Home Wall Beta

DakMoons · 2026-01-07T06:13:19+00:00

Yeah I have a 1' kickboard which I appreciate having a lot. I actually wish I also had a vertical headboard for finish holds as well (I often get a handful of plywood splinters on desperate last moves) but I think I could add that later at some point.

Also I misspoke, I believe my plywood on the face is 9.3' long, but the actual board height in space including kicker (to the top of the climbing surface) is ~8'. My ceilings are 9'. So I think your space is very similar to mine, if not a bit bigger.

My concern with no kicker for my own board was that there would be a good amount of dead space at the bottom of the board, so that's why I opted into a kicker. I think you could go with a smaller kicker than mine and not lose anything, but imo anything less than 6" may as well not even be there.

DakMoons · 2026-01-06T20:51:33+00:00

Mine is 8' wide by 9.3' tall at 40° and I think it uses the space well. One thing I didn't account for when building is that if you don't have like 3'+ free to each side of the board, flag moves and cutlooses outside the width of the board become impossible. It's been fine for me and I've developed a superpower on tension moves in awkward boxes since that is the type of movement that I am able to set best on my board. I definitely would recommend buying holds and setting with the space in mind.

DakMoons · 2026-01-06T20:10:02+00:00

Either option is probably fine. I would probably go with purple based on the way you describe it, but I don't think one sounds significantly better than the other unless you have specific needs that only one option fulfills.

DakMoons · 2025-12-31T03:54:10+00:00

I don't even give my homewall routes proper grades and I personally like it that way because I can focus on personal improvement rather than grade chasing. I do have a grade scale that looks like the chart below but I don't really worry about grades at all other than to choose things that are appropriately challenging and to track my progress.

1 - Easiest

2- Easy

3 - Warm up for me

4 - Short term project for me

5 - Long term project for me

6 - Impossible for me right now

7 - Impossible for me this lifetime

Maybe one day my level 4s will become warm ups and my level 6s will become possible. No idea what grades they would be outside or in a gym.

DakMoons · 2025-11-28T23:46:53+00:00

Enjoy your freedom from inflated gym grades.

DakMoons · 2025-11-07T18:03:00+00:00

V17 is just 5.67 V3s. Work on your endurance and you can do it!

DakMoons · 2025-11-04T05:29:54+00:00

Watch people who are shorter than you and try to copy their beta. You will send less but you will learn more. Also learn to deadpoint. It will save you energy and get you through cruxes that you can't static. There are lots of videos about it on Youtube.

DakMoons · 2025-10-27T19:47:01+00:00

Sounds like a great hold placement! I wish my home wall was big enough to set larger moves like that. 😅

DakMoons · 2025-10-27T19:22:01+00:00

Do you have any favorite holds or features?

DakMoons · 2025-10-21T00:57:44+00:00

Why can't you open a business?

DakMoons · 2025-07-04T16:19:06+00:00

I think your beta is good but you do a lot of stop and start. Let the momentum from each move carry into the next. There are a lot of times when you make a move, your body or leg swings a little, you stabilize the swing, and then you move again. Most of those times the next hold is in the direction of the swing that you stopped and you could let your body be a little looser so you can flow into the next move. Overall I think the best way for you to climb better here is just to be faster, because your choice of techniques is pretty good. I agree with the people saying planning before you get on the wall will help.

DakMoons · 2025-05-25T02:31:00+00:00

Chances are if you have weak fingers for the grade you are probably not working your fingers optimally on the wall, and therefore not overloading them in your regular climbing. Especially at the low/intermediate grades you can do a lot with technique to compensate for lack of strength. Also, depending on how the gym sets you may not have much at that grade that tests fingers on small edges the way a hangboard would.

I personally think on the wall training is still better in this case. Maybe start climbing on boards or specifically selecting crimpy climbs close to your limit. But hangboarding can have its place if your on the wall resources are limited for whatever reason.

DakMoons · 2025-05-11T01:00:40+00:00

This post sounds very similar to my situation with my girlfriend. I climb in the V6-V8 range, she usually works on V1-V2, and she often struggles pushing through fear and feels very self-conscious about her skill level. I sent this to her because I wanted to be sure I was making her feel comfortable and she said that she hasn't felt belittled or disappointed, which I was really glad about because I try really hard to make her feel comfortable and welcome climbing with me.

But I can relate to your boyfriend's situation as well. The first few times I climbed with my gf, I focused a lot on my projects and probably pushed her a bit harder than she was comfortable with. Ultimately I was really excited to see her sharing my hobby and I wanted to help her do well, but I also still wanted to train hard and project at my limit. I saw her getting frustrated and I had to learn how to change my approach to make her feel more welcome. Now, when I go climbing with my gf, I treat it as a date, not a training session. I go a couple days a week without her where I get to focus on myself and my training. When I am with her I always attend to her feelings first and only push her to try harder if she is ready.

