UKC

Thinking of building a 16' high climbing wall on the end of my house, a vertical wall would be much easier to construct than overhanging,  plus would be less conspicuous. 

But,  is it pointless making a vertical wall for training on?

Being in mind I live 2-3 hours from the any decent outdoor rock, and indoor walls may be closed for a while. 

Depends what you’re training for. Horizontal offwidths, it’s probably not that useful. If you climb face routes though then training on vertical routes makes total sense and plenty of benefits to be had. 

With a bit of creative thinking it should be very possible to make something worth training on. My first instinct would be to buy or make a job lot of really poor footholds, i.e. really quite slopey ones rather than anything with an edge. Then any problem you do just using these footholds will inevitably work your arms and your core more, as well as probably improving one aspect of your footwork.

Can you mount it on chains so you can vary the angle - it can be swung down to train on then hitched back up out the way?

I have a vertical wall in my garden which is around 12" and I find it great for training on (although I only climb 6c ish indoors).  Easy to bring on pump by doing tons of laps, tiny holds are useful for hands and feet.  If you really want an overhang you could make a 'roof' style volume out of ply and install at the top of your wall. You could also DIY hand and fist cracks if that's your bag.  I've been climbing more at home since coronavirus and am stronger than ever.

I did consider that exact method,  but want to  keep it simple

I have an outdoor bouldering wall. 8ft wide vertical panel then an overhanging 8ft wide 4ft high panel. It's set at 20degs overhanging and it does bring on the pump. Even a traverse using the undercling works your muscles. 

Struggled to get bits due to stock levels, but can't believe I have not built one before. I am a DT teacher so easy for me to build. 

Holdz do good value sets, if buying Tee nuts avoid amazon as the only two that have failed were from amazon.

So I should add the caveat,  I'm a very low grade climber,  and am not strong on overhangs. 

I did build a small wall at my last house which I struggled to get any real benefit from as it was about 45 deg, but only 8' long. I do still have the panels fitted with the nuts and a selection of holds. 

The chains solution is pretty simple

I've got a vertical wall, and rarely use it... Kids love it though!

Couple of bits for thought: 

It's hard to find bolt-ons which aren't too easy, so you'll inevitably want more screw-ons, which means you might not need as many t-bolts as you would on an overhang, but also if you keep re-setting, your wood will get more chewed up by screw-ons.

Volumes are essential to add some interest - Holdz do some fairly-priced ones, though they do say they aren't for outside, which leads on to...

It's harder to protect a vertical wall from the elements. You'll need a large tarp (or two) and a method to cover and un-cover it. It has to be easy or you either won't be bothered to uncover it, or cover it and then the rain gets in.

Looks like this:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BR0-Z7nB_rm/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I later added a small mini-overhang (with hindisight, in the wrong place...)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkLUj0xjdt-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I'm just reading Steve Mac's book. He's convinced a lot of 'house wall' training did wonders for him and stopped him getting burned out as a youngster. He's fairly handy.

We have a 15, 25 and vertical wall at home and me and my wife climb at about 6a+  and 6c+

The vertical is excellent for endurance and also technical thin face climbing. I use the Holdz competition feet screw one for feet and a combination of Holdz bolt on feet for hands and Core geo screw on feet for hands. I can only just climb on these. 

Otherwise I have a bunch of slots and slopers etc. I've also created a bunch of fake 'cracks' that I can put gear in. They're adaptable so have different widths. This trains my size recognition and endurance. 

So, yes, I think you can use a vertical wall definitely (the first indoor walls for training were all vertical I think - just cracks and edges and the odd hole). 

here's a photo

https://i.ibb.co/LhsvKCW/98026654-699765604121029-6430389473241989120-n.jpg

I've got more screw ones since then... 

Maybe forget the training benefits and just think it will be fun to make and to use?

More limited than pointless.

Building an overhanging wall is as easy as a vertical one. Make it adjustable if you don't want a lean-to shed on the side of your house and no more than 12ft high would be my suggestion. Your plan sounds like a recipe for tweaked fingers and ruined knees, that's if you use it more than a handful of times before growing bored of it.

jk

I remember reading that one of the Anderson brothers (authors of the Rock Climbers Training Manual) has a vertical/very slightly overhanging home wall with terrible footholds, as per John's suggestion above. His thinking is he climbs on mostly vertical terrain rather than caves - Smith Rocks vs Santa Linya - and that it helps his footwork too. But clearly from reading their book and blogs they are masters of boredom!

https://rockclimberstrainingmanual.com/2015/06/10/designing-a-home-training...

Loved the pictures, that's an incredible wall. If you don't mind me asking is that something you started building in lock-down,  how long did it take you? 

Nah, built it years ago, then added the "overhang" last year.

Getting an extension to the house next year (was meant to be this year...) so it'll be coming down and likely get re-built as a free-standing overhang.

In terms of ease, I'm a complete cack at all things practical but built a 3.6x2.4m freestanding board at 45° on my own over two days. Was reasonably straight forward for an oaf like me so if you've any knowledge of DIY don't let ease be a deciding factor.