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Review > Element Climbing > Methods

Ah Element, you name your holds after the periodic table, then after elements, then natural disasters and now.... well now we have this:Yup! For those in the know it's a Method, and this is what we're going to be talking about today... Element Climbing's Methods:Right so the name is from a snowboard / skate trick from way back when; one thing is for sure after climbing on these holds is that you're going to need some methodology of your own, some skill and power to get through most routes you set with these holds. They're thin, but not sharp... they're classed as ledges / crimps on the Element website and these definitions are pretty close, there are some small shapes in here that are hard to hold onto on a vertical wall and are going to need you to crimp down and then there are some larger holds that are ledges / single hand jugs that are over a pad in size that allows you to get away with putting them onto steeper walls. There's a good mix of sizes.

Some people are going to find the smallest holds hard to hold onto on even a vertical wall, so these holds could be used as footholds and as feet you're going to find them in the larger size in this mode, they make some nice feet if you want! We used them as hands and you're suddenly in a world of strange pinches and moving very very slowly... it was fun to watch people have to suddenly slow down and think about what they were doing.


As you can see that when we were filming the smaller holds are just hidden by the climbers hands... you just can't see em :) The set went down pretty well with everyone that's come into contact with it, from Marty setting small on the 45 to Dave setting weird sit down starts. Lots of people have had their sweaty hands on them and it's been interesting to see what people set

SUGGESTED USES:



For once there is a set of holds out there that have been classed correctly, these holds are crimps and ledges... but they do kind of act as slopers as well if you put the holds up the wrong way and then realise that you're not that strong :)

The variety in this set allows you to get away with murder, we've set hard on the vertical wall and then found that the holds are actually nicer on the 45 than we'd expected, some people are just not going to be able to hang onto the smallest holds but it will give them something to work at or they make some pretty good feet.

Going over 45 degrees with this set isn't something that we'd suggest, they're nice holds to hold onto but they are pretty thin (if you look at the overall size across the set) and the size coupled with a wall that's over 45 means that you're just looking for an injury. Please understand that there are going to be some mutants out there that can probably hold onto these on 45+ walls but for a normal climber it's pretty well out of the question.


OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 10
  
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt ons
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): 44.95 / 10 = $4.95 per hold
  
• Color: Ours are yellow with a red back
  
• Bolt placement: In the middle every time
  
• Sanding: Super flat
  
• Texture: Grippy, more than enough
  
• Set size: X Small to Medium
  
• Versatility: What you see is what you get
  
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No

Element have got it down, there's nothing that you can really complain about with the overall build quality of these holds. The only gripe that we can bring up is that there aren't any pre-drilled screw holes in the larger holds and that's something that's weird as normally Element do cover this with their holds. Texture is nice an even across the range and gives you enough grip to make you feel that you can stick the balanced moves but it's not so rough that you're loosing your finger prints when you're bearing down your full weight on the hold and are screaming your head off :P

The color of these holds make them stand out on the wall and it's nice, but as soon as they get chalked up they do kind of merge in with other holds on the wall (I know as I was checking for screw holes and I actually went looking in a box for them as I couldn't see them on the wall) but for setting purposes on a wall covered in holds the red back meant that you could make them out so you knew what you were grabbing next.

Sanding is as usual flat and smooth, you can tell these holds have been put over a belt sander pretty well, all of the bolt holes are centered and have washers that are parallel to the backs of the hold

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Perfect, the holds were very well packed

RATING:
Noodles:
Ah crimping, something that of late I seem to be doing more of.... and as per usual my digits are feeling the burn from time to time. Despite these holds having a pretty nice radii they are still crimps; be it nicer crimps that aren't so bad to climb on. Element since we started looking at their stuff have been a constant source of surprise, sending out a set of crimps is a pretty bold move... people either look at them as a necessary evil or something that should be avoided unless you're outside.

I've held onto some pretty thin stuff in my time, I've had Elvis leg, the screaming jitters and setting with these holds I can't say that I was nice. I set low and I set wide; I made it short person friendly and I made most of the moves powerful or balancy. I got exactly what I wanted... a route that worked to some peoples strengths in some sections of the wall and then made them work harder than they'd expect for the rest.

I don't like crimps, something that is well documented (makes you wonder why I just brought some!) but these are like Contacts Hex / Rex & The DRCC Force Edges not as bad as you think. They're skin and tendon friendly and with the mixed size of holds that come in this set means that after your scream fest moves you can grab something larger and chill.

Chris:
I’ll just come out and say it: I like these holds. We have tons of crimps, and we’ve had a lot of these kinds of holds on the wall lately and our fingers feel the strain. The Methods are very friendly, but don’t take out the challenge of climbing with this kind of grip. Ok…so you might have read in some previous reviews that I like to climb on crimps. Usually, when we put some crimpy problems on the wall, most of us will have a few attempts before giving it a break. I can usually attempt a few more times before my fingers start to hurt, but with the Methods, the sequence can be worked on over and over without to much bother on the fingers.

