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Monday, June 2, 2008

Review > E-Grips > Stealth Edges

e-grips
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
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

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Review > Asana > Waffle & Logo

asana
Firstly we'll start with everyones favorite treat... waffles (They're kind of hard to find in Canada eh?) in the blue corner we have the Waffle, straight out of...the Waffle house, a fully paid up member of the:we have from Boise Idaho we have the Waffle!!!!Now Asana haven't been in the hold game for all that long, but they've got game. This is the second Waffle that we've had from them because Canada Post like to play full contact hockey with parcels. Think I'm joking? Nope, fraid not. The postal service did a fairly good job of nailing the parcel, so much so that even with packing this hold had a huge crack in it when we got it. Normally i'd not worry about a crack, i'll run some glue down the fisure and climb on it anyways, this time I noticed that the crack was bad enough that I could snap the hold, with my hands....No seriously...Thanks Canada Post! Bunch of monkeys.... I talked to the guys at Asana about this and they had another hold to me in a matter of days (even thou it wasn't their fault)... this time it was unscathed! Asana have great customer service, they come back to you real fast and they'll make sure you're happy with what you've got. This in a world full of people ready to sue you for anything is great, I'm always happy to sing the praises of any company that go's out of their way to make you're pleased.

And then the session began...The Waffle can be put up anyway you want... ANYWAY! Upside down, it's brutal the Waffle texture is wicked to try to hang onto, I spent a good hour just sessioning one move from one hold to this!!!Stick it vertically, and you've got some wicked matches. Which ever way you put the hold its super fun to hold onto, some ways are going to be better than others, we span the hold all over the place....Hang it, chuck it into the centre of a route, spin it... hell do whatever you want with it, get enough of them you could use them as campus rails. The hold has become a staple of the wall, normally it stays on the overhang, but if you've got some lower grade climbers round bolt it onto the vertical wall and they'll have a blast! It's got a huge bag of tricks, some people will complain that it doesn't have a purpose, it's got too many ways of holding it but I see this as a mute point, the beauty of the hold is you can do anything with it :)

Next to the Waffle, from the Red corner... we set up the Asana logo hold... ...it's a tricky one, lots of potential for matching, lots and lots of matches and some really nice edges, again this depends upon which way you spin the hold. There was a small problem with the hold...
...the sanding was a little off, so we're getting the sander out this weekend and we'll sort this little problem out. Either way it went onto the wall, we applied a rule of no grabbing round the edge :P
On the overhang its pretty hard, thankfully you can get two hands on it most of the time so you've got a fair ammount of leeway for what you want to do with it!
Grab a corner, pinch the middle, hell if you're feeling strong undercut it, heel hook it and just go wild... Again it's got so many use's you can just spin it whichever way you want and have a good session!It's again one of those holds that does everything, its harder than the Waffle, but what it does do it excels at, again it's not going to be on roofs but on steep terrain or on the vertical it's great.

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
Ok Canada Post playing chuck the parcel and some sanding that I called them about and has been sorted, Asana have been nothing but helpful with whatever questions I had, gripes aswell! Their customer service surprised me by being both quick and effective whenever anything arose, this is important when buying holds!! I like both the holds because I can just spin them around and tweak a move out to make it harder or easier with just the spin of a wrench. Both holds have enough variety that you can use them however you really feel.

The Waffle has a texture that i've not seen before and it is very Waffle-like, it's super fun to haul on even when you're on the slopey side, I love using it as a side pull and matching it.

The Asana logo quite simply for me is a pinch-fest, I was grabbing the hold all over the place, falling sometimes, grinning the rest of the time.

Overall for a company that's not been making holds i'm very impressed, I know that there are going to be great things coming from this company! We may have to wait a while, but it's sure as hell going to be worth the wait....

CHRIS SAYS
A hold that's been named after a breakfast item
a) makes me feel hungry
and
b) makes me want to see what the hell Noodles is talking about when he calls me about new holds
Seeing the hold the first time I looked at the texture and wondered how brutal it was going to be on the fingers... answer, it's actually nicer than some holds out there. It catches a little bit, but nothing that a climbers hands can't deal with.... I like the hold, I was rotating it alot and it's easy some ways and super hard on others! I'm looking forward to getting the POW hold soon, I think its going to be a bunch of fun

The Logo hold if you like pinching and thin ledges is a good all rounder, it's almost suited to being a system hold, seriously a bunch of these would cover ledges and pinches for a wall. Onsighting this hold will be a beatch, and even when you know where to grab it, I don't think that that's a bad thing being surprised by a hold you know is always going to be interesting :P Both holds clean up really well, we know we chucked chalk all over them!

PROS
  • Both holds have variety written all over them, spin them about as you wish
  • The Waffle has a unique texture that you'll not see anywhere else
  • Two tone always looks wicked on a wall
CONS
  • Neither hold is suited to roofs, but everywhere else they're great
  • Sanding was so-so on the Logo hold, but that's been fixed back at Asana HQ
  • You can't really use either hold to force a move (But the Logo is going to be tough to onsite at a comp)
PRICE
The Waffle is $30 and well worth a look
The Asana logo is $52???

