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Creating an inclusive board community

Original Post
John Clark · · Sierras · Joined Mar 2016 · Points: 1,408

People who have good crews that train on your home boards, how did you create that environment?

For background, I have a nice board in my living room, but stoke for training in isolation is not always high and I have struggled to get friends stoked on board climbing. Part of the challenge is also having a wide range of abilities all being able to climb on the same angle. I live in Northwest Reno, so if you live nearby and are stoked on/stoked to try board climbing, hmu or say hi at Mesa Rim.

Alexander Blum · · Livermore, CA · Joined Mar 2009 · Points: 143

I built a board in my backyard, had the same issue. I post periodically here and on the local Facebook groups to find people to come hang and session the board, and have had some success with that.

Big Red · · Seattle · Joined Apr 2013 · Points: 1,187

I've experienced the same thing with a garage board - I think it's a similar issue to finding stoked partners for hard things. Schedules, ego grading, shiny gyms, injuries, etc all conspire to make it a rare person that wants to regularly thrash 3 grades below their gym level on small holds.

John Clark · · Sierras · Joined Mar 2016 · Points: 1,408

Glad it isn’t just me then. Or maybe we are all unbearable to be around. Thrashing is fun, but I even threw some wood jugs on for people more endurance focused, so maybe more jugs…?

Big Red · · Seattle · Joined Apr 2013 · Points: 1,187
John Clark wrote:

Or maybe we are all unbearable to be around. 

Highly likely. We even built an extended 20deg section of wall "for the kids" where we set warmups/easier problems, but many folks just aren't that interested in a woodie when they can go to a bright, exciting gym. 

I've heard of folks who have successfully found/made a board community but I think it's a matter of right time, right place, right people: you need to get lucky and meet climbers with similar psych and training goals that live nearby and have time to session. Even then the community waxes/wanes as people move or psych shifts.

Matt B · · Boulder, CO · Joined Feb 2017 · Points: 492

I have a pretty decently sized group that joins me weekly on the home wall. I have "open climbing" at the same time every week, and I've invited a number of climbing partners, friends, and neighbors, and folks are pretty psyched. Maybe that's the weirdness of Boulder, CO, though we do have a ton of awesome gyms for them to climb on instead. For some reason they keep coming back to my 40 degree spray wall (the "Crusher Lab").

I will say that I think the spray wall makes it harder to initially get into (learning the board and Retro Flash app), but it keeps people coming back, since my wall has >100 problems on it, and we are only just getting started. I also have a nice hang board mount (interchangeable boards) and some light weights and cardio equipment - like adjustable kettle bell and TRX - that people seem to like. Don't plan to train when you are climbing with friends though. Just climb for fun and try hard, maybe be creative and make some new routes. Real training is hard when 3+ people are fighting for time on the wall and it makes you not a nice person if someone you invited over feels like they are in the way.

Edited for the photo (pre hang board install):

randy baum · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2006 · Points: 2,251

Using a spray wall, one idea that I've found useful is to spray in a Moonboard hold set or two.  For instance, just add in the black and/or the white hold set from the 2016 Moonboard.  This way when your friends can't come over or when you need a new problem state or whatever the reason, you just open the app and climb some benchmarks.  If your wall is less than 40, climb them with ankle weights.  If it is more than 40, then you get to climb some sandbagged boulders. Yay!  Jokes aside, I've found this system very nice.  

John Clark · · Sierras · Joined Mar 2016 · Points: 1,408

I have an adjustable Grasshopper Ninja, but the user base is pretty tiny for now (new set coming next week will hopefully improve that), so I’ve already run through most the v4-6 problems in a couple months.

Any other tips for making it easier for different level friends to have a good time at the same time?

Matt B · · Boulder, CO · Joined Feb 2017 · Points: 492
John Clark wrote:

Any other tips for making it easier for different level friends to have a good time at the same time?

Open feet is a good way to make it easier, or substitute holds for nearby better/hard ones as needed. This makes great variations, but requires a reasonably dense wall. 

John Clark · · Sierras · Joined Mar 2016 · Points: 1,408

I think I’ll be investing in some additional feet for sure. Seems like all the app boards just came out with new layouts too, so might have to take a peek at those

Princess Puppy Lovr · · Rent-n, WA · Joined Jun 2018 · Points: 1,756

I think partners need a similar motivation to using your woody as you do. For me, the biggest attraction of my woody is the fact there isnt even a gym within 20 minutes of my house. I think a lot of people don't really know how to effectively use a spray wall, for them it is just a bunch of really close holds.

I am also not saying this in a mean way, but people with a relatively low bouldering IQ don't really understand movement. If you predominantly rope climb, your partners might not be the best woody partners. 

John Clark · · Sierras · Joined Mar 2016 · Points: 1,408
Princess Puppy Lovr wrote:

I think partners need a similar motivation to using your woody as you do. For me, the biggest attraction of my woody is the fact there isnt even a gym within 20 minutes of my house. I think a lot of people don't really know how to effectively use a spray wall, for them it is just a bunch of really close holds.