For our Climbing Hold Review weekly climbing group, these holds were a lot of fun. Our problems were sustaining, and despite the level of climber, we all had fun working on the problems. For Nuds and I, we worked a couple of difficult moves and we got a good burn from the problems because the set is pretty large. With ten holds of various sizes, we could set them on any angle on our wall and made longer, more interesting problems. They’ve also done a good job with the colors.

Even though some of the holds are small and can second as foot holds, the bright color makes them stand out so you know where you’re going. For Eve and Nick, they could work on a difficult sequence without having to worry about their fingers being sore.

The next thing for these holds is sequence training. They can be put on any angle wall, in our case we could even get them on the 45 degree wall, and the shapes make it so you can endure the long haul on the holds. We haven’t done this yet with this set, but in our down time for the winter, we’re trying to find ways to train for the summer, and with finger friendly sets like the Methods, we can climb inside all winter long.

Eve:
I always appreciated Element Holds. At first, cause I'm a dork and I liked the periodic table stuff. Now well simply cause the Methods make you work on exactly that.... your 'method' of climbing and though the boys are all definitely stronger than me... I'm more flexible and have annoyingly small little hands that can match on ANYTHING! :D I observed that the methods seem to force the setter to make technical, balancy routes and so I had a blast strengthening my fingers and foot work on the buggers. Also, they're pretty, easy to find on a wall (I like the dual color ) and the texture is nothing special but ok. Good ol' climbing hold texture, you know, not to rough but it sticks! I don't think this is a set for beginners but definitely a useful asset to anyone training semi-seriously since they are great soft, rounded, finger friendly crimps, but they are by no means 'easy' to climb on!

PROS:

• Good price
• Nice range of sizes
• Surprisingly nice on the 45 degree wall
  

CONS:

• Could possibly do with a couple of set screws on the larger holds, it's a close thing the size is right in a gray area
  

PRICE:
10 holds will cost you $44.95

Review > Teknik > Aphids

Aphids are tiny little bugs. To put their size in context, they fall prey to lady bugs and this weeks featured holds are from Teknik and are the Aphids of the climbing hold world. Ten hot yellow crimps for us to play on:)Alright, you might be thinking: "What? is he color blind?" but our holds came in fluorescent yellow. We went to the Mountain Equipment Co-op on boxing day to get some presents that Santa failed to bring us (we were good this year Santa, why didn't you give us a hang board?) While looking around, something caught our eyes. The bright yellow Aphid holds were like a beacon that guided us and there are very similar to some Teknik crimps our local gym has recently bought. The Aphids look much like other crimps that Teknik makes, for example the Scarabs or the Crickets, but have a shape of their own. We climbed the crimps at the gym and realized that they didn't have this set so we bought them, when we got back to the wall we opened the package and realized the extent of pain we were about to endure. Now Teknik has named this set appropriately, taking into account their small stature, but "geometry" would also be a good way of designating the holds, each one of these heinous crimps has a geometric shape that results in some pretty sharp, incut edges.

Our biggest problem with these holds was to create problems that we could all work on, so we made a traverse from the vertical wall to the 30 degree wall. The holds should be set on vertical terrain and the since the holds are in cut, they were really solid. In our case, we had the choice of any footholds on the wall so the sequence through the vertical wall ended up being a balancing act between footholds. The second we got onto the 30 degree wall, we really had to rely on brute strength. These holds will make you work! As with any kind of crimping on overhanging walls, your core strength and foot work will be put to the test....and don't forget to breath. Yes, there were times when we were climbing and holding our breath, just praying to get to the next move.

So we accomplished our first task of setting up a problem that we could all feasibly send and we were onto bigger and harder problems. Since the roof was out of the question, the next best thing to test our holds/strength/ignorance was to get them on the 45 degree wall. The original idea was to get to the top of the wall. We quickly realized this was a feat for Superman, so we worked on a short four move sequence. We ended up putting in very large holds for the feet, swapped some holds around and worked the beta and we still couldn't manage to stick the holds.

We played our version of the one hold game for our next set. The set has ten holds and we were three climbers so we each set three holds, with one extra hold for the start, setting like this always creates a fun and interesting problem. The early stages of solving the problem has us scratching our heads but we worked out the beta and it turned out to be a good session.

We climbed on these crimps for two weeks. We set three problems and had some friends over to climb with us. In total, there were six who tried the problems in which only two couldn't send because of bad footwork.....I mean sore fingers;) These holds aren't for the faint at heart, as the Teknik website states: "Heinous crimps reminiscent of the type of hateful little holds you’d normally only find on real rock. Fun!"


