In recent years, the climbing industry has seen a significant shift toward standardized boards. These boards offer a structured way for climbers to train, with enormous databases of existing climbs and global leaderboards that allow for clear progression tracking. Many climbing gyms have embraced standardized boards as a way to provide climbers with consistent, data-driven training tools.
But where does that leave the traditional spray wall? Once a staple training tool in climbing gyms, spray walls are often deprioritized or even removed in favor of more boards. However, spray walls still offer many unique benefits. There’s a reason spray walls are still favored among many of the strongest climbers!
Gym owners increasingly need to decide how to allocate space, budget and resources between spray walls and standardized boards. This article explores the advantages and limitations of both, with insights from climbers, gym owners and climbing gym consultants on how to make the best decision for your gym.
We’ll also discuss how spray wall software can help bridge the gap, bringing some of the benefits of standardized boards to a spray wall setup.
Why Do Gyms Offer Training Boards in the First Place?
There are several reasons why training boards—both standardized boards and spray walls—are popular amenities at commercial climbing gyms. Here are a handful of reasons we’ve observed over the years:
#1: Attracting and Retaining Stronger Climbers
Training boards (including standardized boards and spray walls) appeal to committed climbers who are focused on progression and may not be served by the regular climbing sets. Providing high-quality training options helps encourage these climbers to keep coming back, and failing to offer training boards could mean losing a key demographic of highly dedicated climbers.
Dominic Fagan, a top-ranked Canadian climber on training board leaderboards, highlights the importance of training boards for stronger climbers: “Generally once climbers get to a certain level, they sort of ‘max out’ on gym problems, and either the regular commercial boulders aren’t hard enough or there are very few actual hard enough climbs to work on to continue improving. At this point, they usually turn to the boards, either standardized boards or spray walls.”
#2: Enhancing Coaching and Training Programs
Many climbing gyms rely on coaching and training programs as an important revenue stream. A well-designed training board supports these programs by providing a controlled, repeatable environment for skill development. Coaches can use both standardized boards and spray walls to focus on specific techniques, movement drills, and strength training exercises.
Brandon Barraclough is a Co-Owner and Head Coach at Reach Indoor Climbing and shared why his team mostly uses spray walls: “For our comp team we heavily rely on spray walls. We’re a shorter gym here at Reach (roughly 29 feet), so we use the spray wall in order to get the volume of movement to best simulate competition lead climbing. It’s also a great tool for having our younger athletes create their own movements and problems. Creativity is such an important part of the sport, and we wouldn’t be able to teach that to the same degree if we did not use the spray wall.”
#3: Encouraging Movement Creativity
Building on Brandon’s quote above, there is significant value in offering ways for climbers to exercise creativity and creation. Kris Hampton is an Owner and Coach at Power Company Climbing and shared some insights with us: “As a coach who has studied movement extensively, two of the key components of climbing progression that are missing from today’s gyms are movement creativity and decision making. These missing components, in my opinion, are two of the biggest reasons why gym climbers have a hard time transferring their skills to the outdoors. Spray walls, particularly without lights or tape to guide the way, are a perfect way to bridge the gap by exercising the skills required for climbing on real rock.”
#4: Fostering Belonging Through Creativity
Training boards have an element of creativity that also fosters a strong sense of belonging. Whenever people create something—whether it’s a knit scarf, a handmade table or a hard climb—they’re attached to it in a special way and want to share their work. In a climbing gym, climbers who create or contribute to setting problems often feel proud of their work, engage with their community, and strengthen their connection to your gym—which directly correlates with member retention.
#5: Expanding the Available Climbing Terrain
A gym with limited climbing surfaces may benefit from installing a training board—especially an adjustable one—to offer a more varied and broader climbing experience. Brandon Barraclough chose to invest in an adjustable training board at Reach Indoor Climbing partly for this reason. “Our gym has quite a few slabs/vertical boulders, so having a board that’s adjustable and goes to 70 degrees overhanging adds more varied terrain for our members to climb on.”
