Outside, Exterior Home Climbing Walls

Tolono, Illinois.

I made this in two weeks. I could have done it in a week but had some bad weather and had some down days. I designed it using SketchUp. This made it easy to take some of the unusual angles and miter cuts directly from the CAD program. The footers are buried about 30" deep, below the frost line here.

When I put the design together I thought I would frame it first, then put up the sheathing. However it became too difficult to put the frame together. Instead I built sections and pieced the sections together. Also I put additional bracing (every 16")  which I did not do in the design.

This is great for kids too. The kids climb on the lower sections which lean inward. The higher sections lean outward and work really well for adults who need negative angles for strength and endurance training.

The top is open to the weather. I need to do something better there. For now I throw a tarp over it and tie it down with bungees and hooks at the bottom.

I dug up the sod around a 6' perimeter around the climbing wall, then laid down landscaping plastic and put in mulch wood chips. This makes a decent landing and I don't have to haul around the crash pad, which makes it even better for the kids.

Australia, by Mark

3m high bouldering wall. Limit was 3m to avoid need for a building permit. Built in modules, based on the size of the ply sheets. Concrete slab, with anchor bolts, over 400 holds now on the wall. Anchors on the roof allow top roping for the kids. Designed from sketch plans. Cost: Slab $300; timber & paint $1,000; holds $1,000; hardware $1,000. Total: $3,300.

Argentina, by Lapacho

"Mi muro de escalada domestico." Climbing holds attached to the side of a house in Argentina.

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