SUGGESTED USES:




We tried these on the 45 wall, we really did... and Noodles just dropped to the floor and was straight out "I don't want to climb this", Chris on the other hand is a little daft and went at the route he set harder than expected. These holds could be used on a 45 degree wall.... as feet, we'd not use them for hands

For most people these holds are going to be hard and painful on a 30 degree wall and normally we'd complain about them being painful... but Teknik stated that these holds are heinous on their site so we're not really surprised that they have some bite to them. The bite is the only thing that is going to keep you on the wall, that much is clear as the holds are thinner than a high school math teachers comb over (and that's pretty thin)

If you don't mind some sharp edges and some finger pain, look at these holds, but keep the angle shallow and your fingers taped... digression from this formula will leave you in pain.


OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 10
  
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt on... Martini headed bolts only
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $27 USD / 10 = $2.70 per hold
  
• Color: Ours are yellow
  
• Bolt placement: Centered
  
• Sanding: 50-50
  
• Texture: Good
  
• Set size: Small, crimps
  
• Versatility: Limited
  
• Pre-drilled screw holes: Nope

The one big fault with these holds is the sanding, holds this small shouldn't need a set screw to stop them from spinning... but we turned these holds more than we expected and had to really crank them down HARD on the wall. It's kind of a surprise, sure small thin holds like these are going to be hard to sand, but some of the holds just hadn't be near a sander and that for us was a surprise! So the holds not being sanded resulted in some spinners, slightly moving holds.

Other than the iffy sanding, the holds are pretty well made. They're light and have good texture that's more aggressive than what you'd normally get on a Teknik hold, and it's needed to keep you on the wall. There aren't any inset washers, these holds are actually too thin to have them in the hold but the martini headed bolts that these holds take will spread the force of the hold being tightened down pretty well.

Our holds are nice and bright yellow, there were some other colors that we could have picked out, but this was the option that we went with. The color is nice and even through the set and despite their small stature all the holds have the little Teknik star on them

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane, and they're pretty strong despite being thin

PACKING / SHIPPING:
We brought these holds from a store, they were well packed, they come in a bag with bolts

RATING:
Noodles:
Now I love Teknik, 80% of their holds are sublime sometimes there's something out of the ordinary... this time not so much. Why as I hate crimps so much did I buy them? Because being known for hating crimps Teknik were never going to send us a set. Now I see the reasoning for a hold company having a diverse mix of holds, every company should... and not all companies do!

I'm going to state flat out that I don't like Tekniks small stuff. No sir, I'm sorry to say. Anything that's a set of holds that is 1/4 crimp all the way if just plain evil... Actually let me contradict myself... The Crickets and the Spikes are small holds and are good small holds; I'd even say that the Runners are better crimps... mainly because they're open handed crimps, not full on crimps

There are two sides of the coin, I don't like these crimps, either at the gym or at home. Although I hate crimps, I seem to climb well upon them; don't ask me why, I just do. On a 5.11 set at the gym with a bunch of these holds I breezed through the sequence on these, straight out killed it, I was smooth, I was solid and I could cling on.... I almost flashed a couple of the routes that we set here... self preservation and finger pain made me stop

These holds are sharp, and that's where my problem lies. If these holds had a little.... and I mean tiny tiny more meat on them... they could be the same depth but if the edges were rounder then I'd be fine with them. Svelt Pinches... amazing, Spanky... sorry I mean the Arnold is great, it never leaves the wall... I just prefer the Runners as small small holds to hang on to. So these holds come down to personal opinion, some people love the pain of crimps and will always buy something like this... sure I grabbed these to see what they were like...

"Crimps are meant to be sharp, outside
Inside I prefer them lessened, so I crimp but I don't get the pain from sharp edges
I also take my scotch straight up with a two cubes of ice... inside or out!"

Chris:
I'm going to take this time to comment on something that we've noticed about the holds that we receive. Companies tend to send us the best holds and we are given the best service, knowing that they will be scrutinized. We've come across some disgruntled customers who have been unhappy with a product, or problems with communications or shipping of holds. Some want to give in their two cents but fall on deaf ears. Without naming any one company in particular, they must come to the realization that their customers are climbers, driven, as they are, for the love of the sport. We are all part of that community and it is the community that keeps these companies alive. We've had a lot of beef from people who claim that we don't hear the complaints, well we do. To act on them is a touchy subject to embark on in a review and we try to stay as unbiased as possible. In our reviews we comment on our own experiences with the holds/companies.

Teknik is one of the big players in the climbing hold world and if they had sent us this set, they probably would have come in with a high degree of quality control. The set was bought from Mountain Equipment Co-op and they weren't all made to the same standard. The shapes are nice, the texture even but when it came to flat sanded backs, the holds are not consistent. One out of the ten was completely flat and you can hear me crank down the holds with the wrench because the uneven backs made some of the holds spin.

