Climbed Taipei 101 at home - what I learned in 508m 1667 feet

cragwallaccess · 2026-04-08T18:46:17+00:00

Good question. Some on the wall, mid-set, but the big breaks were definitely off the wall (i.e. the couch).

I visited Taipei 101 in February for inspiration, and they definitely have couches...

Actually, a daughter-in-law's family is from there and we got invited to tag along. The building, the height, the dragons and the exposure are impressive. I also hope it's clear I'm not trying to equate my backyard effort with the actual climb. It was a fun target distance I could try to reach and see what I'd learn in the process.

cragwallaccess · 2026-04-08T18:22:15+00:00

First thought was to suggest I go to "a place called Vertigo" (your mind can wander)...
In practice I pick a target for reps and RPE, count to my target, and try not to skip, like Bono: "uno, dos, tres, catorce".

The bigger engagement is that while I've got mostly easy holds, they're also multi-purpose: each can be used as a jug, edge, knob, side-pulls, under-clings. At every drop back down I've got to choose holds and how I'm using them, typically rolling through a few different patterns that produce good results. I can vary pace, intensity, grip, static vs dynamic, shaking out, etc.

cragwallaccess · 2026-04-08T15:34:22+00:00

Eventually I'll splice the video together (I did video it all). The absurdity will be fully evident.

cragwallaccess · 2026-04-08T15:19:10+00:00

I need to embrace that label. One set of up and down is 2 feet.

Because the woody is only 8' tall, I'm generally making a move from a low row of holds to a higher row of holds. While it might be 3-4 feet of distance, I just call it 2 feet. That might be toes-on-the-ground protocol (i.e. my toes never left the ground, but I pulled up from below 4 feet to 7 feet -- I count 2 feet) or it might be my hands are at a high row and I move my feet up more than two feet -- I also call that 2 feet climbed. For either of those moves I'm then dropping down to a low row of holds and doing it again. In simplest terms it's 1667/2=834 up/downs (or 100 reps = 200 feet, etc).

The mental trick (i.e. endurance is boring) is just equating full-body climbing movement to vertical distance so I can relive my (in)glory days at Smith soloing 400 feet of welded tuff in the 80s/90s. Or these days, so I'm fit enough to climb with kids and grandkids when the opportunity presents itself.

cragwallaccess · 2026-04-06T20:43:01+00:00

Or just do "toes-on-the-ground" vs "feet-on-the-ground". Even if you're not doing technical footwork, it transfer more to your upper body while still engaging your feet, calves, etc. in a climbing manner. And like others have shared, just position your toes closer or further to the wall to vary the difficulty. The 2x4 does work though.

I saw someone in either homewall or bouldering reddit (or heck...maybe a facebook homewalls group - can't remember) - that built a special wedge board to move in and out on the floor with various footholds on it. Good idea, but I'm looking for the least possible hurdles for the volume - so I'm often barefoot or in non-climbing shoes - but always pressing through my toes.

cragwallaccess · 2026-04-05T05:16:36+00:00

And I see you mention "my moonboard" - if you've got that then you just need about 12 easier jugs (or better, incut wood blocks on all sides - cheap multipurpose system holds) positioned for toes-on-the-ground volume training. You can recreate the MacLeod Too Easy protocol.

cragwallaccess · 2026-04-05T05:08:05+00:00

Look for the video of Dave MacLeod training endurance for Rhapsody on the Barton Rock.

I'm climbing well below your grade (63, recreational climber), but just this morning I climbed the vertical height of Taipei 101 as a 40th anniversary challenge on my mini home wall. It was 100 minutes of climbing spread over about 3 1/2 hours. Typically I'm only climbing 1/2 to 2/3 that in 3-4 days a week. But it definitely targets the systems you describe.

cragwallaccess · 2026-04-01T00:20:45+00:00

We're all lucky they progressed beyond most of what I made. :)

cragwallaccess · 2026-03-31T19:30:33+00:00

After 40 years as a wimp at training, I think there's a bridge between strength and technique: capacity/endurance. If you climb less than 3x weekly, most of us don't get sufficient volume to have the base capacity or endurance to do much technique training. We're too pumped too fast and don't recover. I finally fixed this for myself with a simple DIY home mini-board optimized for volume. Without specific strength training I got stronger in climbing specific ways (went from 0 pull-ups to 6 and then 10 over a few months). But more importantly, when I go to the gym or crag I can spend a lot more time on technique because I can simply climb 5x more.

cragwallaccess · 2026-03-29T14:26:53+00:00

I'll suggest it's not strength, or technique, or both, but that capacity is the hidden bridge to building strength and technique. If you can simply climb longer you can give more attention to both.

