No Treadwall In Seattle?

[newdawnfades]

I was in Boulder recently and had a chance to climb at one of their indoor gyms. It was the first time I have seen a Treadwall, but I have to say it's great for climbing endurance. You just turn it on and climb till you can't climb no more.

 

I haven't seen or heard of a Treadwall at any of the gyms in Seattle, which seems quite odd considering. Any news on getting one here??

 

[Jens]

They are fun and a great workout but they can throw your technique outta wack.

[MarkMcJizzy]

I bet as far as a business investment, they suck. Looks expensive, high and specialized maintenance requirements, and minimal return on the dollar

[counterfeitfake]

Who has climbed on one of those? It looks like it would be a really weird experience.

 

What is the advantage over doing up/down laps on an easy gym route? Besides not needing a belayer?

[kublaicon]

the school i went to in santa fe for a year had one. the novelty wore off really quickly. again good for repetative endurance but you can only have about 12 feet of routes and it just keeps repeating... over and over. and its not like you can actually do routes... no big holds, due to the construction, the moves arent really fun, because you cant look up and actually see where you are going. just foot, hand foot, hand... then it gets faster... but the same thing.

 

i bet for the money it cost, my school could have build a really sweet bouldering wall and small toprope section.

[tvashtarkatena]

Not at all like real climbing. Perhaps a newer model might occasionally shift to reverse and light up a "whimper now" indicator.

[HappyCamper]

Sound Mind and Body used to have one at their now-defunct gym in the Zymo building. Novel to use the first few times, but it got a little lame after a while - you turn the wheel to control the resistance - basically your body weight pulls the wall down - either there was not enough resistance and you had to climb real fast and got sloppy or it was too slow and you had to wait it out.

 

Found that consistent bouldering or top-roping-till-you-puke provided a much more satisfying burn.

 

That being said - the fact that it was in the gym I went to anyway was nice for that extra 5-10 minutes of burn - but not worth making it the point of your trip.

[kublaicon]

Rock Climbing Walls by Brewers Ledge

Known for their revolving Climbing Wall's and quality products.

 Treadwall. Revolving Climbing Wall. 6' x 11' or 4x11"

$9,850

$750

 Treadwall M4 Base Revolving Climbing Wall. 5' x 9'

$5,500

$500

 Treadwall M4 Pro (adjustable angles) Revolving Climbing Wall. 5' x 9'

$7,450

$500

 Ledgewall. Traversing Wall Panels. 4'x8' panel.

$595

$100

 Add: Ledgewall Hold Sets. 15 large colorful holds for 4x8' panel

$198

$20

 Wingwall. Playground Wall. 6' high x 8' long

$3,650

$500

 

from http://www.motionkids.com/pdf/Motion%20Fitness%20Exergames%20Price%20Sheet%20v2.2.pdf

 

probably over 10K all said and done... then maintenece... spend your money elsewhere

[Jens]

I climbed on one at the Puyallup fair a few years ago. Lots of scone grease and cotton candy residue on those holds! It was fun and a great workout though.

 

I think the French National Team uses them a lot for training for the speed World Cups.

[alpinemorg]

That guy does look like he's having a lot of fun.

[thelawgoddess]

Looks like a novelty - like it'd be fun to try, but not a good way to get into great climbing shape.

[Argus]

I've climbed on the one at Montana State before. The one they have is sweet. It is totally motorized, so it automatically changes speed and angle. You just program what you want your route to look like it goes from there.

[Gary_Yngve]

Those look dumb. Just go to Volunteer Park instead.

[RuMR]

the inclimb team in oregon uses them extensively...both for speed training and endurance for difficulty...

[Jens]

I love treadwalls.

They are way better for endurance training than those silly auto belay devices that some gyms have.

 

The French National team uses the treadwalls extensively.

 

[froodish]

The Pearl (Portland) 24hr fitness used to have one. Wasn't really the best climbing workout, OTOH, where else are you gonna be able to get 45min of continuous sorta-climbing indoors. I liked it. good for endurance. I think I was about the only one who used it though. When they did the re-model I suspect they decided that it was a lot of square footage to devote to a machine that didn't get used and out it went.

Edited September 2, 2009 by froodish