So despite all that, I like the holds. The in cut crimps give more grip than say a flat or slopey crimp so at least I could pull myself off the ground on the 45 degree wall. We've had a shot at climbing a lot of Tekniks crimp line, thanks to Allez Up, and they're all pretty nasty, but...ahh, yes...there is always a but...they're much better than you would expect. The holds were reserved for the harder climbs, 5.10 and up, and I wouldn't want to be on them if I wasn't capable of climbing at this level. There were some people working on the sequence, but most had to put it to rest before they got to the top.

PROS:

• Great color, these small holds stand out
• Came with bolts included
  

CONS:

• Sanding was off
• Painful and thin holds
  

Review > Petrogrips > Mixed

Logo

Text about what we did here

SUGGESTED USES:










OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds:
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons):
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds):
• Color:
• Bolt placement:
• Sanding:
• Texture:
• Set size:
• Versatility:
• Pre-drilled screw holes:

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:

PACKING / SHIPPING:

RATING:
Noodles:

Chris:

PROS:

• YADDA

CONS:

• YADDA

PRICE:

Review > Atomik Holds > Font Roof Jugs

Woo hoo! We have more roof jugs! Atomik (that's Atomik with a K. There are two climbing companies out there named atomic, one that is spelled with a K and the other with a C) sent us a whole bunch of font holds a while back of various shapes and sizes but the range lacked some big roof jugs. Out of the sets that they sent us we received some smaller jugs that ended up on the roof but they weren't the most comfortable holds to grip on aggressive terrain, so this time Atomik sent us some proper roof jugs.

We've been supplied with some pretty nasty holds lately. Our suppliers are putting our tendons to the test when they send us small holds, and our local gym recently bought some crimps that they've been setting with, so between review and our regular climbing sessions, our fingers needed the break that came in the form of roof jugs. These holds were actually meant to hit us 6 to 8 months ago but once the holds had been molded and poured for the first time, Kenny (Atomiks head honcho), didn't like the way a couple of the holds felt so two of the holds were reshaped... that's QA for you right there people... 6 odd months to get a few shapes right!The set consists of five large one hand jugs, with one of the holds actually taking two hands, don't get us wrong, the others can be matched as well but there won't be much room left for your pinky finger... of course this depends upon your hand size, Eve can easily match all of the holds without worry :)

We set some holds on the roof and to make things interesting, we started on a slope, went into the roof and the descended on the 45 degree wall. The weird moves on the 45 and the sloper (Which is Sebs that he won from Teknik) hold at the start gave the problem an added challenge, but the holds are big and easy to hold on to. The first hold in the roof is the most challenging. the jug is on a weird angle and it's harder than the rest to grip, but we did put it the wrong way around to make it slightly more tricky than a plain ol' roof hauling exercise.

From there we went all over the wall, Dave made an unscheduled stop over so he grabbed them and hit the 45 degree wall... putting all of the holds into undercut mode and they do make wonderful undercuts... but as you're gripping so hard on them they do feel as Noodles says "a little bit grippy", we'll come back to that point later on :) And then... ah then we did something that put Noodles back out for a few days... go and watch this video for that one :P
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Overall there's nothing here that you can really complain about, they're good for everyone, great on all angles and if you can stick the dyno then you don't end up walking funny for a few days :)

SUGGESTED USES:




Wow it's not often we get some jugs in... and even then sometimes we don't suggest that some of those holds actually get onto the roof. This set of holds is a different case! they should go on the roof and they perform well up there... they're not by any means perfect as there is a grip issue (which is talked about in the overall build)

These holds can and should go everywhere, do you have kids on your wall? Here you go, knock yourself out... they'll be able to haul about as much as they want. Do you want to monkey across the roof? Again... here's your set, go nuts. Want to hit the floor because you missed the holds on a dyno? Don't let Noodles near it as he'll miss the holds and will hit the floor really hard :D

The holds might seem to be expensive at first glance, but remember the price does include bolts and shipping if you're in the states

The holds are very Font like, as all of Atomiks font ranges are, they're some of the best Font-esque holds we've come across and they do keep expanding the range little by little so you can add to our own mini-font as you see fit.

OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 5
  
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt on
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): 78.99 / 5 = $15.80 per hold
  
• Color: Standard Atomik, red, green, blue and yellow
  
• Bolt placement: Right in the middle
  
• Sanding: Super super flat
  
• Texture: Ah yes... see below
  
• Set size: X Large
  
• Versatility: Undercuts / Jugs / Sidepulls
  
• Pre-drilled screw holes: Nope

Ah lets get right to the point, if you've seen our reviews for Atomik you'll know that they now only pour from G2 (generation 2) molds as the G1's made holds that had a texture that was just brutal. These holds we're guessing are G2's... but due to the shapes means that sometimes the amount of skin you have in contact with the surface of the hold means that they feel super super grippy... almost "ouch that hurts" grippy! The two holds that you'll notice on the most are the yellow and green holds that we have at the top of the review, the yellow hold because even though it's super incut you have a lot of (we mean all of) you palm skin on it and then the green hold only when it's in undercut mode for some reason... So were wondering about the grip so we talked to Atomik about this and this is what they said:
"These holds are G2. Our feedback from gyms was to have the texture this way. It seems we get negative feedback from woody owners doing explosive moves on them such as yourself and positive feedback from gym buyers. When a beginner climber is 25 feet off the deck on their "project" in the local gym, they want the texture there to ease their sweaty palms. We opted to offer the texture this way leaving the option to "comfortize" the holds by the user with a sanding sponge. This way the climber can get exactly what they want. You can't but texture on a slippery hold but you can smooth down a textured one."