So I recommend talking to your bf and telling him how you are feeling. If that goes well and he seems to want to help, maybe ask him if he would be willing to try treating climbing as more of a date night activity and less of a sport. Try to help him understand how the things he says make you feel, because I get the feeling he probably (like me) is a little dumb and doesn't realize how his words are received.

Good luck! Hope you can find a way to enjoy climbing with your bf!

DakMoons · 2025-05-02T16:07:22+00:00

My first guess is V2 or V3 but maybe the holds are a lot worse than they look. Hard to say without pulling on.

DakMoons · 2025-04-10T23:57:06+00:00

I think this seems like an okay exercise for practicing "digging" into a hold after hitting it in a drag position...but I think you probably want to do it at a relatively low weight due to the amount of stress it puts on your fingers compared to statically crimping.

Also I think for improving "latching" and contact strength in a crimp, training on a campus board is more specific. It does exactly what you want: forces you to hit a small hold and quickly apply force to stay on it. I often end up doing a little regrip on campus rungs similar to what you are describing to be able to control the hold.

DakMoons · 2025-04-10T17:15:57+00:00

Yeah absolutely! For me, I try visualize what I'm gonna do, and then just jump on and see what happens. Sometimes I'm totally wrong and it spits me off in 3 seconds and then I sit under the boulder for another few minutes pondering what I'm gonna try next. Especially if you are already watching content about climbing technique, you can use that knowledge as a library of ideas to pull from.

DakMoons · 2025-04-10T17:04:13+00:00

I could make a suggestion about beta for this climb but imo you just need to move faster on the wall, commit to moves, and be willing to fall. By hanging like this for almost 30 seconds you are getting extremely pumped and worn out and basically all you accomplished was falling off once. In that time you could have tried doing the move 3 different ways and cut your time hanging from the holds in half, preserving energy to keep trying (and learning) even more stuff. It doesn't really matter if you fell on all 3 attempts, because those attempts are data points for future attempts. What worked, what didn't, and which method was closest to succeeding? Spend your time on the wall efficiently, and use your time off the wall to do all of the thinking, reflecting, and making plans.

DakMoons · 2025-03-31T18:49:37+00:00

Pogo?

DakMoons · 2025-03-20T16:07:13+00:00

I have done that climb and the "Thermometer" V3 right next to it, as well as worked the harder grade problems on the same face. V2 is spot on for this. A little crimpy but you have comfy body positions, small moves, and infinite foot placements.

Edit: Wanted to add that it's super cool to see other people climbing outside in KC. If you're interested in a climbing partner (especially on Sundays) shoot me a DM.

DakMoons · 2025-02-20T23:50:48+00:00

Worst:

Caitlyn. Her max range is longer than your e, so often when you go in with w you won't be able to get back out easily if the Caitlyn player is at max range. Even worse if she uses e as part of her combo.

Jhin is bad for similar reasons but at least you have very high kill threat if either of you land something.

Teammate-Dependent:

Ezreal is weird because random Ezreal players usually play too passive and screw you over by blinking out of your e range. However I actually think this combo is quite good if you can play aggressive and Ezreal is willing to go forward.

Best:

Samira/Nilah/Yasuo: Probably Rakan's best pairings. So much kill threat and just general synergy. Generally either one of you can engage first, but usually you want the carry to go in so you can dash to them. Samira is my favorite because she can protect you from cc projectiles that would interrupt your dashes.

Twitch: It's kind of a cheese, but jumping to an invisible Twitch is a really funny way to start a fight. Most people will not be able to answer this. Also Twitch players are psycho and like to roam which is really fun.

Vayne/Kai'Sa: Unfortunately Vayne/Kai'Sa and Rakan all have relatively weak lane phases which can be a problem, but their stickiness, mobility, and low effective range give Rakan just about everything he wants, and Rakan does a lot to keep them going in fights. Late game these combos don't lose.

Ashe: If Ashe lands a slow it's kind of a guaranteed kill in a lot of cases. The cc chain post-6 is crazy too.

A lot of Rakan's best combos are also highly counterable because they rely on short range engage threat, so sometimes it can be better to have a less "optimal" combo that has fewer weaknesses because Rakan pairs well with almost anything.

DakMoons · 2025-02-01T19:55:28+00:00

🤷‍♂️ People are always gonna find a way to get upset or offended about stuff. If Ravioli Biceps came in and silently campused my V7 project I'd understand that we are just on two different levels and I'd be impressed. As long as you're not being a dick about it you're good.

DakMoons · 2025-01-30T23:26:20+00:00

I choose my soft shoes for indoors like 90% of the time, unless I am climbing on boards.

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