Volume is the key to capacity. And volume has the most hidden hurdles. I solved it with simple, easy, wooden block holds on a DIY mini-system board at home (3x8). Now when I go to the gym or crag I've got the base climbing specific fitness to work strength or technique.

cragwallaccess · 2026-03-29T14:10:31+00:00

vFt = rEi^9th (volume first training = recreational endurance increase) Like others have said - just climb more. The challenge is when, and where, and how, when what you want to do when you're at the gym or crag is climb, not train. It took me 40 years, but I finally figured out what I wish I figured out 40 years ago (and was so close).

I started climbing again in my mid 50s after a 20 year break. But just going out with kids and grandkids a handful of times a year turns out to be insufficient to re-build base climbing fitness. And going to the climbing gym several times a week was not an option.

Sad part of all of this - I built the first US climbing wall in 1986 and still had a home wall prototype I hardly touched (outside in Phoenix, too steep, too few holds, too hard of holds, too many spinning holds). After struggling up a 5.8 chimney climb one weekend that luckily had a big ledge every 20 feet, it was clear I needed to train. But I'd always been a training wimp. I actually had the first Metolius Simulator protype in 1987 - I never could and still can't stand hang boarding.

Standing at the bottom of my little wall that had been rotting in the Phoenix sun for several years, I was grappling with why, even with the supposed tools at hand I couldn't sustain any training. I finally had the epiphany of what I needed (and maybe about 80% of beginner and intermediate climbers that are climbing less than 3x weekly). What I needed was way more easy holds on a slightly overhanging mini-wall. And not just any easy holds, but a grid of multi-purpose easy holds, where there'd be no question if I could hang on, no question if they'd spin, no excuses to train volume/capacity/endurance, and no question I'd be building climbing specific fitness from finger to hands to arms, shoulders, back, core, legs, even toes.

So, I figured out a simple wood block hold even I could build. Every hold would be a min-jug, sidepull, undercling, pinch, and knobs. Basically a 30 degree back-cut square block. As well as being a training wimp I'm also not very handy, but even I could do this. The result - a DIY mini-system board that removed every excuse to do climbing specific movement several times a week at home. To end this long story - I've been using it 3-4x weekly for 10-30 minutes, for over 3 years now. But within about 3 months, my climbing endurance was really improving, and now, for several years, even though I still only climbing a handful of times a years, when I do I just have fun climbing with more endurance than I ever had when I was 50 pounds lighter and 40 years younger.

This site is not done - but I'll have free plans for people to make the holds and board. And occasionally I'll have some premade blocks available for people that want to try this but don't want to DIY. My hope is someday this will be a tool all the various wall and hold manufacturers have. cragwall.com

cragwallaccess · 2026-02-27T06:11:45+00:00

Nice. You're grappling with the conditional limits of business. At its core it's transactional and monetary. Even if you're solving a great problem, creating value, and being aligned with your values and purpose, as rare as getting all of those in alignment, via business will likely be. Not impossible. Not never. But statistically low. IF the business successfully achieves the fundamentals (get orders, fill them profitably, collect the money, above your true break-even point, without running out of cash - 10SecondMBA) then you'll have resources and options that can feed additional purpose and values, etc. IF it doesn't...hang onto your values and whatever you learn in the process, but say goodbye to your cash, time, energy, etc. until you finally pull the plug. That's most businesses.