That's the only negative point (for us) with these holds, the sanding is superb.. there's not a single bubble in the backs so the mix has been agitated well so it's good and strong. Washers are all where they need to be and the bolt holes are straight and really well drilled (no oval shaped holes here)

On the color front Atomik have stuck with their tried and tested basic colors, the yellow is still one of the brightest out there and the holds are well shaped and tendon friendly. Cleaning the holds isn't too bad as the pockets where you're grabbing are large and friendly so getting a brush into any little nooks and holes isn't an issue as there aren't any :)
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WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane, strong ol stuff

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Bomber, nothing to worry about as usual

RATING:
Noodles:
Jugs are needed on any wall, they're a staple... part of your climbing diet if you will. We don't actually have enough jugs (if you can believe that) and it's always nice to get some and it's even better (for me anyway) when they're styled after one of my favorite climbing destinations :)

As usual Atomik have well built, well formed shapes, I'm trying to remember of late if there are any of their holds we had last year that we could really have a good moan about... nothing comes to mind. The only down side to these holds is a strange one, these shapes are big friendly jugs that have a nice large grip area and then as you'll see in the video I stop climbing on simple moves and point out that the holds are grippy.... really grippy, I'd like to say that Atomik made a mistake and gave us first gen holds but I doubt that this is the case, it's the shapes and the amount of skin you have in contact with the hold (which is a lot) that makes them feel so grippy... on a roof where these holds are intended this is my no means a bad thing... but sometimes climbing on these holds it's a little too much. Put these holds into a commercial setting where they're going to get gunked up with rubber and chalk and the texture will shine through and give no problems, there's just going to be an initial "bedding in" period for these holds to get to where you want them. We've had them on the wall over a month and have climbed on them a lot, every session in fact and we've not got to the sweet spot yet... but we're sure we'll get there soon enough

Anyways, jugs are something every wall needs, these do exactly what you expect them to do... but with a little extra bite to start off with

Chris:
Finally, some nice big holds got delivered to our door. We have tons of holds but we don't have too many roof jugs. It was nice to have some nice big holds to climb on and set some easier problems.

I've had a landmark year. My climbing has improved more this year than ever before. Now that I'm finally able to send a V6, the problems that I work on and set tend to have smaller holds on them. The fonts forced me to get creative with the setting so it would be at a certain level of difficulty. Noodles and Dave set most of the problems and I had my chance on the third set. So I went on setting with my mind set on giving us stronger climbers a fun problem to warm up on, but my main focus was to set some difficult sequences with easy holds so Eve and Nick could have something to work on that they could work on. I forced a heel hook and Eve needed to work that one move and she was able to get through the sequence after a couple of attempts. Yeah Eve! Mission accomplished.

So all in all, I've always likes Atomik holds. The shapes are simple and the colors are great. I'm happy that we have a full range of font holds from them:)

Eve:
I like the fonts!!!! Yea they're big jugs and it seems easy... But not worrying about your fingers means you can push a little harder on the core and technique. Varied colours you'd think would make it hard to follow a route but they are pretty identifiable shapes!

I don't actually know what type of climbers they are meant for (don"t tell the boss - I didn't do my homework) but I'd presume they were made for beginners and if that's the case, the Fonts texture is WAY too rough. I know, we were playing on the 45 and on the roof (seriously though where else should we test jugs) and that might make things harder to hold on to but ripping off the Fonts is like a REALLY good finger exfoliation. Either way they're a blast and like Chris said: Yea Eve! ;)

PROS:

• Great for any angle wall
• Kid and beginner friendly
  

CONS:

• Texture is a little rough to start
• Could do with pre-drilled screw holes
  

PRICE:
$78.99 gets you 5 XL holds

Interview > Ice Holdz

Name and job?

Jules (Jay) Marchesseault – Site operations manager for a clean energy wind farm. Received a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MBA. Began the IceHoldz™ company under the name of Off-Belay, LLC in 2007.

Terri Parham – Currently tending to a two year old son with aspirations of learning to climb. Received a BS in Civil Engineering. Partnered with Jay in 2006 in hopes of turning the ingenious idea of IceHoldz™ into a reality.

