Home Training Center

Even though there is a bouldering gym on campus at RPI, we thought it would be a good idea to build something to climb on in the basement of our frat house.  It was tempting to build a vertical crack in the elevator shaft that is no longer used, but instead built a horizontal crack spanning 20 feet.  The first step was design, which Cam took care of for the most part.  We decided on a truss structure that would rest on a platform at each end.  The platforms were the easy part, just 4x4s connected with 2x4s for stability.  The truss was more interesting.

The crack ended up being the perfect size for a C4 #4, just for reference.

We started off with cutting the long bolts in half to use for the truss.

Here it is, about half way constructed.

Lining up the holes for the last bolt of the main truss.  Next step was building another long segment with 2x8s and drilling holes to line up with the bolts on the bottom.

All put up, this is the left side.  Made some wooden holds and mounted the rock rings. 

The right side.

View inside the crack.   Eye bolts are for ice tool placements and for clipping draws when using rope.

Side view looking from the back side looking towards the high side.

Holds and rings.  All wood edges were belt sanded to be a little easier on the hands.

Tried to be creative making angles for the holds.  This is a nice pick placement.

Hanging 4x4 block with holes drilled through for picks.

At the start.