Building a Moon^Kilter Hybrid Board

This was our Moon^Kilter hybrid board before the 55 Kilter holds arrived.  

(showing an old set up Ben Moon #4, A and B)  

Moonboards are awesome, and the online problem set is super fun and motivating.  The app is a great way to share problems, and we really enjoy trying problems from folks around the world.  However, Moonboards have four major shortcomings which the Moon^Kilter Hybrid Board solves.

1. The T-Nut Grid is too sparse.  
2. The hold types are limited in style and size
3. There are no easy problems (V4 and harder only)
4. Moonboards are good for training power, but not for warming up, PE or endurance work.

Our hope is that our Moon^Kilter Hybrid can become a prototype that encourages Moon and Kilter to team up to create a board with an expanded grid, with more varied holds, and a wider range of problems.  This will greatly expand the range of climbers who can enjoy the board, and the ways they can train on the board.

Solution #1:  The Moon^Kilter Hybrid adds 180 more t-nuts, centered in 12 columns, and 15 rows.  You can see the holes centered in the moon grid here (pencil lines).

(Arrows mark the additional 5 rows per sheet across 12 columns)

Solution #2:  The Hybrid adds awesome holds from Kilter that extend the variety of hold types without blocking access to other holds on the board.

Here are the 7 Kilter sets that we added in the blue "easy" group: 

(Top Left) Noah Small 5              Winter XL 1 (Right)
  Rounded Crimps;                             Slugs

 Noah Large 5- Overjugs,               Winter Large 5- Jugs

Noah Medium 17- Mini Jugs,      Winter Small 9 Two pad incuts 

                            (Bottom Right) Teagan Medium 1- Mini Jugs

We are planning another group of sets in red for the "medium" difficulty.   We will move the Noah Small 5 to the red medium group, and add another set each of Winter XL 1 and Winter Large 5 to the blue group. We plan to order the sets for the red group this fall.

Solution #3:   Create easier problems, with different types of holds and movements.  Here is a photo of a climber on a V1 problem with any feet.    Eventually it would be cool to be able to include the additional holds and problems into the app with options for foothold restrictions, wider grade range and problem types.

Solution #4:   The Moon/Kilter Hybrid board is much better than the standard Moonboard for training.  We can do all of the power problems we want using the standard Moon problems, but we can add in power problems with slopers, rounded edges and small incuts and pinches.  But we can also warm up on comfortable jug hauls, develop power endurance cycles, or hop on the board for 50 move endurance rigs.  We can practice giant cranks from juggy underclings, and latch slopey dynos on smooth jugs.

Current moon / kilter hybrid set up using the 2016 setup with the Moon yellow, white, and black plus the blue Kilter holds:

Big thanks from Syd and all of us at Betafish/Climb Athens to Tony Reynaldo at Kinetic Climbing and Fitness for hooking us up with a great deal on a ton of "pre-experienced" holds.

Summer Lessons

(post workout, July 6th)

I spent most of July 5th setting up the AC and plastic barriers for the hangboard end of the Dojo.  Laura and I started our workout at 8:30 am the next morning with reasonable temperatures and pleasantly reduced humidity.

Climate control lessons learned:

• If your window is too short you can remove the panes.
• If the casement is too narrow a hacksaw will help you remove the excess vinyl flanges.
• Temporary walls of plastic sheet will reduce your cubic footage and boost holding power more than any amount of chalk.
• You might not get any PR's but at least you can hold on through the whole workout.
• Even with the AC your skin will hurt it you just got back from a month of travel and occasional recreational climbing. 

(Maple Canyon, Orangutan wall, another stellar 5.9)

The month of June as largely consumed with family vacation to Utah and beyond.  Mostly we were tourists, but we did manage to climb a bit (about 7 climbing days).   

Vacation lessons learned

• The moderate sport routes at Maple are some of the best in the West for family trips:  many slight slabs with holds, bolts where  you want them, and short approaches.   5 star area for family climbing trips. 
• Even in the heat of summer the shady areas at Maple will be pleasant and not too busy on weekdays. 
• If you stop training for a month you will get weaker, heavier, and your skin with  get soft.   
• Summer is a great time to re-motivate and pre-train for fall season.