What does your Woody look like??? 2.0

Finished my next expansion with a 15 deg wall that (sort of) connects to the roof forming an arch.  I built it a little too far because I needed to reach the existing studs so I’ll probably just cut a small panel to fill in that space.  She’s ready to climb though!

Thanks to whoever mentioned the Spray Love app. I'm in the process of cataloging the 60ish tapes routes we have now, then retake some new ones in the easier range. Been waiting a month on three different hold companies all poured at Aragon, but no big deal. Pretty psyched to set a bunch of new moderates.

Schyluer Jarman wrote:

Well everyone she’s done. It took forever. So many people here to thank. But I’ll just say you know who you are. Thank you. My only fear was the ledger. But it’s so solid it would hold a Harley. I’ve jumped on the wall. I’ve hung on it and yanked on the top to try and get the ledger to budge. But it is ROCK SOLID. The winch is so money. If I re-did it I would make it easier to set up the chains. But it works just fine. Super stoked to paint this bad boy, start setting holds, and putting some moves together.

Nice work! I've been considering a hand winch over an electric hoist (for long-term durability) and am working with a similar design.  Wondering if you might share a few more pictures and details of the winch cable pulley points? Likewise, what was your thinking on the pipe design vs. what I've seen in other designs (d-rings or other single attachment points to the frame).

https://www.instagram.com/p/CARBDWojdzD/?igshid=19z56sir8sj7g

 

Psyched on this new wide pinch problem. 

Sweet problem!

Getting close to finishing my 45 degree system board (moon/tension board hole pattern w/ holes for LEDs). Had to pop through the garage drywall to get the full board in since the ceiling is only 9' but so far looks like it's going to work. Took a bit of planning to shoot the gap between rafters. Foam for the pads gets here on Monday so that will be fun.

Julian H wrote:

Hello Mr. Pony, 

When is the opening party? I was wandering how long before I saw one going through the rafters. 

I need more holds first... both moon and tension have multi-month wait times at the moment so it will be a very thinly coated spray wall for a while with my existing holds. Oh yea and that pandemic thing is still going on   

Gold Plated Rocket Pony wrote: Getting close to finishing my 45 degree system board (moon/tension board hole pattern w/ holes for LEDs). Had to pop through the garage drywall to get the full board in since the ceiling is only 9' but so far looks like it's going to work. Took a bit of planning to shoot the gap between rafters. Foam for the pads gets here on Monday so that will be fun.

Where’d you order the foam? I have an old giant size dog bed for a long since passed Great Dane that I’m considering to get some good foam for.

csproul wrote:

Where’d you order the foam? I have an old giant size dog bed for a long since passed Great Dane that I’m considering to get some good foam for.

The Foam Factory: https://www.thefoamfactory.com/ Base is going to be 6" LUX so a 3 or 4" might work for the dog bed: thefoamfactory.com/opencell…

I finished my Corona Woody (initial plans on page 18 of this thread).  Thanks to some input from this forum I modified the design to go up into the rafters slightly to get close to 10' of vertical distance.  It consists of an 8' wide 25deg overhang, a 70deg overhung section with two vertical sides, a proper 4'x8' roof with an opposing "shield" to both protect from the garage door opener and act as an opposing wall for footholds while on the roof, an area to the side for some stemming/chimney moves, and my favorite part: an adjustable slab wall.

I haven't seen many slab home walls talked about, so I didn't know if it would be worth it or not; but I love it.  (Disclaimer: I am not a very strong climber, maybe 5.11- in the gym).  Unlike an overhanging wall, making it adjustable was easy: just attach it with some beefy hinges to the top plate of the wall.  Adjusting it just means swinging it out by hand and placing some blocks behind it.  I was worried it would be really heavy and hard to adjust, but not so: most of the weight just hangs on the hinges; I can pull the wall out easily with one hand.  I've thought about putting wedges under it after adjusting so that it doesn't eventually sag, but so far it seems rock solid.  Since it is a slab you're not jumping around on it, so no impact forces, just body weight.