How long have IceHoldz™ been around?

The concept began in 2005 with product launch and e-tail in November 2007.

Where are you based?

Off-Belay, LLC is based in Campbell, California – 20 miles NE of Santa Cruz and 12 miles S of San Jose.

How many people work on making the holds?

Indirectly there are a number of folks who do a first step process of making the outer shell for the IceHoldz™. Once that process is complete, just Jay and I do the finishing touches including cutting and pouring of the glacier blue backing.

You make holds to simu-ice climb, how long did it take to get to this product? What’s the inside made of?

The evolution of IceHoldz™ was in essence, a two year project. Prototype after prototype proved that more manipulation was necessary to get a product that ‘felt’ like ice. The glacier blue backing is the key to success as it serves two necessities, 1) it acts as a shock absorber allowing your pick to set. When you have good pick placement, you’ll know it by the sound and the feel of the hit (just like ice) and 2) it allows your pick to penetrate only the 1/4- inch shell since the backing is non-penetrable. As with real water ice, you don’t need much penetration for secure placement. The glacier blue backing is proprietary so you’ll have to use your imagination as to what it’s made of!

Any particularly spectacular failures when you started making the holds?

No spectacular failures but we did have some problems with tool bounce - this was before we started making the IceHoldz™ three dimensional and filling them with the glacier blue backing.

How hard was it to start a climbing company? Did it take long?

I don’t know if it was ‘hard’ to start the company but it is definitely very time consuming. Organization and patience are key. You ask ‘Did it take long?’ and my answer is that we are still building it after two years.

Right now your lineup is limited, what's on the cards with regard to new shapes?

Currently there are four series with four models in each for a total of 16 IceHoldz™. We’ve got a sweet dry-tooling piece coming out and we hope to release it in January 2010. With it will be two mid-size and possibly two smaller sized pieces with an abundance of dry-tooling features. Unlike some of the resin dry-tooling holds that you may have seen, our dry-tooling holds won’t split or break when introduced to the sharp end of an ice axe. Our pieces are designed to withstand 600 lbs + of pulling strength.

The market is getting flooded with new companies, but you're the only one that's making holds you can hit into... are you going to make dry tooling holds as well?

See above. We are also working with two well known rock climbing hold manufactures to offer a more complete mixed climbing wall package.

There's some talk that's had people confused about your holds, they have to be "recharged", care to explain what this is and how it works? How many times can you hit a hold before it's recharged?

Let me first talk a bit about the longevity of IceHoldz™. Most customers ask ‘How long are these going to last?’ or ‘How many times can you swing an ice axe into these before they become unusable?’. Our answer to them is that we have tested an early hold from the North American series that has been hit well in excess of 400 times and it’s still usable. Our athletes have found that once IceHoldz™ become this worn, it offers even more dry-tooling features. Of course, each customer will have a different idea for what they feel is unusable. With that said, we prefer to use the term re-furbished rather than ‘re-charged’ since the shells can actually be sent back to Off-Belay, LLC where we use an in shop process that closes the holes. Customers who send their shells back for refurbishment will receive a discount toward the purchase of a new replacement shell. In fact, we have been selling IceHoldz™ for two years now and not a single customer has asked for a replacement shell.

You seem to have a fairly diverse group of people that are buying your holds... like really quite diverse, who are buying your stuff? We are selling IceHoldz™ to individuals with home gyms, commercial gyms, universities, YMCA’s, mountain guides, US Navy Seals, Canadian Armed Forces, other gear manufacturers and retail stores. Our IceHoldz™ have shipped to countries in Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan and North America. Doors are beginning to open up for us in New Zealand and Australia. We are beginning to tap into the Asian and South American markets.

Many people climb indoors but never touch rock, or it takes them a while. With the advent of indoor ice climbing walls I can see the interest in people wanting to climb dry tool routes more often especially as winter sets in. Do you see IceHoldz™ turning up more in gyms?

We do see IceHoldz™ in more gyms. Now that the word is spreading that we’ve got a pretty cool product, orders have picked up. Some are using it to train before setting out for the winter climbs and others are using it as a teaching aide before taking their clients out for the weekend.

How environmentally friendly are the holds? They do seem from an outsider’s perspective to be big hunks of rubber!

They are actually made of a composite plastic material which can be recycled in two ways – one of which I mentioned earlier where we re-furbish the shell and re-sell it. We are currently looking into using recycled plastics for future generation products.

We assume that you climb indoors... are there any particular hold company's product that you like? We like products by Nicros and El Dorado Climbing Walls who also sells Franklin Climbing holds.

What does the future hold for IceHoldz™?

We’ve gained a huge amount of experience and success in co-sponsoring indoor ice climbing/dry-tooling competitions. We expect to see these comps increase in popularity. We are currently working with the UIAA (Union International Alpine Association) in Switzerland to promote and assist in the first North American series of indoor ice climbing/dry-tooling sanctioned events.

