Guide to choosing your climbing hangboard

Looking for advice on choosing the best climbing hangboard in 2026? The selector above gives you a recommendation in 5 short questions. To understand the reasoning in detail, follow the guide.

I’m Jo, the creator of WoodRock hangboards and fingerboards. In this guide, I invite you to discover the criteria to consider when choosing YOUR hangboard: the one that matches your needs, your arms and your level, from beginner to professional climber.

After reading this article, you’ll be able to choose your hangboard based on your intended use, your level and by understanding the differences between resin and wood.

At the end of the article, a table summarises and compares the key criteria: training, warm-up, hold variety, versatility, suitable for beginners, for pros, with (or without) an offloading ring, pinches and price.

You can also find reviews from climbers on each product page! These can also help confirm your choice.

Finally, for those who wish, it’s possible to come and try the hangboards directly in the Vercors at Saint-Laurent-en-Royans (near Valence TGV). Otherwise, feel free to ask me a question via the contact form.

The first selection criterion: what will you use it for?

What will your hangboard be used for? To warm up before tackling your project, or to train?

If you want a hangboard for warming up, the portable and nomadic versions like the Nomade 5->7 or the Nomade Light will be the most suitable. They’re lightweight, compact and easy to hang at the base of a route or a boulder. You can even warm up your fingers while sitting by looping the hangboard’s cord behind your foot.

If you want a hangboard mainly for training at home, it would be wiser to opt for a fixed model such as the Varappe 5->7 or the Origin. These hangboards are mounted above a door, on a frame or on a roof beam.

They are generally more complete and more stable than portable hangboards and much more versatile than a simple pull-up bar.

To learn more, you can read the article on how to mount a climbing hangboard. Once the board is up, follow the training programme matched to your level to get the most out of it.

If the 6a / 8a markers feel vague, see the climbing grading systems to place them concretely. And if you are unsure of your real level, how to improve at climbing sets out the pillars to assess before fixing a training goal.

The second selection criterion: climbing level

Between a beginner climbing at 6a and a climber with 10 years’ experience at 8a, the needs are quite different. You’ll therefore need to consider your level when choosing your hangboard.

That’s why, for the NOMADE and VARAPPE models, I’ve created versions by level:

• The Nomade 5->7 and the Varappe 5->7 for climbers from beginner to intermediate
• The Nomade 8->9 and the Varappe 8->9 for expert climbers

The material: choose a wood or resin board?

The hangboard market splits between 2 materials: resin and wood. Neither is universally better, each involves a different trade-off between longevity, feel and use.

Resin is moulded. Once the matrix is built, every hangboard out of the same mould is identical, which keeps industrial production cheap. Resin doesn’t suffer from humidity or temperature swings, and chalk grips it without preparation. Its limits: it can’t be repaired. A crack or a chip on an edge ruins the hold for good. It also gets cold very fast, which weighs on the first winter session in an unheated garage.

Wood at Woodrock, French solid ash, brings qualities resin doesn’t have. The natural grain catches dry fingers without any surface treatment, removing the need for a friction coating. The touch stays warm in cold weather, unlike resin which cools in minutes in an unheated garage. Above all, wood can be revived: a hold polished by years of use recovers its grain after a few passes of fine sandpaper. In return wood is heavier and demands a serious wall fixing, for a lifespan measured in decades.

In practice: for a standardised training tool fixed to an indoor wall, resin gets the job done. For a hangboard that patinates, sands down and gets passed on, that fits into a workshop or a living room like a piece of furniture, wood remains the durable choice. Every Woodrock hangboard, starting with the Origin hangboard, is cut from Vercors ash.

And what about colour?

Unlike the resin or low-quality wood hangboards you can find painted in black, orange, pink, green or yellow, at Woodrock we limit your choice by offering only the elegant natural colour of a noble wood: ash.

As you’ll have gathered, here the products are handcrafted with exacting quality standards, with customer service that follows from order to delivery… you won’t find Woodrock climbing beams on Amazon.

Regarding delivery at Woodrock, for any order placed on the website, dispatch is within 48 business hours.

The Origin and Nomade Light models

The Origin model is not available in two levels because it can serve several types of use:

• The expert climber who doesn’t need the wide variety of holds found on the Varappe 8->9 and who will add weight for maximum strength training
• The competent climber who knows they won’t use this equipment intensively and will train sensibly, keeping feet on the ground to reduce load if needed

The Nomade Light is also not available in different levels, for several reasons:

• It’s not aimed at beginner climbers as it was designed to be a pure outdoor warm-up hangboard (unlike the Nomade which is more versatile). It will therefore mainly be used by people with outdoor projects or heading to areas where they don’t have warm-up routes
• For outdoor warm-ups, if the holds are too small for full hangs, it’s perfectly possible to keep your feet on the ground

Special cases

Training without making holes in the walls

Like many people, I spent a long time renting flats where I wasn’t allowed to drill into the walls. That’s also why I developed the Nomade. Its design makes it sufficiently stable, and its tilting system makes it versatile enough for genuine training. It has 10 different holds in total, which is enough for excellent hangboard training sessions without any wall mounting.

Training while travelling

Once again, the solution lies in the Nomade. Besides being complete and stable, it’s easy to hang just about anywhere and fits easily into a bag or suitcase

Training and warming up with the same hangboard

Er… do I really need to make the case again? No, I think you’ve got it: the most versatile is the Nomade.

How to choose your hangboard: the comparison table

See the list of available climbing hangboards.

Frequently asked questions

Still unsure?

Article updated on 13/10/2026.

A propos de l’auteur

Woodrock c’est le mariage de 2 passions : la menuiserie et l’escalade. Concevoir, fabriquer, usiner et vous envoyer des poutres d’escalade de qualité est une partie de mon quotidien. Le reste du temps, j’aime grimper sur les falaises des contreforts du Vercors.

After training, keep reading

In our Climbing Resources section, find articles written by enthusiasts for enthusiasts about the vertical world: ropes and accessories, mountaineering, crags… Happy reading: