Roof climbing in my basement

I’ve planned all along to leave the rafters in my basement exposed once I’ve finished it due to a variety of reasons (ease of access, the impression of additional height, more room for bouncing heads while dancing, etc) but one thing came to mind the other day, which was the ability to fix some sort of climbing wall. The idea of having a climbing wall isn’t new for me, but having one in my house seemed like something unobtainable because I don’t have the space or height for a wall that would keep me interested.

But after looking around at some wall boards for strength training and realizing that one of the best places for the wall board would be in my rafters, I figured surely I could devise something up in my rafters that could take the place of a wall board.

If I did something in my rafters, I have virtually unlimited space to work with. I could make something horizontal or vertical, although you’d have to keep in mind that vertical holds would require placement of hands/feet above the rafter which might mean scrapes/splinters reaching up into the rafter.

I could use the basic idea of plywood directly into my beams but that means I need lots of larger holds since you’re climbing completely vertical. If I did some sort of plywood box around a beam that would allow me to have vertical and horizontal holds. As long as it was out of the way when people walk through and dance in the basement, that might work. Shoot, if I did it in a corner maybe I could even use a wall. Who knows. It’s an idea to think of more for sure once I’m moved in and have some free time.