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Review > Metolius > Hueco Roof Jugs

Hueco tanks... is a climbing mecca, that's if you can get a reservation and don't mind rocking about the place with a guide. It's in almost every bouldering film that comes out and has some of the Worlds most famous routes... for some people it's like the Fontainebleau of the US. But currently with the restrictions that are in place and areas of the park being closed on a yearly basis it's getting to a point where you're only going to be able to see and grip Hueco like shapes from a climbing company. Many company's have lines that take their inspiration from Hueco Tanks and Metolius is one of them, I've only been to Hueco once a long time ago so I was interested to see what these holds would be like compared to the real place...

We took the Hueco roof jugs set that you can see below:

First thing that you're going to notice is that these holds are pretty big, not feature sized big but big enough that when you've got them in your lap your brain running with where you're going to put them, you'll feel the huge pockets and the dimpled texture and know that like the sets suggest the roof is the place for these to go! Our roof was lacking some huge holds so they went up, all of the holds have screw holes to compliment the bolt and you're going to need to whack a few in to stop these monsters from spinning on you! We've only used one screw per hold opposite the bolt placement to stop the spin... but if you've got some big climbers kicking about the gym then we'd suggest you put all the screws in when you set with these!

Upon first grabbing the holds when they were on the roof we were surprised at how big the features of the holds actually were, we're talking "thank god this is a jug, I can now shake out" sized areas to hold onto, we knew they were big as we'd played with them when we were getting them off of their backing, but actually getting horizontal and grabbing for them was a pleasant surprise :)

We set a sequence across the roof that would allow us to go both ways, it was a little harder than expected despite the holds being big enough for most people to swing around like a monkey on...If you've got any kind of upper body strength you should be able to huck about pretty much any terrain, they're going to be great for beginners on a roof or steeply overhung wall section, but they'll also be good for kids on flat panels as they'll be able to get their little paws on the holds, match and then have a monster of a foot hold to stand onThe route we set ran from one side of the wall using a colonette (that's also from Metolius) and then following some huge holds across the back wall, onto the overhang and then into the roof for the Hueco roof traverse. To make things interesting there is only one starting foot hold and then only the holds you have for your hands thereafter, this made for some very interesting climbing as you'll see from the video. I'll admit now that I wasn't having the best climbing day and that I was blown off many times on the sequence that we did set, maybe I was tired, maybe I'm just not as good on roofs than I used to be... who knows!

What took a little while to realize is that some of the holds had areas where you can get a sneeky match in, so when you've wrong handed a sequence you can hang on and then match or in some cases you can bump one hand out and get your other in it's place.

The surprising thing with these holds is that Seb got across the roof for the first time (I didn't see it I was making dinner at the time) but I did hear the whoop that was soon followed by Seb coming to tell me he got across the roof! (Seb is about 200+ and can climb 5.10's in a few go's. He his a habitual roof avoider!!) So that was a first for him :) Some of the girls that come on past had some trouble with the spacing on the route, but they realized pretty quickly that if your feet rip off you'll probably still be hanging one armed from the ceiling and can get back on and up quite easily. They seemed to like the fact that they could get two hands into some holds, whereas we can't... overall people seemed to like the Huecos.

SUGGESTED USES



We suggest the above angles for the holds, which as you can see is everything from slabs to roofs. The holds are obviously made for roofs but if you've got young children or beginners these holds will get them up the wall with little or no trouble. Most holds have an obvious jug to hold onto but there are areas that will allow a match or a hand switch. Remember for safety to use all the screws provided.

Incut jugs!! Huge, monster, put any name you wish to these! They're big, the main feature is always super incut, there are areas where you can match and these are pretty well incut as well. When you put these holds onto shallower terrain you'll be able to match on the outside of the hold as a sloper.



OVERALL BUILD
Resin based holds are always pretty heavy, these aren't as bad as you think they're going to be, they do have a good heft to them but they're not that bad. The bolt and screw placements are well thought out and will stop the hold moving around when people are climbing on it, the area to grab is well defined and has no burrs other than the Hueco dimples.

The backs of the holds are flat, and the resin is some of the best we've seen (there aren't huge air bubbles within it), the texture of the holds is grippy but not overly so, enough that you can monkey across a roof with no feet and not rip the skin off of your fingers.