Thinking About Return on Investment (ROI)
Gavin Heverly founded Rise Above Consulting to help climbing gym owners overcome operational challenges and scale their vision, and he summed up some of the business value that comes with investing in a training board: “As with most physical investments in climbing gyms (new holds, a nicer set of lockers and cubbies, remodeling the front desk, etc.), it can be hard to pull a thread directly to ROI without some pretty sophisticated surveying and data analysis. But if you know your business and your customers well enough, you should have a good sense of whether or not the juice is worth the squeeze.” He continued, “When I personally think about training boards or any advanced climbing training programs or offerings, I think about customer and member retention. I’ve done some pretty extensive research in the North American climbing gym market, and I know that the two biggest reasons people stay engaged at climbing gyms are (in this order): social connections and progression in the sport. Put more simply, people want to make friends and get better at climbing. System boards and training walls are one tool that can help with that.”
We also spoke with Timy Fairfield, CEO of Futurist Climbing Consultants, who shared similar thoughts and mentioned that his clients have seen good results when investing in training boards: “We have witnessed bouldering gym clients increasing membership enrollment by as much as 10% in response to the addition of modern training boards to their facilities.”
The Case for Spray Walls
Spray walls, for their part, remain one of the most cost-effective training tools available. Unlike standardized boards—which often require expensive hold sets and proprietary hardware—a spray wall can easily be built on an existing wall with an existing collection of excess holds for practically no cost. Even if you’re buying holds for a spray wall, you’ll still most likely be saving money compared to purchasing a standardized board.
Another key advantage is space flexibility. While standardized boards often come with strict space requirements, a spray wall can be designed to fit in any space. This factor is especially important for gyms that have repurposed existing buildings, such as warehouses or churches. Coyote Rock Gym in Ottawa, Canada, has taken this concept to the extreme, transforming an entire donut-shaped room into a 360-degree spray-cave that you can do endless laps in. This space makes for excellent power endurance training and adds character to the gym in a unique way that’s noticeably different from a standardized board setup.
Spray walls are also highly useful for coaching and team training. Many competitive coaches prefer spray walls over standardized boards because they can set the wall to achieve specific training objectives. Coaches can provide input in the design of the spray wall during annual setting or make adjustments to the wall when needed to target specific skills. This level of adaptability would be impossible on a standardized board with fixed holds.
However, spray walls come with some challenges. Without an app or designated problems, for instance, a spray wall can feel overwhelming and directionless for climbers. This drawback often leads to spray walls seeing less usage than standardized boards.
It’s also important to recognize that spray walls require regular setting and maintenance to stay engaging. Most gyms refresh their spray walls annually—removing holds, cleaning them, and resetting based on climber feedback. However, setting an effective spray wall isn’t as simple as randomly placing holds. Olympian and professional climber Kyra Condie highlighted the importance of thoughtful setting: “Randomly throwing up as many holds as possible in as high a density as possible doesn’t guarantee a good spray wall. You need to think about the moves you can do off of each hold and to each hold, and think about the difficulty (easy/medium/hard) that the move will be off each hold. So, a good spray wall takes a really thoughtful setter with a good variety of holds.”
The Case for Standardized Boards
Standardized boards, on the other hand, have gained popularity in part because of their expansive climb databases. By installing a standardized board in your gym, you’re instantly offering thousands of different climbs to climbers with no setting work on your part. Climbers appreciate these boards because of the density and variety of climbs and because standardized boards are often recommended as part of modern training programs. Standardized boards provide incredible value out of the box with minimal required maintenance, making them a high-return investment for gyms.
Another advantage is usability and user-friendliness. With LED indicators and easy-to-use apps, standardized boards can be more approachable and easier to get started on. This level of accessibility often results in higher usage rates compared to a spray wall, particularly for climbers who prefer structured training over experimentation. The integration of apps that offer climber analytics and growth metrics further incentivizes climbers to come to your gym and climb on the standardized board.
Standardized boards can also be one of the best ways to make the most of limited floor space. Although the requirements can be rigid, their absolute floor space requirements are minimal. For example, one recent training board on the market has a total footprint of only 2.5m x 4.9m (8’2 x 16’1) including its frame. Combined with their massive climb databases, this factor means standardized boards can offer an exceptional climb density that’s not found elsewhere.
