If you want to get a total body work out, climbing is the way to do it, and building your own climbing wall allows you to train and have fun any time you want, rather than having to drive to a climbing gym during open hours. Building Your Own Climbing Wall provides the essential information you need to plan and construct your own indoor or outdoor climbing wall, including step by step instructions, equipment lists, information on how to make your own holds, and specific building plans and design ideas for making your climbing wall make maximum use of the space you have.

This book is a complete guide for instructors and administrators, who can use this book to: design and select equipment options for climbing walls based on up-to-date industry standards and guidelines; customize their walls to accommodate the particular needs of their sites or situations; operate and maintain their walls; develop and implement operating procedures; and teach basic climbing skills and 15 climbing wall games to diverse populations.

When mountains are your salvation, what keep your mental weather calm and free of storms, how do you cope if they’re out of reach? After spending a decade restlessly globetrotting in search of a way of life that worked for him, journalist Kieran Cunningham alighted on Sondrio, a small town in Lombardy, Italy. A stone’s throw from the Alps, there he found the perfect combination of fresh mountain air, a strong network of local friends and lots of climbing. Finally he was able to accept and manage his diagnosis of Bipolar 1. And then Lombardy found itself the European epicentre of Covid-19 and subject to the strictest of lockdowns. What does a climber do when his beloved peaks are off limits? When he’s only permitted to leave the house for his weekly sanctioned grocery shop? When all the things that help him maintain his delicate equilibrium are taken away? As Kieran feels his mental health begin to crumble, he looks desperately for something he can climb to help rid him of his excess energy and hopefully get him back on track. Kieran finds himself navigating the walls of his house over and over while gazing at the mountain ranges so tantalisingly close. He dreams of that first euphoric climb – alone in the clouds, tired, happy, sated. Climbing the Walls is a memoir about mental health and the power of nature and exercise. It’s both a devastatingly honest account of living with Bipolar 1 and a love song to small-town Italian life and the high places that keep him healthy.

"Insects walk on water, snakes slither, and fish swim. Animals move with astounding grace, speed, and versatility: how do they do it, and what can we learn from them? In How to Walk on Water and Climb up Walls, David Hu takes readers on an accessible, wondrous journey into the world of animal motion. From basement labs at MIT to the rain forests of Panama, Hu shows how animals have adapted and evolved to traverse their environments, taking advantage of physical laws with results that are startling and ingenious. In turn, the latest discoveries about animal mechanics are inspiring scientists to invent robots and devices that move with similar elegance and efficiency. Hu follows scientists as they investigate a multitude of animal movements, from the undulations of sandfish and the way that dogs shake off water in fractions of a second to the seemingly crash-resistant characteristics of insect flight. Not limiting his exploration to individual organisms, Hu describes the ways animals enact swarm intelligence, such as when army ants cooperate and link their bodies to create bridges that span ravines. He also looks at what scientists learn from nature's unexpected feats--such as snakes that fly, mosquitoes that survive rainstorms, and dead fish that swim upstream. As researchers better understand such issues as energy, flexibility, and water repellency in animal movement, they are applying this knowledge to the development of cutting-edge technology. Integrating biology, engineering, physics, and robotics, [this book] demystifies the remarkable mechanics behind animal locomotion"--Page 4 of cover.

“The old way of climbing was systematic, methodical, and consistent. Now it’s anything goes, reacting to every situation differently.” —Tommy Caldwell • For skilled climbers who want to push to the next level • Tips and advice from Tommy Caldwell, Steph Davis, Lynn Hill, Alex Honnold and more of the world’s best climbers • 250 color photographs and 12 illustrations Advanced Rock Climbing: Expert Skills and Techniques is for good climbers who want to get even better—from training to gear, sport climbing to multi-pitch efficiency, and beyond. Each chapter has detailed advice from some of the world’s best climbers and guides—Tommy Caldwell, Angela Hawse, Justen Sjong, Steph Davis, Sonny Trotter, Alex Honnold, Lynn Hill, and more. Through clear, step-by-step instruction, detailed color photographs, and hard-earned wisdom, this new guide helps strong climbers increase their speed on multi-pitch climbs, conserve energy on big faces, train for tendon strength, improvise self-rescue, and more. Advanced Rock Climbing is for someone who has been climbing for several years and aspires to transition from intermediate to advanced levels, experienced climbers who are stuck in a rut, and naturally talented climbers who are climbing high grades but who may not have the experience to go further safely.

CLICK HERE to download the section from Big Wall Climbing on "First Ascents" * Skills and strategies unique to big walls -- illustrated in full color * Includes modern speed and free climbing tactics that have revolutionized wall climbing * Key training exercises (practiced near the ground) and real life examples reinforce instruction Dangling sweaty-palmed from a 3000-foot cliff for days on end, Jared Ogden taught himself to climb his first big wall by trial and error. Why should you have to do the same? Ogden, who has climbed El Capitan's Nose in less than twenty-four hours, wants to jump-start your education. Whether you're a weekend warrior or a full-on wall addict, you'll learn the tools of the trade and how to use them; different leading and hauling scenarios and why some are better suited than others; multiple following set-ups for different terrain; how to choose your partners and routes; staying on route; how to live on a wall; the steps involved in doing first ascents; big wall style and ethics; and more. Ogden will have you racked and ready for prime big wall climbing destinations in North America including Yosemite, Zion, Rocky Mountain, and the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Parks; the Alaskan Range; and the Bugaboos of British Columbia.