Our holds are a what I'd call "baby yellow" or "canary yellow" which is fine by me, Metolius run some pretty nice Earth tones and and primary colors and although they're not the brightest holds on the market the do still a good presence upon a wall.

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
Ok the video shows me having a real bad day, but overall the holds are a really welcome addition to the roof of the wall. I've been hauling on these holds for a while and when I'm getting tired from running laps and am about to take a tumble I grab these holds as a gimme, or for a quick rest and a shake out. Are the holds like Hueco? Yeah they're pretty similar, of course they're not rock but these are a pretty close. From what I remember the dimples and the shapes are pretty realistic and similar to the real thing, what matters most is how they climb. And they climb pretty damn well, they're big enough that we've managed to get Seb (who hates roofs) across and lapping pretty well, he's a big guy and needs something with some beef behind it to hold onto when he hits the horizontal.

Matching is possible when you're back to the floor, but it does require some effort and bouncing on the holds to move your hands. The texture is good and although the holds do take rubber more than most holds, because of the dimples, they clean up remarkably well. The holds could be a little larger so you could get both hands easily into the jug part of the hold, and in some case's they could possibly be a little smaller as they do take up a fair amount of surface area on a wall, gyms won't have a problem with this... these holds did get a little slick from time to time, it is warm in our area, but never to the point where my hand slipped and I fell off of the route, more chalk was needed when we took the video that's for sure

Overall, they're fun to monkey about on. Make of them what you will, if you have kids or beginners at a gym that need something super positive to hang off of then these are a pretty good bet. We've got them up as a warm up route, but we'll move them at some point and will get them onto the second wall when we build it. Two holds are $21.95 so they're not going to break the bank.

CHRIS SAYS
Crash helmet? Why are we wearing a crash helmet in the videos? Simple, we're not onto stage two of the wall build yet and where the holds are placed there is a nasty ledge right underneath us... anywho onto the holds :) If you set anything like Noodles does (harder than expected) then even if the holds are huge the moves will be long and hard, add using the holds for feet and it gets very interesting on this bad boys! The holds allow for some interesting matching, and some really creative foot work, you can get some nice toe hooks onto areas of these holds and that's a move you don't see too often at a gym.

Any hold that allows Seb to get across the roof is great for us and better for him, it means we might actually get him onto some of the roofs when we hit the gym!! I was expecting some movement from the holds with him on them with just a single screw and bolt holding them but they were fine. These holds inspire confidence in climbers that don't like roofs all that much, so they'd be good for anyone that looking to get better at climbing roofs. These aren't my favorite Metolius holds, but they're up there... for me they're good for a warm up route and just for playing about on the roof when mixed with other holds.

SEB SAYS
I've actually managed to get across a roof that's more than 4ft, which for me was a personal goal. The wall over at CHR is always changing whether it be the holds or the routes that are set there, Chris and Jeremy always have some easy warm up routes that I've struggling to get around especially when it comes to the roof! Thankfully with these holds I can now do whichever route they've set and know that I can skip the roof (for now) and go across on something that I have nailed. I've got pretty big hands, so these holds aren't all that big for me, I'm unable to get a hand swap in and some of the divots that the others are using to match the hold are just too small for me to hold onto, maybe in time I'll get stronger and will be able to use the whole hold rather than the huge bits that they have.

I found them to get a little bit slick so had to chalk up on some moves, but this wasn't so hard as if you've got your feet placed well you can just hang off of your arm, chalk and then continue. I've not had much experience with Metolius holds (I'm not like Jeremy that can name every hold and every set thats on the wall or in the bins about the floor) but I know that if I see these holds at a gym I'm going to be able to haul through the sequence on pretty much any angle that they're placed.

As I'm new to the game, and climbing roofs especially I like the holds, they've enabled me to be able to do something that I'd not been able to do before. My guess is that now I've got across the roof is that Jeremy will change the sequence, he'll be cheeky and will probably just swap two of the holds, he's fun like that :P

PROS

• Skin friendly texture
  
• Nice shapes with no burrs
  
• Matchable, but you have to look for it
  
• Good for any angle...
  