However, standardized boards can come with some drawbacks. The biggest one is cost, which can be prohibitive especially for smaller climbing gyms. Standardized boards typically range from $5,000 to $15,000 for hold sets, LEDs and shipping. After adding panels, padding, framing (sometimes angle-adjustable), installation labor and more, total costs can exceed $50,000 depending on the model and additional features. For more information on the costs involved, see CBJ’s articles on Training Board Hold Systems and Prefabricated Climbing Walls for Training Boards.
Additionally, standardized boards with fixed hold placements can feel restrictive in some ways. While climbers can still set their own problems, the movement variety is inherently more repetitive compared to a spray wall, which some climbers have felt can lead to diminishing training returns over time. Some board systems also have limited hold types which can leave some climbers wanting additional standardized boards or alternative training methods altogether.
And although standardized boards allow for climb setting, climbers will typically depend on the large databases of preexisting climbs instead, so some creativity can be missing.
Bridging the Gap With Spray Wall Apps
In recent years, spray wall apps like the Crux Climbing App have emerged that offer many of the same benefits as those of standardized boards. These apps allow climbers to set problems and post them to a database of climbs at your gym, turning an otherwise chaotic spray wall into a structured training tool. Some typical features of spray wall apps include:
- Climb directories that organize problems by difficulty and style.
- Leaderboards and user engagement features that encourage friendly competition.
- Climber stats and analytics to track training and growth over time.
- Coach integration, allowing for structured drills and problem assignments.
- Social features like comments, likes/props and video sharing, fostering a sense of community.
For gyms that already have a spray wall—or are considering adding one—spray wall apps offer a hybrid solution, helping combine the flexibility of a spray wall with the structure and engagement of a standardized board. These apps can also provide increased incentive for climbers to set their own routes, fostering creativity and a deeper sense of pride in their home gym. Unlike some standardized boards that tie a climber’s achievements to a global leaderboard, spray wall apps can enhance loyalty to the gym itself by rooting the experience in a local climbing community.
We asked Kris Hampton about why climbing gyms might choose to use an app with their spray wall: “Growing a database of climbs in an app is a great way to continue providing benefits to the person who isn’t interested in setting their own problems. For the climber who does want to set their own problems, it’s a canvas with far more versatility than the average board. These apps also allow for not only sharing but iterating on the ideas over time—whether the original idea was yours or someone else’s.”
While spray wall apps can offer structure and engagement, they are not without drawbacks. Without active promotion from the gym, for example, these apps may see low adoption, limiting their effectiveness. Additionally, because problems are user-generated, the quality and grading of climbs can vary significantly, sometimes leading to inconsistent experiences or sandbagged routes. To help mitigate this issue, gyms can set benchmark problems or provide guidelines on how to create well-graded, high-quality climbs. Finally, most spray wall apps come with a recurring cost which gyms must factor into their budgeting decisions.
Conclusion
Both spray walls and standardized boards offer unique benefits, and the right choice for your gym will depend on your priorities and the specifics of your climbing gym. Standardized boards can provide structured training, ease of use, and access to a vast climb database, but they often come with higher upfront costs and less routesetting flexibility. Spray walls, on the other hand, offer unique adaptability and cost-effectiveness but require thoughtful maintenance and organization to maximize their value.
Alternatively, a hybrid approach that’s becoming increasingly common is integrating apps with a spray wall to achieve a blended solution, with benefits from both options. Spray walls with apps can offer the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of a spray wall while adding some of the structure and user-friendliness that contributes to standardized boards being so popular.
Looking to provide climbers in your gym with more structured and engaging training options? At Crux Climbing, we’ve built the Crux app to allow climbers to set problems anywhere in the gym by simply taking a photo and tapping holds, with zero processing time involved. This tool extends the concept of a spray wall app beyond just a designated training area. While most spray wall apps work on a single wall, Crux transforms the entire gym into an interactive climbing experience, helping gyms increase the value of their existing walls. We also offer a more traditional solution specifically for spray walls. Contact us to learn more about how we can add value to your climbing gym.
This story was paid for by the sponsor and does not necessarily represent the views of the Climbing Business Journal editorial team.
