Review > Planet Holds > Screw on Foothold 2

There are handholds and then there are footholds... and then there are footholds that can be used at handholds :) The footholds we're looking at this week are from the UK, Planet Holds dropped us a package of their new polyurethane screw on feet... this is what they look like:
Upon receiving these holds Noodles pointed out that they could easily be used for hands and upon looking at them closer they are pretty incut and despite being small they're not as small as some holds we've reviewed like Tekniks Aphids, DRCC ESC/DSC, or say the E-Grips 2-Tex Pure Crimps. We have to point out when we say small we're talking about how deep they are for your fingers not the overall size of the holds which in truth is just larger (in most cases) than the head of a number 10 sized deck screw... no when we see something that is about half a pad deep and is a foothold we laugh and then use them for hands... but would they work as hand holds??

There's something to be of note here and that this review is not going to mention us using these holds as footholds so we'll get this bit out of the way right now :) These holds when you use them for your feet are bomber, even when on the steepest angle and you're hanging by your fingertips you can just dink your foot onto one of these holds and get enough purchase to make the move. If you use them on a vertical wall they're just plain massive, we tried a route (that we didn't film) with a bunch of different shoes from stiff (5.10 Rock Wrench & Sportiva Scorpions) to super soft (5.10 Projects & Boreal Falcons) and found the holds texture and positive nature of the holds to make them just easy to use... the holds have a pretty gritty texture to them so they do gather shoe rubber if you really screw your feet down onto them. We know that we shouldn't be using these guys for hands we should be using them for feet but when we see something of this kind of size we just have to try you know :)

Right.. back to what we wanted to see with these holds... Can we use them as handholds?
Yup you can... and it's an interesting ride that's for sure!!
Like children with too many toys we grabbed the drill and went to work

Maaan those routes are hard, pulling from the floor is brutal until you get the right feet and then you're just in a World of balance and pain. One thing you're probably not going to notice is that in most of the routes we filmed we are actually using the holds for hands and feet, that's how big and how positive these holds are as feet (although in the real world they're not actually that big) and even though you're on finger tips and trying some stupid stupidly tricky matches your feet are something you're just not worrying about... they just stick, no matter what shoes you're wearing on whatever angle (although when you're on a roof you do need to be super exact with your toes) you feet just seem to stick to the texture and give you a nice positive piece of reassurance that you've got your foot on something

SUGGESTED USES:






AS FOOTHOLDS: If you look at the above table of angles that relates to when you use them as footholds not when you use them as handholds.

What you should do (in no particular order):

• Put them around aretes they're great like that
• Use them as footholds
• Not pretend that they're Skittles
• Play about with them as they're pretty big for footholds

These are a good set of all around foot holds... they're bigger than you'd expect so chuck them on the wall for some beginner routes to inspire their footwork. Grip-wise these guys seem to have it in spades, even when you're being sloppy with your feet you seem to be able to not worry about what or how you've placed your foot... they just seem to stick!!






AS HANDHOLDS: If you're going to play with the small stuff for hands then 45 degrees is probably way further than you should go, 30 degrees should give you enough of a challenge. We're in no way saying that you should do what we did with the holds it was just a test to see if you can hold onto them... you can, but it's not wise and unless you're training for some braille like hell routes you shouldn't really do this (Wait til you see the Holdz route with those holds.. these things are so big compared to those)

OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 22
  
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Screw on
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): 19.50 GBP / 22 = $1.38 per hold (roughly at the current conversion rate)
  
• Color: Pink
  
• Bolt placement: None
  
• Sanding: Great
  
• Hollow backed: No
  
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
  
• Texture: Very grippy
  
• Set size: Extra Small
  
• Versatility: Depends
  
• Pre-drilled screw holes: Yes
  
• Shaper: TBC
  
• Weight: TBC

These guys come with a QA stamp and a date of birth stamp on the back of them, so you can tell (and they can be tracked) if there are any issues with them. All of the holds are well formed and you can tell that they've all been across the sander, the holds texture is very grippy and you have to be careful when you're using them as hands as you might loose some skin but that being said even when they're chalked up the texture does come through. No matter what shoes you wear these holds grip so well you almost feel like you're cheating... they're almost Grit-like but there aren't any Grit footholds like these :)

Given that these holds are super small and that their small size could mean that these holds could be weak. We've put them on and off of the wall a bunch of times, used different torque settings on the drill and just hammered them without any trouble at all. The only problem that we can see is the fact that they are held onto the wall by a single screw means that if the holds aren't screwed on super tight they can spin and in a couple of cases they did spin a little on us, it would be better if the holds had double screw holes rather than just a single

Our holds came in a nice shade of purple which is slightly more like violet more than anything else, it's a color you don't see too often that's for sure.