• Great for beginners!! They're big enough that they can climb on these in sneakers
  

CONS

• Not everyone likes screws to fix holds to a wall. But due to their size they are needed, if you don't like screwing into your wall them you might want to avoid these (I'm sure that we'd not have them on anything without a screw, because of the size of the holds they would spin without the extra fixing)
  
• If surface area is at a minimum then these are quite large holds and do take up space
  
• Will get a little clogged with shoe rubber and chalk after a while (They do clean up ok)
  

PRICE
Each set (two holds) are $21.95 each

Review > E-Grips > Stealth Edges

E-Grips have a great number of grips on the market, we were able to pick and choose what we wanted to see, we chose two sets, the first set we've already reviewed; you can see our review of the 2-Tex Pure Crimps by clicking on the link...

The other set we grabbed are the Stealth Edges, pictured below:

All though the resemble a jet fighter or a space ship, the Stealth Edges aren't as low profile as you'd think; they stick out way more than you'd expect, the only thing that is kind of stealth about the holds is the texture which is more stealth than most companys products; in fact when you first grip the holds you're going to wonder if it's going to be OK to hold onto!

We've had these holds on some pretty steep walls and they're great to grab, it's really surprising what kind of angle you can use them on, OK some of the edges are flat and others in-cut so they do end up being harder to hold as the angle gets steeper , but not as hard as you'd think given the area you have to play with. These holds are easily matched and have a texture, as Noodles would put it, "like petting a panther", you could session on these all day and have the softest climbing hands out there:)

All joking aside if you got these into a competition the climbers would just love them; unfortunately the set is limited by the number of holds....5. On a bigger wall, like they have at the gym, they could set some good dynos, and short boulder problems (if you added some feet) but on our home wall we lacked the height and the crash pads to be attempting those kinds of maneuvers. (Noodles: Phooey, we still went and dyno'd about anyways)
We set a number of traverses with long committing moves starting on the overhanging wall and into the vertical.As you can see even when I'm fully stretched and on the tips of my fingers the hold is still solid because they're HUGE! (They came at a good time considering all the crimp reviews lately).

Combined with other sets; the Stealth Edges can be used for system training as they don't tear your fingers to shreds, you'd probably want a couple of sets for this, but as E-Grips have a range of Sytem Training Holds it's probably cheaper and easier to get something that was built and is therefore dedicated to system training!

These holds have a big radius so they don't dig into your fingers when you campus, that coupled with the texture means lots of climbing time and little or no skin pain. The holds are pretty damn versatile, it really depends upon how strong you are and how crazy you are when you set, but bear in mind that for us these holds are large flat or slightly in-cut edges, so people with small hands will find that the in-cut holds err more towards a slight jug. We've used the holds in a number of different areas from matched side pulls to under clings, but where these holds start to really get going is when you set something that makes the climber use the slick part of the hold for their feet... Noodles got spat onto the mats a number of times trying to rock on up and over a hold on one route we set, getting your feet to stick on these is super tricky!
What's apparent about these holds (and the other holds we have from E-Grips) is that they're super well made, the sanding on the backs is impeccably flat, these things are smooth as hell! I was interested to see just how flat they were so I grabbed Noodle's level from the cupboard, they are FLAT!, all of them, they're just well made.. there's no burr's where you'd expect to see them where the textures join there's just a nice smooth arched line which must have been a plain in the ass to get right! I'd love to know how many times they carved these to get them right :), mind you considering I used to work in a metal work shop the line is so precise it could have been done be a computer, that, or someone has a very very steady hand with a Dremel!!

SUGGESTED USES





We suggest the above angles for the holds, most people will be OK using the holds on the 15, 30 and of course the 90 (vertical wall), but if you're strong you're going to be able to have a blast on anything up to 45 degrees, we have a couple of the holds on our 60 degree roof section for a while and although they're hard to hold with the right feet they're more than do-able.

The shapes are a mix of flat and in-cut edges, when we say in-cut they are flat but cut at an angle that makes them semi-jug like, not super juggy, but big enough!



OVERALL BUILD
You're going to get what you expect from this set, bomber urethane, clean lines and backs as flat as anything out there. The bolts are well suituated so you don't need to worry about the holds bending or snapping. Texture wise its clean and consistant with the lines between the 2-tex and the texture being well defined thus no sore skin... quality workmanship sums these holds up!