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NUHOLDSLOGO

If you haven’t been keeping up to date with the site or just hiding out at the crag the past couple of weeks than you haven’t been introduced to Dream Holds, a new company from overseas who have gone the extra mile and molded their holds out of real rock from Scotland and all over England. First we had the Dumby Basalts, molded from rocks from Dumbarton Rock and they were nasty crimps with options to pinch. The gritstone, although they are much bigger, posed a different kind of nastiness: the texture.

The holds, like all of Dream Holds sets, have a large number of holds in them and make it so they can be set all together, in short routes or long problems, so you can really get that outside feel on an indoor climb. The holds simulate the real rock feel, and with the gritstone, the real rock skin peel along with it. Now these holds are rough. The large shapes are easy to hold onto and there isn’t a high risk of cutting loose from the hold and the extra friction is always welcome when you’re on the wall but as soon as you come off the skin will feel the burn.

These holds are much larger than the Basalt holds and we set some low moves on the 30 degree wall. I’ve said before that the texture rips the skin but with shapes like these, small to large slopes and edgy pinches, there are some points where you really need the friction and it gave Eve and Noobie Nick a chance to work out these moves without it being the impossible that we sometimes set.

That being said, you wouldn’t want to work on a problem for any prolonged period, you’ll find that your fingers will hurt and it will be hard to do those menial tasks like zipping your fly or putting the tooth paste on your toothbrush in the morning.

The holds in general are pretty straight forward: what you see is what you get. They have some hidden features, a thumb catch here, and a finger pocket there, but they didn’t come into play on the vertical wall. The holds , with their texture and size, are pretty versatile and can be set on different angles. The real rock feel is a bonus…if your fingers can take it.

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With holds this size and with this much friction, you can set these holds on vertical to steep overhanging terrain. We’ve had larger holds on the 45, the ones that come to mind are the Cobbles from Climb It. We spent most of an afternoon throwing ourselves at the large Cobble and trying to stick it. There are no worries about sticking the holds on a 45, its just a matter of how much abuse can your skin can take. A wall that is more shallow may offset the inevitable burning sensation, but this is the price you’ll pay for climbing on these holds. The longer holds are unbalanced, and will spin on you if you don’t put in a set screw, we had them up and everyone, even 90 pound Eve, spun the hold... normally we don't use set screws as it's not needed but the bolt placement being off center on a lot of these holds make using a screw a must

Would we suggest you train on these for long periods of time? No, sorry to say the aggressive just doesn't allow you haul about on these for hours on end... if you want a second opinion you can read this, Dave MacLeod; all round hard man and complete climbing nutter (Have you seen the movie E11?) has his take on the holds. He should know, he's put up enough hard routes over the years... and probably has tough enough skin to put these holds to their full use.

OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds:
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt ons
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds):
• Color: Ours are "wasp", yellow and black striped
  
• Bolt placement: Not so good
  
• Sanding: Needs work
  
• Texture: The most aggressive you
  
• Set size: Large
  
• Versatility:
• Pre-drilled screw holes: Yes, with inset washer on every hold
  

Now its down for the nitty gritty. Most of the holds we receive from other companies fall within our guidelines of what we look for when it comes to the quality of the hold: inset washer, even finish and flat backs. Dream Holds is relatively new on the scene and their quality control is not up to par with most other companies we deal with. Don’t get me wrong, the holds are superbly made, the team at Dream Holds must have spend many hours trying to find the right shapes for their holds. The shapes match the details of the rocks they're molded from (we got a sample in with the Dumby Basalts, and they were an exact match) and the shapes themselves have many hidden features for the fingers to discover. An example of this is on the sloper where there is a tiny finger pocket located at back part of the hold.

Now despite the fact that the shapes are great, there are some of the finer details that Dream holds has overlooked. They still mold in resin, and there is not much of an issue when you have smaller holds like the Basalts, but when it comes to larger shapes like the gritstone, the weight takes its toll. Also, they should spend a little more time sanding the back of the holds so they sit flush on the wall. There were some gaps between the hold and the wall, having an uneven back of a hold will create unwanted stresses on the hold and could increase the risk of breaking. On that note, Dream holds have redesigned the bolt hole using two washers and a dampener to prevent the hold from breaking. Noodles thinks that this is also a major weak point in the holds (see our earlier Drop Test) as there is so much space taken up inside of the hold for this device that there's not much material around this area.

Looking at the walk through you can see Noodles (should we just start using his real name?) get one of the holds and knock the end on the floor, breaking off the end. Now this is because the holds are resin and resin (generally) is quite brittle; it's one of the downsides of the medium that Dream Holds have chosen to use. Although they have really looked for holds to mold and have "kept it real" they should really look at the holds once poured and then smack the ends on the floor to see what breaks off... once done they can then adapt the mold to make sure that any thin / weak points are removed before they're put on sale

They have also included a washer in the screw hold, something we have not seen from any other company that we’ve reviewed. So Dream Holds has paid a lot of attention to detail, they’ve just overlooked a couple of points.