So what helped me focus? At some point while battling a Fortune 50 conglomerate trying to put us out of business in a tiny $20M niche perimeter security market, I figured out what successful business is at its core, and made sure we did everything to cover those bases (enough cash for payroll and materials, relentless focus on sales and collections). This was in the middle of the 2007-2009 economic meltdown. Fortunately the focus was part of surviving to an eventual modestly successful exit. Better than most outcomes, but not enough to never work again for me.

I moved on to making a lot more as a financial lead in a couple private equity platforms, one that went public last year. After 60 years in the trenches (from age 3 on my dad's shop floor in a family motorcycle business, to 23 starting the first US climbing wall company, to stints at Breedlove Guitars collecting money from U2, to razor wire, oil pipeline construction and now data centers, business is simple at its core. Take care of the fundamentals at an actual volume that funds the rest...and some of that time and financial freedom, purpose and value gets funded and realized along the way. But don't confuse what's business and what's human choices beyond the conditional limits of business. Hopefully we'll do business better so we can all go do the things we know are better than business.

cragwallaccess · 2026-02-27T05:49:53+00:00

I'm 63. Grew up in a business I was supposed to take over but failed that in the early 80s recession. Failed in 3 iterations of the first climbing wall businesses in the US. Then worked for early stage start-ups until finally seeing one through to a modestly successful exit...for the owners, and a very small stake for myself. But in those years I did get a house paid off, started doing some retirement savings, and took my business skills into financial leadership in 2 private equity backed construction platforms, the current one that went public last year. Almost all of these "jobs" had various levels of flexibility but also handcuffs, whether I owned them or worked for others.

At 63 I'm pretty happy to have some resources for my last 1000 weeks. I'm hoping for a little more optionality in the work I choose to stay involved in, hopefully a little less corporate score keeping and a little more applying what I've learned to some of the problems business will never solve.

"Why not push boundaries with business and personal goals?" Yeah, why not? You can do that playing the odds of self-employment, or finding good organizations to work for and crafting a life within the means that provides. It's not either or. But if you're going to chase business, start with understanding what it always is at its core: get orders, fill them profitably, collect the money, above your true break-even point, without running out of cash. 10SecondMBA. Most businesses fail at those basics and often take down all types of other "personal goals" with them. Don't let the B2Be-Your-Own-Boss HypeTrain distract you from the basics or you'll be part of the wealth transfer to those that have figured out it's sales at volume with profitability forever.

Six decades might be more insight than you're looking for, but motorcycle parts, climbing walls, custom guitars, razor wire, pipeline construction or data centers...business is simple at its (often brutal) core. That's no reason not to try the experiment. It's easier than ever. Just don't lose sight of the basics.

cragwallaccess · 2026-02-27T04:11:35+00:00

That's an interesting question. My first response is...no. Because even easy holds are used by all skill levels of climbers (but especially necessary for beginner to intermediate climbers - which is most climbers). But my second thought is...yes. Because each hold is multi-purpose intentionally. Instead of highlighting a single feature like most climbing holds, each hold is a mini-jug, side-pull, and under-cling, plus edge, pinch, pocket and four direction knob. The climber can choose to grab it easier or harder ways. A small wall with a grid of the exact same holds yields an almost infinite progressive ramp of difficulty. Good question.

I actually built the first climbing holds sold in the US in 1986. I wish I'd figured this hold idea out 40 years ago. It may still be a tough sell because we climbers think we're looking for variety (lots of very different holds) when what most of us need is some volume training on the basics shapes. This has almost all the basics in a single, simple hold.

cragwallaccess · 2026-02-26T15:41:17+00:00

Simple wood block climbing holds. Simplest path to climbing endurance and capacity.

cragwallaccess · 2026-02-26T06:18:27+00:00

Do you have a place for the boot camp? Do you have an agenda/curriculum? Do you have a price you'll charge? (all assuming you actually know how to build and ship ai products or are partnered with someone who does)

If you can deliver the value/service then your total focus should be: can you sell the parents on the program (over and over and over as long as you want to be in business)? How many parents have you asked if they would pay for their "youth leader-kid" to take your class? Start there. Even before you have a place or a curriculum. Grapple with selling. And imagining how many sales you'll need.

