Review > Rockwerx > Mini and Mega Jugs

Rockwerx hailing from Baltimore have quite a few holds on their site, we've already seen their Sandstone Big Ribs, this time we take a look at the Sandscoop Mega and Mini jugs and find that the word "jug" seems to be slightly more selective than you think!

Jugs, we all love jugs; who doesn't love swinging about on a roof and campusing across from hold to hold like an ape? Well let us introduce to you the Sandscoop Mega and Mini Jugs!

Mini's

Mega's

Now from the get go you'll notice that these holds look pretty unique, almost alien like from the side, our holds unlike the grey they show on their website (they should really change the images) are a nice dark orange / reddy color and they do look nice.

Remember these holds are jugs!

Actually, they're not really jugs, we've argued over here about these holds for a while and they're not jugs, definitely not jugs; but they're not pinches either... so we made a new word for these holds... these holds are JUGGA-PINCHES! They're in the middle both classes of holds, that's one thing for sure :)

Climbing on these is a strange mix of shuffling your fingers and matching, we set numerous routes that ranged from low traverses to short bouldering routes with a mix of the holds (we only have three of each hold in the sets, not the full five) if you watch the video you can see 90% of the time that there is a lot of thumb action on these shapes, you always want to have it hooked into a little groove somewhere, and despite the shapes looking like hand swallower's they're not that deep, and in places not all that positive. The most fun on these holds is hard technical undercling routes that leave the climber with little or no option on how to grab the hold, you can if you wish just be plain evil with these holds, like out low traverse, the starting move was wide on the 45 yet it was done first time by most people with little or no trouble

One thing is pretty unanimous, the smaller holds due to their size are more "juggy" than the larger shapes and will make fun climbing on a home wall, the larger ones are probably best suited to a gym environment



There are two schools of thought on these holds, roof or no roof! We've decided that no roof is the option to go for, these holds are in the same vein as the Sandstone Big Ribs in feel and style; we reviewed those holds here. But there's a problem with these, with the Big Ribs your fingers settle nicely into the grooves whereas with these holds your hands don't sit quite as nicely and we found that you can get some finger pain from when you hit them. Hitting these holds at speed means you're not going to get optimal hand placement and that you're going to have to move your hand about a little so you can get comfortable.

Roofs? Well yeah you can get on these on a roof, but they're going to be hard to pull off, doable but hard. For steep walls the holds are incut enough that you can get onto the Mini's and Mega's without too much trouble, matching isn't a problem either, there's always an little under cling or a dimple that you can sneak your hand onto.

If you want to be pedantic, and we do, the best terrain for these holds is vertical to 30 degrees. With some creative route setting you can really give beginner / intermediate climbers something to think about, if the terrain gets steep and into a roof, pair these holds with the Big Ribs and you're going to be fine.

Versatility: Trickier than you think
Screw Holes: No


It was a pretty big box, there were a few scrapes on the holds, but nothing too major. All the holds were wrapped by themselves