How Many Holds?

How many climbing holds do I need to buy for my climbing wall?

The best indoor climbing wall is one that is littered with so many climbing holds that you don’t even notice if it was painted, textured, or bare plywood.

In the 2003 Gear Guide of Climbing Magazine this is what they said about purchasing holds:

"Budget for two or even three holds per square foot of wall; 15 to 25 percent of these should be dedicated footholds. If you're frugal, you can get by with one hold per square foot. Having more holds than suggested here increases the opportunity to create varied sequences, but it’s also useful to have a little free space toward the bottom of the wall for flagging and smearing. Mount enough large holds two or three feet apart to establish a warm-up circuit on your wall. Large incuts are useful as underclings for sit-starts at the base of the wall; as underclings or sidepulls on long spans; as targets for dynos; and as all-important finishing buckets at the top of the wall. Large slopers are another important type of hold. Tendon-friendly and great for working body tension, slopers can even make vertical walls exciting. Tiny foot chips known as “jibs” screw into the climbing wall with regular wood screws. Look for jibs that attach with two screws, as these are less likely to crack and spin. Adding jibs to the wall – at least a dozen per four-by-eight-foot panel, though you don’t need any at the top of the wall – allows the setting of “jibs-only” problems that teach precise foot-work and improve body tension, especially on gently overhanging walls."

To give you an idea of what this might look like we took a couple pictures of a piece of plywood with both 1 climbing hold per square foot and 2 climbing holds per square foot.