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Monday, May 12, 2008

Review > Contact Climbing > Hex and Rex

Contact Climbing
We received the Rex and Hex sets from Contact during the build. There's nothing that makes you want to finish building a wall like fresh holds to pull on. Before the wall was even finished we had the holds up!Being the sneaky guys we are, we put some of them on the roof.... Once the wall was finished we moved the holds to create a single route... at this point we realised that we're either not strong enough or stupid enough to try and climb on them when they're horizontal, so we chucked some bigger holds on the flat part of the roof and used the Rex' holds on the slightly overhung roof, and then the Hex' around so it makes a big loop. Here's what they look like: Rex first...and now the Hex:
The two sets are pretty small, pretty much all crimps, the Rex being the larger hold set and the Hex being the smaller thinner_wedge_your_fingers_round_the_back holds. Now we've had a bunch of crimps as of late, and its hard to not take the Hex' and look at them side by side (which we don't normally do, we put the reviews into the archive section and let you make your own mind up!) against the E-Grips 2Tex Pure Crimps. There's positives and negatives with both of the sets, the E-Grips were made for comps and the Hex are crimps, no frills, no dual texture just plain and simple crimps! They're more positive than the E-Grips, and even thou they have a smaller area to grab onto (in most cases) it's because they have incuts for you to bear down on the makes them feel more positive... ... see what I mean? Maybe a pad if you've got small fingers, they're hard to open hand so you're forced to crimp on them. As usual i'll add my normal disclaimer that crimping will cause injuries if you over do it, so be sensible and make sure you don't haul on these holds for hours on end. Mind you with saying that the Rex' are larger and more comfortable of the two sets, and can be bolted onto way steeper terrain that the Hex' and i've been hauling on them over the past few weeks for hours on end without too much finger pain!

Thanfully Chris had his camera on hand, so here's a video of us playing on the holds.

The first part of the route on the steps is nice, the Rex' are super positve and are more than enough to get your fingers clamped around, the hold on the angled roof, is pretty big aswell, you have to bear down on it to make the move to the pinch on the roof, but overall it's good enough that you can take your weight and pull all you want. The roof isn't Contact's holds, they're some stuff we've got kicking around. The overhung wall is the Hex' and they're hard as hell to hold onto, you need to make sure you're on them really well before making any kind of movements, mind you the back wall is the same situation, matching on these holds is pretty hard (but doable) just take your time and you'll manage to stick the move.

Overall we're pretty damn impressed by these holds, and considering Contact have more stuff coming out pretty soon they seem to be a company to keep checking in on to see what's new!

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
Fresh holds on a fresh wall, what more can a man ask for? Contacts got some good stuff in their line up and i'd read about some of their holds on a forum, people were raving about the Hex and Rex holds so having a look seemed like a good idea! It's a well documented fact that i'm not a huge fan of crimps (yeah yeah broken record) but they're a nessisary evil in the climbing world! If I was asked which set I prefer I'd opt for the Rex as they are larger and you can get them pretty well anywhere on a wall and they're positive, steep walls is where these holds will come into their own, and as they have a small surface area they're not going to clog up your wall. If you're feeling adventurous then get them onto the roof, we can't but there will be people out there that are looking for a challenge, and these would be it :)

The Hex for me are well suited to a slightly overhung wall or on the horizontal, they make wicked traverses and will make some wicked hard boulder problems on steeply overhung wall, they're buggers to hold onto so if you want to spit you're local hardmen (and women) off of the bouldering wall these are just the ticket!

Given that both sets are $22 a piece, and they're small shipping is going to be cheap! I think that both sets will be a welcome addition to any home wall. Erring on the Rex for me, but the Hex are where the crimp-monkeys will be hanging out if you get them

CHRIS SAYS
Sexy Hexy! Oh I do love the crimps, the smaller the better, the more evil is all good in my book. That routes been up for a few weeks, and unknown to me Noodles changed the back traverse from the E-Grips to the Hex, changed the overhang from Nicros to the Hex's and then removed half of the feet on the roof :) Give that boy a wrench and he will play, thankfully he knows how to set a route that's going to make us work, and work we are! I'm loving the Hex' holds, they're small and they're hard to match, hard to catch aswell if you're moving at any kind of speed through a move. These are my favorite holds on the wall right now, I need to work on my crimping (Noodles is making me tape my fingers when I play on the really small stuff) and these are perfect for that!

Rex... hmm, thankfully we'll be building a steeper wall very soon so that's where these will end up residing. I'm looking forward to getting these down the gym pretty soon, inconjunction with the Hex' and see what nastyness we can make up :P I like the Rex, they compliment the Hex really well as you can set nasty problems and as the Hex are so small you can chuck in a Rex to give someone a little breather... not much of a breather, but a little break!