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Resin

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Best we've ever seen. Think of a Russian doll... a couple of well packed boxes with the holds inside a larger box that had packaging in it. The box and holds came through in perfect condition

RATING:
Noodles:
Love, hate, love, hate... it's like a police siren going off

Love, hate, love, hate...

I love the Basalts, they're smooth enough that you can play on them for a while and not destroy your hands.

I hate (although that is a strong word) the gritstone... because they destroy your hands.

I know that Dream Holds has gone out and made real rock holds, kudos to them, the company is still in it's infancy and they have some kinks to work out (the holds being brittle as hell being the major one) and over time I expect them sorted. The term "Real rock" has some strings attached to it, these holds mimic rock very well and they feel like gritstone holds that you'd find outside... if you've ever climbed on gritstone you'll know it's a matter of time before you get a split finger or skin so sore that you can't pick up a steaming cup of tea; it's one of it's characteristics that you either love or hate! I've climbed enough on gritstone to know what it's like and to be prepared for that inevitable outcome... pain and sore skin. This is what people climbing indoors aren't going to expect and if I were setting with these holds I'd probably affix a note mentioning that these holds are skin rippers.

Hey we all like surprises and I was surprised by the way they felt, aggressive and rough to the touch... like the real thing. So Dream Holds has created something that is as real as the real thing. Kudos!

They've also made holds that will fit into a niche market. Kudos

They have also made two sets of holds that we like shapewise, the Basalts for their slippery goodness and the gritstone for their evil evil textured madness. Good work

I guess it comes down to would I, ME, NOODLES, buy these holds?
Short answer... nope.
Long answer... if I were training for a particular route on gritstone and I wanted to get my tolerance of pain up so I can work a project, well yeah maybe I'd buy them. If I were someone that loved gritstone so much that I had to feel the pain that I'd love so much... well yeah I'd buy them (or so to an S&M club or something). Would I suggest a gym buy them? Sheesh that's a tricky one... they have to know what they're getting into because these holds aren't for everyone in any way shape or form :(

Chris:
So while Noodles may bite into the “nitty gritty”, I have one thing to say: holds made from real rock…molded straight from real rock , is there anything else I’d like from a climbing hold? I’ve dreamed of climbing on holds like this and we’ve spoken about it, seen it with holds from Climb It and Summit Labs, but nothing like this. Two different kinds of shapes, two different kinds of rock. Ok, so my hands hurt, they spin and you have to be suuuuper carefull when you’re putting them in boxes but these are sweet holds. With the Basalts, the texture is very smooth and the Granites contrast and show the expanse selection Dream Holds has to offer. The shapes are of various sizes and shapes and leave it open for some fun setting. These kinds of holds are something you don’t come by very often. There are some great shapes out there, but the Dream Holds have encompassed the spirit of climbing. I’ve spend most of my time pulling plastic in the gym and when I first got my feet wet outside I realized that there is a difference between climbing outside versus in. These holds have taken that outside feel and brought it indoor.

So maybe these holds aren’t for every climber. If your focus is on climbing indoors as training for your most resent project at the crag or competing at the local comp, having a wall full of finger ripping holds may not be the best idea. I just like to climb, and in my eyes, the novelty of having a real…I mean REAL…rock feel outweighs the negative qualities of the hold.

NICK
Hey guys, Noob here again for your reading pleasure. As you my have guessed my hands hurt but only a lot :P These new holds are wicked in the evil way. Kinda like training on a hang board, you know its good for you but you love and hate the thing with equal passion.
These holds are supposed to simulate grit (I think) rock and while I've never climbed on any the guys over here and CHR assure me the feel is pretty accurate... which makes me think climbing gritstone is the closest thing to sadomasochism a climber can do.... unless of course you were try try an assent neked :S Anyway, I enjoyed them though they hurt me so. I was lucky enough to set the route and (miracles happen every day) I managed to get through it too!! Lots of different types of holds in this set. There's some really nice long slopes (but I will mention one of them is made in such a way that you'd swear it'll break... you're probably gonna see something about that in the walk through), some interesting little pinches and a great, honking big juggy type thing as well as a we others. So its a large set and a good one I'd think if you're starting your first wall. I say this because while the holds do to your hands what a sanding belt does to a 2 by 4 there's enough in the set to set some really interesting routes for beginners and up not to mention that if you take it easy and work your way up to harder problems you'll develop the all-important callouses you'll need later on.
So I like them, they hurt like crazy and I don't have fingerprints anymore but maybe that's part of their appeal. I mean if you wanna have fun and then rob a bank after these holds are for you.... not that I condone breaking the law or anything, just saying ;)

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