I am also not saying this in a mean way, but people with a relatively low bouldering IQ don't really understand movement. If you predominantly rope climb, your partners might not be the best woody partners. 

That is the problem for me I think. 3 gyms within about 15 minutes of anywhere in reno.

Hoping me and friends all having kids makes a home climbing environment more appeling.

It is not really a woody. It is an app connected Grasshopper board (Freestanding Ninja), so you can throw up problems and not have to think about creating problems on your own. I’ve also made a couple intuitive flow loops on the board with wood holds for the enduro nuts.


@glen_eagle_grasshopper is what i use to reach out to people, all 15 of them haha

Lena chita · · OH · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 1,667

I guess it would come down to “what do you offer that can’t be had at the gym”?

If you have kids, and your friends have kids, having a home wall session while the kids are having a playdate is very attractive. So maybe make it clear to your friends that the board session and kids is not incompatible.

Or, if you are open for climbing when the gyms are closed, maybe a 6am session before work for a busy parent? That is attractive.

But mostly it is about finding people who are are interested in training on the same schedule as you do, and who climb hard enough that training on boards makes sense, and that is hard. Boards are not for everyone. And a small board at home is rarely better, when a nearby gym offers a large bouldering area with a variety of grades and terrain.


 It’s hard to warm up on a small board that is fixed at 40 degrees, even if you throw in additional jugs. I’ve watched people who climb V2-3 on regular gym terrain try the boards and get frustrated at 40 degree angle, unable to even get off the ground.  If that’s some of your friends, I’m guessing you wouldn’t be able to convince them that spending an hour falling off the “starting jugs” on a board v0 is good for them, and a more productive use of their training time than a nearby gym.

But beyond that, Almost all the gyms in per town now have boards of some kind, and it is almost guaranteed that the boards would be relatively empty when the rest of the gym is crowded. Last night was a rare occasion when we had a crew of 6 (!!!!) people sharing the moonboard/Kilterboard/tension board area. Normally 2-3 is a crowd at the boards, and I’m often the only one there, but the gym was particularly busy last night. So you are looking at a very small fraction of your friends that could be talked into it.

John Clark · · Sierras · Joined Mar 2016 · Points: 1,408
Lena chita wrote:

I guess it would come down to “what do you offer that can’t be had at the gym”?

If you have kids, and your friends have kids, having a home wall session while the kids are having a playdate is very attractive. So maybe make it clear to your friends that the board session and kids is not incompatible.

Or, if you are open for climbing when the gyms are closed, maybe a 6am session before work for a busy parent? That is attractive.

But mostly it is about finding people who are are interested in training on the same schedule as you do, and who climb hard enough that training on boards makes sense, and that is hard. Boards are not for everyone. And a small board at home is rarely better, when a nearby gym offers a large bouldering area with a variety of grades and terrain.


 It’s hard to warm up on a small board that is fixed at 40 degrees, even if you throw in additional jugs. I’ve watched people who climb V2-3 on regular gym terrain try the boards and get frustrated at 40 degree angle, unable to even get off the ground.  If that’s some of your friends, I’m guessing you wouldn’t be able to convince them that spending an hour falling off the “starting jugs” on a board v0 is good for them, and a more productive use of their training time than a nearby gym.

But beyond that, Almost all the gyms in per town now have boards of some kind, and it is almost guaranteed that the boards would be relatively empty when the rest of the gym is crowded. Last night was a rare occasion when we had a crew of 6 (!!!!) people sharing the moonboard/Kilterboard/tension board area. Normally 2-3 is a crowd at the boards, and I’m often the only one there, but the gym was particularly busy last night. So you are looking at a very small fraction of your friends that could be talked into it.

I have run into that. More than 3-4 is too much on a small board. I do have the luxury of adjustable angle and rarely go steeper than about 30°. Nothing I climb outside is more than probably 15-20°, so I stick to more techy angles.
Might just be people expecting heinous hold like a moonboard, but the grasshopper has real jugs and even the bad holds are pretty comfy.


Post-limit edit:

No more room in the space, but may make a woody in my garage as well eventually. This is what I have rn, but a real custom pad and not the two dinkers. I also have a couple small benches to chill on between attempts.

Princess Puppy Lovr · · Rent-n, WA · Joined Jun 2018 · Points: 1,756
John Clark wrote:

It is not really a woody. It is an app connected Grasshopper board (Freestanding Ninja), so you can throw up problems and not have to think about creating problems on your own. I’ve also made a couple intuitive flow loops on the board with wood holds for the enduro nuts.

Do you have space for more climbing wall? I agree the grasshopper holds are definitely the most friendly for the lower grades, my issue with it is that is less consistent than the moonboard. The grass hopper is also the by far easiest board if you are tall.

The other thought would be to connect with other people that have different woodys, so you do one night on a moonboard, tension, yours etc. 

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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