Bouldering wall
Carrie posted in Recreation on October 29th, 2008
The boys were always threatening to do it and I think there frustrations with the City of Whitehorse not letting them set up indoor climbing programmes this winter finally pushed them into action. They all got together and went to Home Hardware and purchased the lumber (and since no one owns a truck they had to get it delivered) and carted it through the kitchen and downstairs where Ryan had cleaned out a corner and they built a bouldering wall. Where to start? Well the company, Metolius, from whom Ryan had ordered the climbing holds actually sends an instruction manual for building your own bouldering cave in your basement. It’s quite a good explanation actually. So for 3 days straight the boys (and Brianne who wanted to expand her construction knowledge) played down there happier than pigs in mud! Linner and I made moose stew and bannock and played cards with Tim and Denise and helped out when we were needed to hold plywood to the ceiling while it got screwed on.
The amount of beer that was consumed in the construction phase of this thing makes me slightly doubt its structural integrity and this thought is only supported by the gap between the 2 by 4 and the ceiling “because cutting on an angle is hard”. I love these boys but the computer geek, electrician, climbing instructor, and health services worker certainly didn’t excel in high school physics. I think their motto was measure twice, cut many times until you can hammer it in. They tried their darndest but there are some funny pieces. Nevertheless, the wall is up and looking fantastic. We’ve already set some fun routes and eventually it’d be cool to have it go across the ceiling of the basement and up the stairs. Ryan was less enthused about that idea because the climbing wall is at least removable and won’t seriously affect any resale value of the house. Drilling into the concrete foundation however, a little more permanent.
I have some pictures of the building process to include but they’re on Ryan’s camera and I can’t figure out how to get them off, but I’ll post them as soon as I do. Until then, happy winter climbing!
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