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Good

RATING:
Noodles:
Screw ons footholds as handholds... hahahaha. Brilliant idea... the holds can be used for hands, they're actually be pretty big and given their grit like grip they are nice if a little bit tweaky on the old digits. Mind you they're a little tweaky because we set a bunch of routes (Mark, Chris and I) that were just plain hard because we wanted to play hard and we wanted to push the holds to a point where we could go "Yes! You can use them as handholds... upto this angle X"

What is the angle?

45 degrees, but only if you're using a bunch of the holds to make wide pinches / crimps. The holds by themselves (as all of them, except one take single screws) when on a 45 aren't going to good to hold onto at all as they're small as hell, but if you cluster them then they're hard, bitey and do-able.
If you play on a lesser angle then the single holds can be used, just don't try to match on them because this is bloody hard when you're trying to move one of the two finger tips you have on the hold to put on another fingertip whilst at the same time trying to not breathe too much in case you fall off the wall :D

Bottom line? As footholds they're great, as handholds they're painful... BUT THEY"RE MEANT TO BE FOOTHOLDS, so it's not really surprising as we're using them for something that they're not really meant to do. But if you add them to volumes, or around the corner on aretes or use them sensibly in shallow angles you can pull on them and they do a pretty good job... be-careful if you're setting sequences with these guys as feet as people will cheat your moves... and good luck to them if they try! As footholds if you're just looking for something to put onto the wall or onto a route then these guys will fit your need, if you're looking to work upon your footwork then you probably want something a little more technical than these...

Mark:
Purple little nubs. They have a super high texture that could be a bit much for the finger tips if you rip off. They're a bit large for foot holds as in they stick out too much and lots of climbers could screw the climbing sequences by using them as handholds. I don't know what would happen if you shoe peeled off one of these but I'm sure you'd lose a lot of rubber. They make for great screw on hand holds! Gnarly but different.

They're light weight! Seem mix seems strong despite their small nature and the screws work well with them. Thank god they're bigger than those other screw ons that we're reviewing soon :)

Chris:
Screw on footholds for handholds....scary thought. Noodles might think it brilliant but my fingers will always say no. Anywho enough with the excuses, the holds are big and can be strategically placed as handholds. I thought it was surprising that each hold came with only one screw hole but the holds are so small that they don't require anything more. OK...back to using them as hand holds. Good idea or bad idea the holds are big enough to get some skin on and with some thought the holds can be placed so you can climb on as hand holds.

It was a surprise for me that we could get thought the sequence. You'd think that a foothold that can be used as a handhold is a bad thing but these are really great foot holds. The set had enough holds that we could set both hand and footholds. I could tell from the get go that the holds have enough meat to grab But my hands burned after the session for ripping off the holds. The problems set are not for everyone but as foot holds, it would be a great addition for any home or commercial wall. If its foothold your looking for, these will fit the bill. With their size, it will help develop precision footwork and at the same time be big enough to be used in an overhang without to much bother. Footholds or handholds? Well I think if you want some small holds to add to your wall, this set can easily find itself on your wall.

PROS:

• Big enough to be used as handholds on shallow angles
• Light and strong
• Cheap shipping rates as the set fits into an envelope
• Great for introducing beginners to smaller positive feet
  

CONS:

• Screw ons are a pain to move and reset
• Screws aren't included
• Having a single screw rather than a double means that they could spin if they're not screwed on tight enough
  

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Review > DRCC > The Rail

This week we're looking at The Rail, we've had it for a long long while and as we've been running some hold demos locally and our first one in the States... we've been lending out the holds and totally forgot to review it :( In fact before we moved the wall to it's current location we'd actually done all of the videos and we'd already filmed a climb that involved the Slots and the Rail in a session that was crazy... enough excuses... here's The Rail:The Rail pictured above in maroon with a purple soft back is a part of a new generation of large sliding bolt holds that seem to be hitting the market, Metolius have had the Colonettes on the market for years and there are whole hosts of other companies that make large screw on rail features. There are positives and negatives to having large rail like features that screw on.. but there is a trend a-coming of large features that have a sliding bolt as well as a normal single bolt so the hold can be rotated and can fit onto walls easily!

Again the DRCC have, like dual texture holds, taken this technology and have introduced it to a bunch of their large shapes (Peace, The Hole, Smile Ledge) and they've done it really well; you don't need to have a washer on the bolt as the metal sliding rail takes a normal bolt head and is made of high grade material.

