Home climbing wall

Our local climbing gym closed back in May of 2026. I was real sad about that. I loved that place. The closure was borne of a mess of politics and personalities. I sort of got involved, but maybe too little, too late. I resolved not long after to do something for my own training and for fostering Charlie’s kernel of interest in indoor climbing. I set out to build a wall in the garage. The original plan was to sell my motorcycle to fund this mission. A sort of "maturation” milestone. Get rid of the hazard that is motorcycle riding while taking charge of my own climbing habit. As it turns out, the motorcycle is worth less than I thought and the climbing wall was more expensive. No surprises there, I suppose. I still haven’t sold the motorcycle, for instance.

Nature of the climbing wall:

• It’s built into our garage. Along the back, east wall of a two-car garage. Ceiling height just over 9 ft. The garage is unfinished, uninsulated. There have been times when we put two cars in the garage, but our current vehicle situation is such that only one of our cars fits inside. If we get another smaller car someday, we could still fit two cars and have the climbing wall functional. I’ve slowly insulated some of the walls of the garage and have a huge roll of insulation that I’ll install into the ceiling sometime soon. That is a dirty, dreadful task, but it will enhance year-round climbing comfort.

• The main event of the climbing is an 8’ x 8’ Mini Moonboard. This is an app-enabled set of specific holds and dimensions. Others, all over the world, have set “problems” on this same set of holds that I can enjoy and try. The Mini Moonboard is prescribed at 40 degrees past overhanging. Mine is exactly that. I made the kickboard of the Mini Moonboard a little bigger. 6 inches is specified, but I bumped it up to 10 inches. I did not buy the lights to go with the moonboard. So far, that’s working out fine. Bluetooth lights would be cool, but not worth $1000.

• More on the Mini Moonboard. This was a bit of a gamble. I’m not a super strong climber, in the modern sense. These “boards” are great tools and very popular among performance oriented climbers. I can hold my own, but I’ve never entered anything close to elite levels of performance. The easiest problems on the Mini Moonboard App are rated V3. As it turns out, those problems are just the right sort of introductory challenge for me. In a few weeks now I’ve ticked through a good selection of the “Benchmark” problems of that grade and am close on a V4. I’m glad that I can ctually leverage the challenges of the tool. There was a chance that the very easiest problems in the app would be too hard for me to work on right away. Not the case. For comparison, I’m a long time 5.10 climber. I first top roped a 5.10 in my first weeks of climbing, way back in 1999. Now, 5.10s are still hard for me. I’ve done a few hands full of 5.11s over the years. I’ve never led 5.12. There is lots and lots of “room to grow” for me on the Mini Moonboard, to put it mildly.

• Above the 8’ of mini moonboard is about 3 feet of bonus wall surface. I’ve got some holds up there, but no real plan or vision yet as to how I’ll integrate those moves into moonboard training.

• Bolted to the climber’s left side of the 40 deg wall is an adjustable crack. Essentially, this is a pair of standard 2x10s, about 11 feet long. Facing sides are sanded, then bolted together with long bolts. No paint or finish put onto the interior of the crack. I can loosen the bolts to insert spacers to create the desired crack size. It is currently set at “tight hands” size. For me, the spacer blocks to achieve this are “2x” (actually 1.5 inch) plus 1/4 inch finished plywood slivers. So, almost exactly 1.75 inches. The bolts are long enough that I can put in spacers to make up to a 6 inch crack. The crack overhangs at 40 deg just like the moonboard.

• Next to that is a 4x8 (plus 14 inch kickboard) adjustable angle spray wall. Painted pink, at Charlie’s request and with her help. With a 9 foot ceiling, the gentlest I can get this wall is 12 degrees past overhanging. I could drop it down to 60 deg or more, but probably won’t. The moonboard scratches the super steep itch, and making the spray wall super steep takes up valuable mud room space. Even if I never actually adjust the small wall for climbing, its hinging construction is valuable; I can hinge it out of the way to get to some important stuff behind it. This smaller wall will be for warming up and for Charlie climbing. Though she can already hang some of the tiniest of Moonboard holds at 40 deg… She hasn’t yet linked moves on the Moonboard holds, but that can’t be far off.

• Pads are a pair of large standard climbing crash pads, plus two queen size mattresses. My mom sewed covers for the mattresses from cheapo plastic tarps. Both mattresses were free.

• So far, I’ve climbed on it 2-3 times a week since putting the first holds on on September 26. Including four straight Thursday nights. Trying to make a social tradition of that, though no one has actually yet accepted my invitations. ha.

• Costs. $3720 in supplies:

  • Moon Climbing holds and hardware    $2,201.40

  • Pro deal holds, T-nuts, hardware    $493.82

  • Lumber and hardware purchases   $1,025.36

• Labor.

  • About 35 hours by me and my 10 thumbs.

  • About 6 hours each from each of my parents.

  • About 1 hour of 4.5 year old daughter labor.