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
Wow, the name doesn't really explain these holds, they have a bigger profile than you'd expect, and a texture that is weird to start but once you've climbed on them for a little while you're going to be surprised. Like Chris says they're bigger than you expect, for a home wall they take up a lot of space, which is a good and bad thing depending upon your priorities... The 2-tex nature of the holds means that if you're using them with your feet following you have to be a little bit sneaky with how you place them to get full use of the slippy side of the holds, more holds are needed so you can set long routes at the gym. but chucking these onto a wall mid way through a route will stop most people and will make them think! Mix these up with the Pure Crimps and you're going to have a route that's going to be absolutely killer... infact that's just what I might do! Climbers at Allez Up beware, I have a wrench and a whole bunch of 2-Tex holds that are coming your way in the next week :P

CHRIS SAYS
Not what I expected. Don't get me wrong, I really like using these holds. Since the texture is soooo skin friendly and the edges are nice and round, they're a whole lot a fun to dyno on. With the limitationa higher roof we might have been able to experience the real potential of these holds. Maybe they'll be the next set to go to Allez Up, our local gym :) On the whole there's not much you can say that's wrong about these holds, they're skin friendly and built super well, i'd like to see more of this type of hold, there's only 5 and more would be very welcome. The texture takes a little getting used to because you feel like you're going to fly off of it when you first start using the holds, but once you realise that its actually very grippy then you'll have a blast

PROS

• Super skin friendly
• Great construction, no burrs to catch your skin
  
• Matchable, their large size allows you to match pretty well on them
  
• Depending on how strong you are these are well suited to overhanging walls to about 45 degrees (then they'd be super hard to hang)

CONS

• Not enough holds in the set, there could be more and if they expand the range they could make the radii a little smaller so the range could go from small to large
  
• Could be stealthier, these holds do take up more room than expected on your wall
  
• Do get a little clogged with shoe rubber and chalk after a while, so cleaning is needed every so often!

PRICE
The Stealth Edges are $57.50

Review > Asana > Joes

Asana has been in the holds business for a short time now and they have been able to create some unique shapes from their shop. They offer a hold of the month club so we hold junkies can sample the latest abominations to come fresh out of the mold. The Joes’s are modeled after the sandstone boulders found in Joe’s valley, Utah. So throw away your chalk bag, you won't be needing it to stick to these holds. After an afternoon of climbing on these we lost a couple layers of skin. From shallow jugs to crimps, this set has a bit of everything. They range from large to small, so you get a mixed bag when you pick these up.We've had these around the wall for a while, from some simple bouldering problems to full on get over the roof screaming your heart out routes, and there is one thing that is going to become painfully clear... painfully clear... these holds hurt. Not just hurt a little, they hurt a lot to climb on! I thought that it was just me, but Noodles has backed off of some of the problems that we've set because as he said "I like my skin to stay where it is!", he even backed off of the route in the video that's below a couple of times just because where he was gripping one of the holds (one of the biggest in the set) as his thumb was getting bruised quite badly.Now maybe it's because we set the holds across the roof, but I'm afraid it's not, we set simple problems with a traverse and found that they still hurt. There are good things to be said about the holds thou, they do work on most angled walls but anything over 45 is going to start your skin hurting more than normal, they even work on the roof, if you're brave enough (Or a sadist)

As you can tell by the picture these holds do not have a nice smooth texture and aren’t made to be sweet on the hands, although when you’ve got in your grip they won’t let go, which is why sometimes when you do get off of the wall your fingers will be screaming at you for mercy. We've had small holds on harder routes across the roof and haven't had this kind of skin pain from them, I guess it's just the nature of the beast :)

Now Noodles spoke to Jamey over at Asana and was mentioning that we found the holds painful, and this is what he said "I shaped these holds after I came back from Joe's Valley. They were shaped because I got my ass kicked and I wanted to train specifically for the area", so there is method behind their madness!

SUGGESTED USES




We suggest the above angles for the holds, which as you can see is everything from slabs to 45 degrees over. But the steeper the angle the more your fingers are going to hurt, so bear that in mind.. we didn't include anything steeper than 45 or suggest using them upon a roof unless you're well warmed up, know what you're doing. We're obviously going to try to get them on the roof and the opinion is pretty unanimous over here that they shouldn't really be up there!

