Cliffhanger is a new super versatile hangboard

Tilt it from +55 to -15 degrees in 5-degree increments in less than a second
Maximum hold versatility: Train not only hanging from ever smaller edges, but also work on slopers and pinches at various tilts
Four different configurations can be easily and quickly set by flipping and turning the beam without any tool
Exactly set the edge widths of the four sides with thumbscrews or wingnuts
Mount many other accessories to the tilt controlled beam: a board with holds, a pocket board, ...
Simple to install hanging on two carabiners or on one carabiner in the middle
Take it with you on your next climbing trip or install in your gym

Two mounting options, one-point or two-point. We recommend the one-point mounting for more advanced training where you can make sure that weight distribution is even across both hands. Or by placing hands offset more or less weight needs to be supported by one hand to keep the Cliffhanger horizontal.

Cliffhanger one point installation Cliffhanger two point installation

Cliffhanger in cave

Contact

Cliffhanger was developed by Stefan Wasshuber and Chris Wasshuber. First prototypes were built in 2015. Its current design was finished in 2016. We continue to refine it for usability and manufacturability. For further information and questions please email info@getcliff.com.

The System

The Cliffhanger is an entire training system, because with our special tilt control brackets you can precisely control the tilt of the beam, and you can mount pretty much anything to the aluminium beam. This beam has slots which accept M5 or 10-32 screws with t-nuts. For example, you could add boards with pockets, or add a board with holds on it. Already the flat boards we provide allow edge, sloper, and pinch training. The uses are only limited by your imagination. We are planning to release additional accessories that can be mounted to the beam at a later time. However these are also very easy to make yourself. We encourage experimentation. Rock climbing is a young sport, particularly when it comes to training in a gym for it. The best training tools are yet to be invented. Our Cliffhanger is one step towards that goal. We hope you like it.

The Story

When Stefan started to rock climb we quickly realized that a hangboard is an important training tool. But looking around at the various offerings we couldn't find anything that allowed one to adjust the tilt of the board, which we considered a very important feature. It is not only the size of the edge that determines how difficult it is to hang on, but the slope or tilt of the edge as well. Additionally we did not like the wall mounted boards and the lack of options to train slopers and pinches. The first board we encountered that was innovative was the Austrian Fingerschinder. It had a clever minimalistic design, and could simply be hung rather than mounted on a wall. Although the Fingerschinder has a crude way to modify tilt, it lacks any precision and repeatability to set the tilt, which is crucial for training. It is also cumbersome and time consuming to modify the tilt - not something you want to do during a training session. And it also lacked the ability to train slopers and pinches. Eventually we figured out a way to control the tilt with precision, achieve a very quick change (less than a second), and we realized that if it is free hanging we could make use of more than one side. In the prototypes below you see how that idea evolved over time.

Four prototypes

The top one is the oldest prototype. Testing showed that an I-beam type of design was the best in terms of rigidity without making it too heavy. Our all-wood design was later changed to a combination of wood and aluminium to further reduce weight, while at the same time retain the wooden interface to the fingers, which is much better for the skin than plastic.