Jack cruising up Sterling's new Moonboard Spray wall
Are you feeling like you’ve hit a plateau at your current rock climbing level and are looking to break through? The Moonboard is a standardized spray wall and one of the most effective tools for rock climbing training that exists. These 8ft by 10.3ft wooden training boards provide intermediate to advanced training options for climbers that are in search of demanding climbs and tough move sequences.
Set at a 40-degree angle and loaded with challenging holds (you won't find any jugs on these spray wall training boards), Moonboards provide climbers with thousands of boulder problem combinations from V3 to VHard.
The Moonboard is controlled by an accompanying app that allows users to see climbs set by climbers around the world, and to add their own!
Once you have picked a climb in the Moonboard app, different colored LED lights shine through holes under each climbing hold to identify the start (green), end (red) and everything in between (blue). You can use any of the foot holds on the first two rows, but once you move off the start feet you can only place your hands and feet on the climbing holds that are lit up!
Watch the video for a behind-the-scenes look at the Sportrock routesetters putting together the Sterling Moonboard.
The History of the Moonboard
Popularized by pro climbers in Britain in the 90’s, personal wooden training walls have since become a gym staple. At the time, many trained on inconsistent wooden walls. So in 2005, when Ben Moon coined the Moonboard’s standardized spray wall design seen throughout climbing gyms worldwide, it was revolutionary, allowing anyone to create and re-create climbs and specific movements whenever needed.
How can I Train on a Moonboard?
Moonboards help create a standardized training environment, where each climbing hold is identifiable with underlit LEDs which can be configured in the Moonboard app, allowing anyone in our community to add their own problems of any grade, or improve your rock climbing training routine using the same routes as climbers from around the world. Because the Moonboard is standardized, you never have to worry about your favorite projects being reset!
Moonboards are one of the greatest tools to train rock climbing power. The angled nature of the wall and types of climbing holds on a Moonboard are great for targeting finger strength, body tension, and precise footwork. The Moonboard really forces climbers to drive through their feet to stay on the wall. It is also great for training explosive dynamic climbing moves!
Disclaimer:
Training on the Moonboard can be intense! There is a lot of force being applied to your fingers and shoulders so if you are new to climbing it might be a tool you hold off on using right away. We also recommend that climbers under the age of 14 be very cautious about using the Moonboard. The last thing we recommend is to always warm up before getting on the board!
Spray walls are a valuable tool used by many climbers, read this to understand why.