Stylish climbing wall looks good in even the fanciest homes
Lunar envisions an accompanying smartphone app
As great of a home improvement as an indoor climbing wall might seem to a
climbing fanatic, it's not exactly the type of addition that will
increase the value of your home. Chances are, potential buyers will
prefer all walls unmarred by rubber scuffs and multi-colored arrays of
grips and tape. If the wall looks anything like the Lunar Nova, however,
they might just pay extra.
As with its other home exercise equipment,
Munich-based Lunar Europe mixes fashion with function in designing a
climbing wall with plenty of appeal for both world-class rocker climbers
and their fashion-forward spouses. To the uninitiated, the Nova wall is
a stately architectural centerpiece. Those that are more intimately
familiar see beyond its aesthetics into the artful nooks, crevices and
cutouts, which are capable of catching and holding fingers and toe
boxes, boosting climbers to new heights.
Instead of tape, Nova uses integrated smartphone-controlled lighting
to designate climbing routes (though we're guessing "Mt. Everest" might
fall a little short of the real deal). The lighting doubles as ambient
mood lighting, and the smartphone also works with the wall to track your
climbing performance. It's a near seamless merger of art and sport.
The Nova is a smart way of re-crafting the commonplace into the
magnificent, but it's not without faults. While the sheer surface of the
wall certainly adds to its visual appeal, it takes away from its
ability to effectively simulate rock climbing, where holds come in all
different shapes, textures and sizes. It may be pretty, but it's not
exactly the perfect climbing wall ... and if you're going to spend the
kind of money that Lunar would certainly charge for this creation, why
shouldn't you have perfection? That money might be better spent on an
annual pass to the climbing gym – or a real Everest expedition.
Still, whether you're an adrenaline junkie, a home decorating
connoisseur or somewhere in between, it's hard not to appreciate this
creative compromise. Get a better feel for how it works below.
Source: Lunar Europe via Adventure Journal