Bah.. tech specs and praise! What is the thing like to actually use? On the old wall we had a 5 inch centre on our t-nuts, this spacing at times has given us some trouble with some holds; the Nicros Infinity Board being one of them (we had to make an adapter for it to fit onto the wall), in the case of the Rail we didn't have any problems as given the single bolt and then the slider we were able to angle it pretty well wherever we wanted without a care. We went straight for the nuts with where we put it as well, we chucked it straight onto the 45 degree wall; thinking that there is enough texture and a couple of deep enough (although pretty shallow) scoops that would allow us to get onto the hold and then move off into the Slots (which aren't great on the 45 degree wall at all)... maybe we over played our hand a little, but as the wall was being taken down it was pretty empty and as Jason, Chris and Noddles were up for a challenge it seemed like a great idea... here are the results:


(Just in case you're wondering about that route... Jason actually managed to get it right at the end of the video... we faded a little quickly on that, but if you watch closely we had moved the two final slots around because the Slots in case you've not read this review are hard on the 45 degree wall)

As you can see the Rail is holdable on the 45 degree wall... what you can also see is that moving off of it at that angle is pretty hard. Sure we weren't setting for everyone, we were setting hard as there was a problem from Val David that we were replicating as we wanted to train some pretty specific moves. Putting the hold onto a vertical wall gives you a nice long slightly slopey, slightly incut rail that's really nice to hold, rotate it 90 degrees and then you have some really interesting laybacks that will test your balance. One of the best angles we've found for this hold is between 15 and 30 degrees, it makes the hold just_that_little_bit_harder_to_stick and will challenge most people to trying some moves / matches and crosses that you don't see too much with indoor climbing.

SUGGESTED USES:







Yeah. stick it on the 45 if you're feeling strong but if you just want to test yourself without being spat off of the wall then stick it onto something more 30 degrees or less. We've had the Rail on the roof and we were moving into it and managing to match it and then move, it was by no means easy but it was done by a bunch of people... mind you a bunch of people did take a trip to the mats on that move!

There is a large surface area on this guy is over 20 inches long, but there are only a couple of palm sized shallow dimples (one larger than the other) for you to really use, the rest is basically a sloper. It's a test that's for sure.


OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 1
  
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt on, single bolt and slider
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $109.95
  
• Color: Ours is brown swirled
  
• Bolt placement: Single at one end and slider bolt at the other
  
• Sanding: Good
  
• Hollow backed: Yes
  
• Soft back (Rubber backed): Yes
  
• Texture: Dual texture
  
• Set size: Feature
  
• Versatility: Ok
  
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No, not needed
  
• Shaper: Vincent Cocciolone
• Weight: TBC
  

Quality is something that we've come to expect from the DRCC and the Rail is no exception, the texture on the hold isn't as grippy as you'd expect it gives you confidence to the point where you'll try to do something a little crazy with it and get shut down... that's where you find your and it's stopping point. The hollow back is superb, it takes enough weight from the hold without sacrificing the holds overall strength and as per usual it's a thing to behold.

The sliding bolt arrangement, which is laser cut... LASER CUT!... is very well formed, to the point where you don't need to use a washer for this to work the bolt head is more than enough to hold it tight to the wall, the main (single) bolt hole is nicely placed and is also pretty... well pretty, it has nice round edges to it so nothing can catch and the inset washer is nice and flat

As usual on any hold that the DRCC produces that they deem to need a softback this hold has one and it sits really flat against the wall without and areas lifintg at all. The DRCC is known for their dual texture and it's the same high quality shiney material that's just useless for any thumb catches that you might think are going to help you.

Now we've been running some hold demos of late, lending out holds here and there to see what other people think :) The Rail has been shipping with a bunch of other holds (all wrapped in paper) to a number of different places and so far it's come back unscathed from it's travels... and we all know how some parcels are handles by the postal services... so it's pretty damn strong as well

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Good

RATING:
Noodles:
When we got this hold way back when I remember email Vince raving about it and asking the question "why have you haven't you made more of these?"... "why isn't there one of these with more incuts for steeper angles?"... I guess it's because they're a pain in the ass to make, get the dual texture right and to get the hollow back complete. That's not really an excuse.. Vince, get to work! :)

This hold is what we'd consider the next generation of colonettes / rails... a colonail if it were, it's a shame it doesn't have more grab able features. Having a bunch of these and a huge wall would be a hoot in my mind.. imagine long long lay backs on lots of different feeling versions of these?