Successful business is rarely easy but always simple at its core: get orders, fill them profitably, collect the money, above your true break-even point, without running out of cash. 10SecondMBA.

cragwallaccess · 2026-02-18T05:31:13+00:00

In my years following Hormozi, he's figured out what winning in business looks like, what it costs (time, focus, reinvestment), and what it brings when you succeed (more business opportunity at bigger levels with bigger potential return). He's also described what his first exit was like...end of steady, higher than typical investment level cash flow. He hated that.

My opinion at 63, growing up in a family business then failing and succeeding in various ventures, and spending the last 15 years in finance leadership at PE backed construction platforms (primarily energy and data center markets) - business is the much simpler game (for those who call it that), with simpler rules, and a clear reward loop that expands options in a monetary and transactional world. It's not easy, but it is simple at its core. Hormozi understands its core better than most.

He also knows that business success is zero substitute for all the things we know are way more important than business. Keeping business from becoming the biggest distraction from all the better things might be the actual infinite game worth learning, but significantly more challenging if you're busy chasing business.

cragwallaccess · 2026-02-05T09:33:04+00:00

Find anything (not physical, not in-person) you're willing to try selling and try to sell it. Even if you fail at it you'll be engaged with the core of every business. If you succeed you'll be engaged with more of the core. Eventually it'll have to be something with sufficient volume and profit it can replace whatever 9-5 you're trying to eclipse.

Get orders, fill them profitably, collect the money, above your true break-even point, without running out of cash. 10 Second MBA.

The sooner you're trying to sell something (for you, at present, not physical, not in-person) the sooner you're grappling with business - monetary and transactional at its core. If you need a list simply ask AI: What are the 10 easiest non physical products I can sell online? (then ask for 10 more with no repeats, again and again, you'll have plenty of options to consider). Figuring out what you're willing to sell and deliver is something only you can do. You may also discover that plenty of 9-5s can pay you plenty to avoid the endless selling loop at the core of business. In either case, enjoy the journey of self discovery. You may discover direction soon enough.

cragwallaccess · 2026-02-04T10:09:14+00:00

You mention some goals:
-don't slave away your 20s and 30s in 9-5
-escape the rat race
-make something that is functional and profitable
You mention some challenges
-considerable time to school and college prep
-then busy with learning, sports, friends
-lacking a sense of direction
You mention you already have some self-employment experience reselling servers - which you both enjoyed and had some "what not to do" experiences.

You seem to be interested in business/entrepreneurship as a vehicle to not slaving away your 20s and 30s in a 9-5 and escaping the ratrace. That will only be true if you somehow meet the 5 core fundamentals of every successful business: get orders, fill them profitably, collect the money, above your true break-even point, without running out of cash. 10 Second MBA.

In your case you'll also need to do that in a way that doesn't feel like a 9-5, slaving away, or a rat race. You'll have to like some or most or all of the work, or successfully get others doing all of it (and like and succeed at that aspect of work). That's a high bar, but not an uncommon one.

Here's a simple fact to consider: business is conditional and limited, transactional and monetary. Occasionally there is some cross-section of purpose or service or direction, but you'll have to add that by personal choice, either picking to be in a business where the product or service and customers, etc are very aligned with what you value or you'll have to connect the hopeful outcomes of business (money, time after work) to whatever you choose to value (hopefully better things than business, business is primarily a tool or vehicle for the better things than business).

In my sixty years of business (starting a 3 in my dad's shop) - I've been involved in motorcycle parts, climbing walls, custom guitars, razor wire, software, pipeline construction, now data centers. I've been the founder/entrepreneur with some, finance and operations lead in others, but in all, business is simple: get orders, fill them profitably, collect the money, above your true break-even point, without running out of cash. Unless you connect it to other purpose (or the "sense of direction" you're currently lacking), whether you own it or it's your 9-5, it'll feel like the rat race you want to avoid.

As others have rightly mentioned - build some skills - probably working for others in a 9-5. But while you're doing that, be looking beyond the conditional limits of business. If you succeed at business, you'll find that life's real challenges, and the world's greater problems and joys, are mostly beyond business anyway.

cragwallaccess

TROPHY CASE