Jansen's 18th Birthday.....Lindner Style!

 

 

Jansen and I had planned to head to Arizona to ride with some friends over spring break, but I mentioned building a climbing wall this spring and Mitch at The Gear Revival, our favorite place to shop in Atlanta  http://www.thegearrevival.com/ , had the t-nuts all ready for us, so it felt like we were meant to stay and build!

 

 

So, I canceled our AZ car rental and found a basic design for a free-standing wall on the internet and Jansen re-worked the plan to fit the height and width we desired.  He added braces and worked out all the measurements an angles. 

 

We were looking at a climbing height of 18 feet and width of 8 feet.  I hoped to have it up by Jansen's 18th birthday and we could have a bonfire and night climb.  That gave us one week!

 

 



 

We started by removing two trees that were in our space....

....and we took out the fence, too.....oooops.....

Then we were off to pick up two loads of lumber.  Home Depot rawks!  (making good use of the bike rack)

We built the lower frame first and carried it easily to the backyard near where the wall would be raised.  Then we built the ceiling frame and Jansen drilled 234 holes in the plywood panels and I gave each panel three coats of clear stain.

Then it was time for me to go to off to work, while Jansen placed 234 t-nuts in the holes.  (oh, yeah, I'm sure his back was sore)  Next, he attached the panels to the ceiling of the bouldering wall, since it would be too high for us to reach with ladders, once it was at it's full height.  We left the panels off the lower wall to reduce the weight of the wall when lifted.

The ceiling was heavy, but we managed to slowly carry it to the back and place it near the site of the wall.  (see the chickens in the lower left corner, helping us)

 

We made a quick run to REI to pick up a crash pad with our discount/dividend, then ran next door and found.........

 

this little gem.................nothing to do with climbing, but it was super fun listening to our one album!

The boys tested the crash pad that night from the back deck.  Oh, yeah!!

 

Now it was the second weekend and time to put the braces in place and raise the wall.  We connected the two walls and Jansen placed as many braces as he could, then we waited for Shey to get home to help us move it in place.

Shey, Everett, Jansen and I spent the rest of the evening slowly raising the wall.  Jane stopped by and brought us a gift from Wayne.  Yum!!!

 The wall was super heavy and scary, but we did it, just as it was getting dark.

The next morning.

From the front.

Jim stopped by with his climbing pants on and tried out the wall.  He helped place some panels and had birthday cake.

Placing holds.

Now it was bonfire time!!

Family and friends.

Jafer.

Jansen.

Shey

Pizza, coconut cake, pumpkin ale ice cream.  Hangin' by the fire.

 

 

 

Jansen put a ton of work into the design and construction of this wall and he did a magnificent job!  His work ethic is amazing and he is so much fun to hang around.  Climbing at night was a blast!!  Thanks so much man and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!