is counted). Not sure if this is done in UK youth comps, but it certainly is in the european comps.

Not much variation in hold types – everything seems to be long moves on flat holds apart from the one yellow(?) hold that is cupped with the right hand. I guess some of this is due to wanting to have no chance of pinging off into the fence, but a few undercuts and pinches would mix it up. As your daughter set the problems herself, it’s probable that those long reaches from flat holds are the kinds of moves she’s good at (which is why she should be trying other kinds of hold orientation!)

Are kids supposed to do stamina/endurance training? Not sure, but if she’s doing routes and not just bouldering then you could set some superb circuits on that board – around, around, up, down, across. If she’s doing leading comps you could even get her doing clipping practise by trailing a short piece of rope and having a couple of quickdraws hanging from the board (or from a long sling from the top to replicate those difficult long clips that swing around).

I would have loved a board like that as a kid – it’s excellent (just don’t let her over-train!!)

Wow tim, thanks for that. TBH most of it isn’t anything new but it shows you know what you are talking about because its absolutely bang on.

Kickboard – In the garage waiting to be drilled and mounted. I needed help mounting the big boards so got them done 1st. That’s why the wall is 1Ft up to begin with.

We have competed this year in the YCS and although 2 hand holds are marked, in most cases no foothold is indicated so one foot start is allowed. However, she needs to work on her feet anyhow (She compensates with hand strength) so I will be ensuring that 2 feet are used.

Its a set of holds which is just to get going. We aim to purchase another set of smaller holds which just screw into the board. At present we are basically just using the smallest holds for footholds.

You are bang on with the long reaches, she loves them. Again, we will be getting some variation in the near future.

We do endurance training at the team venue and we lead climb at penrith wall so that’s pretty much taken care of, although she is breathing heavy on the wall if we go like that and do 1 after the other plus she has been doing ‘circuits’ of the board as well. TBH the wall is hers to just play on really so that she is training without thinking he is training. If she doesn’t want to ‘work’ on it I don’t have any issue with that

The clips were an idea I had thought about. She does lead climb and any practice for that would be great. There is scope for putting a mount on the middle frame and hanging a long quickdraw from it to practise clipping.

Sorry for going on but there doesn’t seem the ‘chat’ about climbing elsewhere like STW and as a complete newcomer I am trying to learn as much as possible

One of the things kids often struggle with is open hand strength. Getting some slopers/more rounded holds or making them yourself out of wood offcuts is a great way to get her out of her comfort zone.

It’s much better for them to learn this early on, reduces the risk of injury later (too much crimping is bad for you!), and forces them to improve body position and core rather than just finger strength and flexibility.

Visiting one of the better bouldering centres will give you some ideas about setting for less positive holds.

Big slopers are ace, and it’s actually quite easy to make triangular volumes from offcuts (although they can push the climber out from the wall quite a bit which might not be ideal with your fence).

For clipping practise you can just screw a bolt hanger into any of the T-nuts and put a quickdraw on it – hangers only need to be fixed into the supporting structure if they’re going to take lead falls.

Recent bouldering comps I’ve done have pretty much been 90% problems with big holds/volumes/3D weirdness and 10% pulling on small holds, but Martins suggestion about going to a proper bouldering wall for that sort of thing is a good one, you’ll have trouble setting that kind of problem so it’s probably best to keep your wall simple.

At that angle a set of screw-on holds is great for feet, but look for some which aren’t positive. Some of the sets of screw-ons have very good edges that make them easy for the feet. Something like this is harder to use: http://www.jegrimpe.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_32&products_id=2552&osCsid=3030faeb76e97473a32470dcbdd558d2

If you need more advice then ukbouldering.com is a good place – various wall owners and people who know a lot about national and international comps post there (the atmosphere is a bit like here, it can be a bit tough for new people, but it’s essentially friendly!)

timb – big thanks. Have been looking up slopers etc and found a bolt hanger on ebay.

Our local wall is part owned by Dan Varian (Beastmaker) and its a volume, woodie, sloper whatever dream.

That link for the footholds is great. They would make the starts much more interesting. Thanks for the help

great work.

My only feedback is set up some routes that need her to do things like drop knees and Egyptians. Both essential for climbing efficiently. Climbs that force her to go up again with the same hand. I see you already have some that have rock overs, good work.

Set some that go across as well as up. Not just a traverse but ones that go across then up. Variety is the spice.

As said, some bigger slopers will mix the routes up. I found that over time, once I was looking out for holds I began to spot some cheap sources.

Good work.

See now you are using terms I struggle with 😉

Rock overs?

I know what a dropknee and Egyptian is but I have no idea how I would intentionally set for doing that.

Again, how do you force her to go up again on the same hand?

rock over is essentially a foot hold where her knee actually rocks over past the hold. It pulls her body centre of gravity over, it rocks over. Usually you might force her to do that to reach a hold past the reach. forces her to pull with her foot. good technique.

same hand sequence – just make sure she cant get to the hold any other way, that she cant reach through with her other hand without coming off.

Basically play around with the routes and watch her climb, soon you’ll be thinking toe hook and heal hooks.

Good route setters for indoor walls are worth their weight in gold – – sadly for them, most are skinny little things with no weight at all.

Will have a search on google tonight. Thanks for the help guys.

If anyone wants any pictures emailed or list of parts used let me know

TheLittlestHobo – Member
Oh, our local wall gave lily a present last night for her new wall. A huge Core (brand) Love heart shaped hold.

http://www.edenrockclimbing.com

TLH… If you want to post some photos send them to me and I’ll do it for you 😀
PS..can I bring the Wee man round for a go? He’s in his school club now and they go to Sands Centre.

I just thought, the most important factor? Fun. The rest is nice to have. Make it fun for her and friends to play on. The rest is bonus. Creating some games might be good. Sweets or prizes if she climbs a route. Maybe some old insulation foam tubes taped onto the board for her to traverse through, games games games.

Aye Trekster, your lad is welcome anytime. Lily would love a pal who climbs as well. Bring him around and we can have a coffee (While spotting them of course). Sunny day and I might even throw in a Barbie. Could his grandad not shout him a little climb at eden rock one evening? Lily is a member so any day except Wednesday we can do.

Yeah it was Mickey who gave her the hold. Its obviously too worn for their walls and they were using it as a bookend but lily can hang off it so its still got some life in it.

Tipin yep fun is the best way of teaching. We have cuddly toys with magnets in the paws that you can hang from holds which works well.

Trekster

Pic from TLH of his/daughters wall
[url=https://flic.kr/p/ucPfCt]image[/url] by john_henry_mtb, on Flickr

Thanks JH