The difference in difficulty between 5deg and 2.5deg is very noticeable.  And if I ever have some kids or non-climbers over, I can set it at 10 or 15deg no problem.  The difference in moves you can put on a 2.5deg slab vs a vertical wall is amazing.  The former is WAY more fun and interesting (I know since I can adjust my slab to 0deg  .

Setting interesting slab routes is fun and relatively easy.  And with the setup I have, it's possible to do circuits that transition from the 25deg overhang, to roof moves, to stemming/chimney, to slab, and back.  Fun, fun, fun!

There is about a 2' gap between the top of the 25deg wall and the roof.  It looks weird, but it allows the top of the 25deg wall to be a big long hero jug and the edge of the roof to be a big long undercling.

Now I just need some more holds.  First batch is supposed to arrive in 2 days!

Front view.  Slab is on far right, chimney area is back by the electrical panel.

Better view of the slab.  Surface area is about 8' wide by 9' high.  I wouldn't want it any smaller.  Way easier to build than the overhanging section.  Just frame up a standard wall and hang from some hinges.  There is some crap to the right of it, but you can just see one of the blocks holding the wall at a 5deg angle in the bottom right, about 18" below the Mammut chalk bag. When climbing on it, we move the pads over.    

Another view.  Roof in the foreground, slab in the back.

I think most people avoid slabs because of space; you need way more height to get a worthwhile vertical or slab wall in compared to an overhang, and it’s easier to get a workout in.  If I had the height for it I’d love to set some wicked balancy slab problems.  I’m curious how the calculations would work for wall height vs angle; would it work the same as an overhang since the wall would essentially be a hypotenuse again?  In other words - if a wall is -15 deg overhanging, would this be the same height as a +15 deg slab of the same board length, just reversed?  My head math says “yes,” but the problem is there wouldn’t be much use in a 45 deg or 60 deg slab, as you could probably walk on the wood. 

Ted Pinson wrote: if a wall is -15 deg overhanging, would this be the same height as a +15 deg slab of the same board length, just reversed?  My head math says “yes,” but the problem is there wouldn’t be much use in a 45 deg or 60 deg slab, as you could probably walk on the wood. 

I think you would need more height to have a useful +15 than you would need for a useful -15. On a slab you are really trying to stand tall, whereas on a overhand (even @ 15) your trying to hang on your arms. I personally wouldnt bother with a slab unless I have 15' of space, that would give me two or three good high step type moves before my head hit the ceiling. Also slab sit starts suck.

Good point.

Darren Mabe wrote:

Took some proof of concept footage for you guys this morning. Belayed by CAMP Goblin.

amazing!!!

Adjustable (8 x 11) and vert (~11x11) walls complete. As far as using it, I've been on pause climbing so it's going to take me a while to get my strength back to where I can take advantage of the adjustable fall. Harsh! So far just throwing up a bunch of holds but not devising much in the way of routes, esp since I'm feeling weak.

Pics are the mostly finished product and one "in process" showing how I handled securing the adjustable wall: floor mounted hoist redirected through a pulley point anchored to the ceiling, plus backup chains that are tied into the wall beams and then into the ceiling further out. The wall chains are weighted pretty loosely when the wall is low angle but as it gets steeper the weight shifts more to the ceiling (although how I set the links affects that). The pic shows a few intermediate things like carabiners and climbing pulleys but I did eventually replace these with steel and heavy duty quicklinks. Basically I loosen the hoist to let the weight be primarily static on the chains with the hoist cable as a backup. It's not a setup that allows for adjusting the angle in 30 sec but it's very strong and inspires confidence no one will get flattened.

I still have a couple small things to improve, like putting a little light padding over the stairs (that climbing is all on big holds and set to give an easy traverse in start where you aren't going to fall + I didn't put a top panel in there). On the far left I also have a temp/not locked in panel that is blocking the end of the garage door rail (sharp!). Initially I was going to just strap a pool noodle over it but falling into the bikes that are out of view but below would also be bad. I think I'll brace this as a small 90 corner, mostly to protect that rail and direct that fall zone.  