Incut and very dimpled!! The Joe's are positive enough they include everything from a big two hand match to small crimpers. The texture and shape of these holds allows you to crimp down on them or use it as pinches. We were able to match every one of these holds although a novice climber will find it challenging to match some of the smaller holds of the set, but you pay the price with skin loss pretty much most of the time :(

OVERALL BUILD
I'd love to see who ever shaped these, they must have been a pain in the ass to make, mind you I think that getting these out of their molds must be a challenge everytime they pour!

The urethane holds up pretty well, and considering that some of the holds have quite shallow areas I was expecting there to be some bending, but there wasn't any that we noticed (and it got pretty warm in the wall). The bolt placements are nice and clean, we didn't suffer from any spinning holds even when we were matched on one side of the largest hold.

The backs of the holds are flat, and there's no big bubbles in the urethane so the mix is nice and consistant. There aren't any huge burrs to mention other than the obvious Joes Valley texture which we found to be pretty hard going on the finger tips. And this being said, if you chalk up alot these holds will take a lot of chalk in the dimples and do take a fair ammount of brushing to get clean.

These holds are a deep red that i've not seen before, so they do stand out on the wall, they are a little dark but at least the red is different from the other shades on the market so you can see the holds when you're chucking to them

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
The latest edition of Urban Climber (Issue 23) has the Joes in there on their gear review page, and here's what they had to say about the Joes:
"Gritty, gnarly, pock-faced Joe's Valley inspired grips. One minute you're sweating blood, biting down on itsy bitsy razor crimps, praying for relief - and the next you're moving off welcoming jugs to, well, more crimps. It's a vicious cycle for the send, but one thats completly worth fighting for. Bring it home"

Thought inspiring text... but I have to agree. I backed off of some of the routes we set on our 30 degree wall and the roof just because the holds were biting my fingers, I wasn't enjoying the pain... outside is a completly different kettle of fish as you'll do anything to get the send, but indoors I prefer to keep my digits with skin on them so I can climb more rather than less. I've got a wicked bruise on my thumb from where I was bearing down on one of the holds on the roof and it just dug in so well I had to drop off (This is why you don't see me in the video, because I get onto the roof and then go "ow" and just let go)

If you're sensible in your setting and don't mind a bit of pain then you'll like these holds, but for me unless i'm taking it nice and easy (moves and angle of wall) and not dynoing to them they're fine, steep walls and roofs on these holds are out for me just because i'm a big girl.

CHRIS SAYS
The larger holds of the set work well on overhanging terrain but aren’t quite big enough to set on a roof. Being the crazy yahoos we are we put them up in the roof anyways. Our problem started on a small crimp undercling and went straight into the roof. It continued into the overhang and back onto the vertical. Initially we put the three biggest holds of the set into the roof. Our sequence went through a couple of overhauls before we realized that they were not meant to be bolted onto the roof. Our test: try hanging on them with one hand, result: FAIL, but here at climbingholdreview we like a challenge so we continued working the sequence. The moves throughout the route are long and the roof is no exception. Although the big boys of the set are positive they don’t go in very deep so when we were on the roof it required the use of our thumbs. I guess that would classify them as crimps on the roof and jugs on a vertical. Even with the assistance of our thumbs we couldn’t manage to get through the roof so we decided to switch one of the jugs with a smaller hold that had a bigger thumb catch. It worked. This made our roof sequence easier to execute and we were able send the project.

When I say easier, I mean painful, the route got sent once and then we dropped it because it's just too painful to have up all of the time. The Joe's are staying on the wall but as parts of easier routes for now, if you're a huge fan of Joe's then these are a great buy, if you're a fan of skin... then we'd shy away from them and would suggest the "Nut Jobs" from the Asana line!

PROS

• A good mix of hold sizes for a good price
• Solid construction
• If you've been to Joe's valley these seem like a good representation of the terrain, that's what they were made to do, and that's what they do do!
  

CONS

• Not skin friendly
• Are ok on most angles, but the steeper you go the more skin you'll probably loose
• These aren't holds that you want to train on for prolonged periods of time
  

PRICE
The set costs $39