Good feedback is what drives us
As Michael was one of our first customers to receive the brand new 2nd. generation ClimbStation. I asked if he would be kind to write me about his experiences and this is what Michael wrote below. I am super grateful to have this kind of feedback. Thank you Michael.
Kaarle Vanamo CEO, Inventor ---- I live in the flatlands of the mid-west United States. The closest quality rock climbing area is a 3 hour drive from my home. Previously, I maintained my climbing fitness by going to the climbing gym between trips. However, my wife and I recently started a family. We have 2 infant children, and now there is not much time to go to the gym. I considered building a climbing wall and I explored designs. I wanted a variety of terrain with multiple angles, and the ability to climb a lot of vertical feet in short periods of time. |
The thought of doing laps on a traditional wall with ropes and an auto belay device just did not sound appealing to me. I saw a climbing treadmill in a training book and was intrigued by the idea of endless endurance training on a rotating wall. I looked at the other manufacturers online, and then by chance, I did a search on YouTube for "rock climbing treadmill." Hello Climbstation!! I was blown away by the Climbstation's ability to change angles while climbing. There was no question that this was what I was looking for. I contacted Joyride Games, based in Finland, and soon I was the proud owner of the latest model. Some customers may find the process of importing equipment from overseas a bit daunting. It really was not that difficult. I used a customs agent to clear the freight through US Customs and UPS freight handled the delivery. Kaarle Vanamo, the inventor and owner of Joyride, and his associate, Joonas Rintamaki, travelled to my home all the way from Finland and installed the Climbstation! Talk about customer service! They were courteous, professional, and assembled the wall in approximately 12 hours. It was fun to get to know Kaarle and Joonas and they provided a good orientation of the equipment prior to their departure.
I have been using the Climbstation for several months now and it is simply amazing! It adapts to your climbing speed and can rotate between +15 degrees to -45 degrees while you climb. It is not necessary to step off the machine to make angle adjustments. The built in training programs, accessed via a simple electronic interface, allow tremendous variety and offer the feel of ascending easy to difficult routes. If you want to train at a specific angle, then simply select the manual setting, key in the angle, and voila!, the wall rotates to your desired degree of vertical. Also, it is easy to change or add holds. Underneath the rotating belt is a grid of threaded nuts similar to the "T-nuts" that most climbers are familiar with. I purchased holds from both Metolius and Nicros and they work well. However, the diameter of the bolt accepted by Climbstation is not the same as the ones included by the hold manufacturers. You must provide your own bolts. The only limitation with Climbstation that I can think of is that the size of the holds that you can use is limited by the width of the rotating panels underneath the climbing surface. You cannot use giant, oversize holds that you might find in a gym. Also, you can only use single bolt holds. You might be able to use long, narrow,horizontal holds with multiple bolts, but I have not tried this.
I highly recommend Climbstation. It may cost more than other climbing walls, but I feel it is well worth it. The compact and mobile design combined with an endless variety of terrain is only limited by your imagination.
Sincerely,
Michael Jackson
Indianapolis, IN
I have been using the Climbstation for several months now and it is simply amazing! It adapts to your climbing speed and can rotate between +15 degrees to -45 degrees while you climb. It is not necessary to step off the machine to make angle adjustments. The built in training programs, accessed via a simple electronic interface, allow tremendous variety and offer the feel of ascending easy to difficult routes. If you want to train at a specific angle, then simply select the manual setting, key in the angle, and voila!, the wall rotates to your desired degree of vertical. Also, it is easy to change or add holds. Underneath the rotating belt is a grid of threaded nuts similar to the "T-nuts" that most climbers are familiar with. I purchased holds from both Metolius and Nicros and they work well. However, the diameter of the bolt accepted by Climbstation is not the same as the ones included by the hold manufacturers. You must provide your own bolts. The only limitation with Climbstation that I can think of is that the size of the holds that you can use is limited by the width of the rotating panels underneath the climbing surface. You cannot use giant, oversize holds that you might find in a gym. Also, you can only use single bolt holds. You might be able to use long, narrow,horizontal holds with multiple bolts, but I have not tried this.
I highly recommend Climbstation. It may cost more than other climbing walls, but I feel it is well worth it. The compact and mobile design combined with an endless variety of terrain is only limited by your imagination.
Sincerely,
Michael Jackson
Indianapolis, IN