PROS
  • Both sets are cheap as hell
  • You'll soon have enough crimp strength to get up that project you're failing on
  • Small surface area on both sets so they don't take up much room
  • Depending upon your wall's build one or both sets will be a great addition
CONS
  • Crimping is hard on the tendons so be careful with the holds they're crimptastic
  • The Hex aren't well suited for steeply overhung terrain

PRICE
  • Cheap at half the price $22 for both sets, 10 holds in each set

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Review > E-Grips > 2 Tex Pure Crimps

e-grips

We've had these for a few months, moving and rebuilding the wall has stopped us from getting a review out on them. Sorry about that, but now we're back in full swing and we can pass our judgement on the 2-Tex Pure Crimps from E-Grips!
Now, the word pure means this:
  • clean, spotless, or unsullied: pure hands.
  • (of literary style) straightforward; unaffected
  • without any discordant quality; clear and true: pure tones in music
if you read a dictionary that is, and when I first got onto them this video was the result:



On an overhanging wall I had lots of trouble pulling an easy sequence, it took me a good number of tries, as you can see but eventually it went, the use of the word pure in the name of these holds is correct, they are pure crimps! Ranging from thin to REALLY thin! Really really thin! I've never been much of a fan of crimps for home walls, you're asking for an injury unless you're either very strong or stupid. I know that crimp strength is something that we all need, but over training on the small stuff over a long period of time will at somepoint leave you sitting icing your hand. These holds were made for competitions pure (ho ho) and simple, and when you get them onto some easier terrain then they become very interesting to climb on, add tracking with the feet and you're asking for a fun ol time as your feet will flail all over the place!

As you can see i'm having to be very careful with my feet even when you're using the part of the holds that has texture upon it as they're so thin! We've had these on the 30 degree wall, the steps as underclings and on the flat wall, they perform pertty well with anything over about 15 degrees making you think about how your next move is going to be executed. They're a complete no-no for roof's unless you're Spiderman or have super human strength.

Pairing these holds with another set of E-Grips the 2-Tex Stealth Edges (review coming soon) will allow you to take your routes onto steeper terrain, but still not into a roof section. The mix of the two sets allows you to set horrible crimpy sections and then allow a semi-rest inbetween the onslaughts :P

Where these holds are going to come into their own on a home wall is for traverses and very short boulder problems, their main forte in my eyes is in the competition setting where you can force a mover very easily with these holds as there is normally only one way of grabbing them and its super thin. The texture on the is enough to hold onto, but does get a little clogged up after repeated attempts, so make sure you have a brush handy!

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
I've had some good sessions on these, and most of the time i've walked away pretty ok from it. On overhanging walls you're going to be holding on for dear life and your fingers will complain if you overdo it on them. When they're on a vertical wall they're not so bad and you can set some really nice moves where you've got to cross, matching is hard, it can be done but it'll take you a few go's to figure out where exactly to put your one (sometimes two) finger tips so you can balance and get your match. These should be a staple of any competition setters bucket that's for sure because they will sort the wheat from the chaff!! And when you look at the price running at $46 for 10 holds you're not going to go far wrong. I hope they actually extend the range of these holds some more, making them bigger but still keeping the same texture / slick combination!

CHRIS SAYS
Tiny, tiny, tiny! I'm going to mirror a little of what Noodles says. Training on small stuff will give you an injury if you over do it! So becareful people :) I like crimps, so i'm the polar opposite of Nuds. These for me are what dual tex holds should be like, we've got a whole bunch from lots of companies and these are some of the best out there! My current list of dual tex crimps favorites are from Holdz, E-Grips and then some of the Globes that we've had for years, it's not a list that's easy to get onto as there are alot of companys that are dabbling with dual-tex and as the bar has been set so high buy the above guys it's a tough field to stand out in! These holds are hard, real hard but i've seen strength gains in using them, I do prefer then on the 30 over wall when they're set in a short boulder problem rather than the vertical like Nuds likes them but we're different people so we want different things :)
Next time the Tour-de-Bloc rolls into town these are going to be on the wall in one variety or another, competiton settings is where these holds will shine.

PROS
  • Comp crimps as they should be, dual tex and thin as hell
  • Will make you strong
  • Will make you use your feet if you set a problem that tracks
  • Some of the slickest Dual Tex out there
CONS
  • Not for super overhung walls, they're too thin
  • Could cause an injury if you go mental with them
  • Do chalk up and need to be brushed more than most holds
PRICE
  • $46 for a set of ten

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Not an Inch To Spare

All of Noodles despair has paid off. After a hours of constant wrench turning we got all of this:

to look like this:
with holds to spare.

When we were done setting and and filling every available bolt hole we came to a realization that:
  • we need to make the wall BIGGER!
  • we need more bolts
  • we need more boltswe need more crash pads
  • we've created a monster
Thankfully the second phase of the wall will start after we catch up with the reviews that are backlogged!!

-Chris











Thursday, May 1, 2008

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Teknik Art Comp

(Click on the image(s) for full size view)

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Saturday, March 15, 2008