One of the best improvements I made was putting in lights. I got a cheap set of overhead white LED garage lights that are plug in (and chainable up to 4) that I can plug into our preexisting ceiling outlet (put there for a garage door opener we've never installed). I was hoping that chaining them would mean I could turn the first one off and it'd turn off the others in the chain but annoyingly that isn't how it works. Still, I can turn them all off by throwing the garage door opener switch in the breaker box.

Another thing I like is that I had a carpet remnant leftover from when we bought the house and it serves really well as a top layer to cover the stacked boulder pads under the vert wall and prevent falling into the cracks and wrangling slipping pads. Ideally, I'd kind of like a full size piece that covers those pads and links into the gym mats I've got under the adjustable wall.

I really am trying to think of ways to make sure the room is appealing so it'll be a place I want to spend time and help incentivize getting in there and making use of the wall. Music was another nice addition. 

bridge wrote:

Nice work! I've been considering a hand winch over an electric hoist (for long-term durability) and am working with a similar design.  Wondering if you might share a few more pictures and details of the winch cable pulley points? Likewise, what was your thinking on the pipe design vs. what I've seen in other designs (d-rings or other single attachment points to the frame).

Here’s the pictures. Sorry took so long to get back to you Bridge. Live 15 min from AF canyon in Utah so I’ve just been climbing now that everyone has stopped freaking out. 

Attached is the winch neighbor gave me. And how it’s set up. Winch attaches to the left eye bolt in the pipe and then goes through the eye bolts in the ledger.. I drilled a hole for my washer and bolt to fit through the wall so that I wouldn’t have to worry about a screw eye pulling out while I’m dynoing up my wall.
Now that I’ve thought about the pipe, i did the pipe because I loved the idea of it pulling against all the vertical studs. An engineer in here pointed out that my issue was that the weight might cause my wood to rip out- so I fixed that by making sure my ledger was hefty, and the pipe is impossible to pull out. Those eye bolts I got at a specialty bolt place. 2200 lbs load capacity. Which I learned means crap when it comes to wood. But not when it comes to schedule 40 pipe. 
So, the only thing that can fail is my ledger because it’s using lock tite lag screws with no washers and bolts. But that has 12 lag screws in each stud.. The board, the pipe, can’t fail. The ledger is so so sturdy that I finally had confidence I didn’t have to take out some dry wall to put in long lag bolts all the way through the studs and secure them with washers and bolts. 
The thing that would make it better would be bigger eye bolts in the ledger that the chain can fit through so it would be faster to adjust. So I could just pull the chain slack through the eye bolts when adjusting the board.. They didn’t have any at the bolt store I went to. 
The way I adjust it is I use the hand winch, it lifts the board until there is slack on the chain and than I adjust the chain. I pull the board up farther than what I need it to go to and than I lower the board until the chains are tight and my winch cable is loose. 
The stuff in the middle of the board was a failed plan that turned into a backup if the board wobbled - I was going to attach a tow strap to both those d rings. But the weight of the board makes it so it doesn’t wobble even a little bit. Was super stoked on that. 
In the beginning I had 0 clue what I was doing - Optimistic knows all about that. Guy was with me since day one. He and others helped me a ton. So I don’t even know if what I’m saying makes sense but I hope it helps a little. 

Random Question. Climber Dad on YouTube said paint takes 7 days to cure. I just finished my second coat of chalk paint today. He said if I don’t let paint cure 7 days and I put holds on, when I take them off next time the paint can pull off. Do I really have to wait 7 days? Is chalk paint different? Anybody know? Dying to set routes. 

Can confirm paint can and  will pull off.

I waited about a week after chalk paint. I’ve moved a few hold and yes, they’ve kind of stuck on and taken some paint off, but only small pieces right under where a hold would be anyway. No big deal. The chalk board paint hasn’t worked out as well as I thought too.

csproul wrote: I waited about a week after chalk paint. I’ve moved a few hold and yes, they’ve kind of stuck on and taken some paint off, but only small pieces right under where a hold would be anyway. No big deal. The chalk board paint hasn’t worked out as well as I thought too.

Why wasn’t the chalk paint good? That’s what I was planning.