After 26 years of climbing on homewalls, in gyms, and at boulders and crags, I have become keenly aware: climbing itself is a blessing that is wrapped in privilege. No one actually needs to do it, no matter what that little voice tells them. It’s a high form of leisure, which often comes with the large pricetags of travel, gear, and training.
But homewallers, we can take it to another level. Sometimes we put these things in our living rooms! We spend thousands on hunks of plastic, we spend hours and days grinding our own wood grips to save money, and some of us even build entire outbuildings to hold our home gyms. Then there is the guy with the backyard DWS pool. The “next level” is continually being redefined.
And yeah, it’s all worth it. We get strong, we have fun, we challenge ourselves. But we could only do this because we were born into lives that had the space and resources to allow us to find climbing and become climbers. Even if you have the tiniest woody tucked into your closet, you have more access to climbing than most people. Most people don’t have space, time or money for climbing at home.
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I feel lucky to have had climbing in my life for as long as I have. I was born into a family that valued the outdoors and recreation and my parents helped me pursue those interests while becoming an Eagle Scout, going to college, and starting my own business. I’ve built, bought, grown and sold a variety of small businesses over the years including Climb Time of Cincinnati, American Bouldering Series, and Climbing Business Journal. I work hard with the advantages I was given and am proud of my accomplishments, but it would be naïve to say I am self-made. My life has been deeply privileged, and that extends to my ability to have built and outfitted many homewalls.
Appreciating the privilege inherent in homewalling is one of the reasons we’re starting this Homewaller project. We want to put the best information and resources at your fingertips for free, and we want to support a community that values people of all backgrounds and walls of all sizes. You don’t need to spend thousands on your wall, and in fact you don’t even need a wall to share in the stoke of homewalling.
More than that, our business does modest work to elevate under-privileged voices, through editorial and donations. One of our core values is “generosity” – to us, that responsibility comes along with the privilege of working in climbing.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy our new Homewaller project.
Scott
Scott built his first homewall in 1995 and last one in 2019 just before the pandemic, with plenty between. He’s made grips from wood and stone, carved shapes from clay and foam, and poured PU, PE and fiberglass. Over the years Scott has helped launch a few hold brands, worked for and set routes at a handful of gyms, and has organized a bunch of comps and events. He’s currently the publisher/owner of CBJ. But the homewall is where it started, and is where his heart lies.