Putting this hold on the 45 (or the roof for that matter) was never a great idea, but it sure was fun. I can't remember if anyone actually ever finished that Rail/Slots route, I think I got close but I never finished it... technically the Slots and the Rail are going to be super hard on that steep of an angle, but what the hell someone had to try it :P I like the hold, the texture is just enough that you feel you can stick it, what's the word(s) I'm looking for??? Confidence inspiring, yeah that'd be the one... the hold is confidence inspiring and then it uses itself as a huge bat and beats you into submission in one foul swoop

I want more of these, I want a whole range of these, different sizes, different incuts... but all in the same color. I really like the hold, the fact that there isn't more is something that kind of brings me down a little. For home walls, if you've for about $100 kicking about it's a pretty good investment as you can do a lot with it... if your wall is super steep then I'd wait for the next installment before investing

Chris:
So how many of you enjoyed watching us fall repeatedly on our asses? Well we had a lot of fun trying out the problem and we've set a great many problems with it and always had a blast. If you're unfamiliar with DRCC, they make the best duo textured hold on the market. That's not an opinion, its a fact, and if you want gnarly technical holds, DRCC make some of the best there is...and that is just an opinion :)

So The Rail is one of those holds that will give you a taste of humility. The dual texture made it impossible to utilize the thumb to give you a better grip. Gotta love that dual texture :) So for me, I found that it was really hard to set a problem to the grade that I expected. If I were to try to set something in the V2 range, I would end up setting something that is at least a V4, with the possibility of being a Vimposible. The hold can really only be used with an open hand and there are only a couple of places on the hold where its slightly positive that adds to the degree of difficulty. Now even though this hold gave me a good kick in the ass, I liked climbing and working on the problem.

Although this hold is very technical, it doesn't have any sharp edges or require all that much brute strength to climb. It's really just a test on footwork and core strength. The texture lends itself to working on problems all afternoon in that you'll always find enough friction to keep you on the wall, until you suddenly find yourself on your ass. Now these holds aren't for everybody, but we've had the DRCC dual textured holds in a commercial gym and the strong burly climbers couldn't stay off the DRCC route. For me, I would buy this hold and for the record, it climbs well with the DRCC pinches :)

PROS:

• DRCC's shiny dual texture is beautiful
• Hollow backed for low shipping weight
• Layback fun for all
  

CONS:

• Not that positive so it's only good for shallow(ish) angles
• Price might put some people off
  

Review > Element Climbing > Carbide

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SUGGESTED USES:








OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 8
  
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $44.95/8 = $5.62 per hold
  
• Color: Orange
  
• Bolt placement: Middle
  
• Sanding: Good
  
• Hollow backed: No
  
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
  
• Texture: Good
  
• Set size: Medium
  
• Versatility: Ok
  
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
  
• Shaper: David Filkins
  
• Weight: 2lbs
  

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Good

RATING:
Noodles:


Chris:

PROS:

• YADDA

CONS:

• YADDA

Review > Summit Labs > Medium Muscles Pinches

Ah Summit Labs, they've made some interesting stuff from the Small Comfy Pinches, Dual Texture Edges and then their Large Granite Slopers... they're a small company but when they do put something new out there has been a couple of things to note:

1. Their products have always been very well made
2. Even though their shapes are simple they seem to be very well thought out!

The set we're talking about today is something we've had for over a year, they've been off and on the wall numerous times, but most notably they were part of one route that stayed on the wall for about 6 months.... mainly because people loved it so much... without further ado lets look at the Medium Muscles Pinches:

What you're looking at is six pinches that are going to test you.... a lot of the time these holds dwelled upon the shallow angles of our wall.. they never went past the 15 degree wall and then as we came closer to writing the review we decided to put them onto something a little steeper... only 15 degrees steeper mind you but steeper none the less... we knew that there was no way we'd every want to meet one of these guys on the 45 or anything steeper than that so we grabbed the holds off of the floor and put them onto the 30. What ensued is something that doesn't happen very often.... an almost epic ass kicking :)

All we wanted to do was set something that was a little spicey, nothing crazy, just a quick route where we could film the holds easily and at the same time have a little fun. Oh man, head locks, chin bars, drop knees, swear words and child like laughter were all seen within a short space of time. What Chris set was something that we never expected.... it was gloriously painful to start and then it all just came down to one move and one move only... one thing was for sure; there wasn't going to be any hanging around on the final hold for too long :)


SUGGESTED USES:






Looks can be deceiving and in this case deception seems to be the name of the game, these holds are nice to hold onto but at the same time really quite hard to stick but they do double quite well as slopey crimps... but when they're on shallow walls up to 15 degrees, as soon as you add another 15 degrees to you angle then you're into a World of balance and some very technical matches.

These guys are hard but comfortable as pinches, they have a nice radius to them and the lines (like what you'd see on a muscle) allows a degree of leniency for your fingers as you can use them to position your hands for maximum grip... but be warned if you're pinching on the lines you're probably seconds from pulling that fabled climbing move "the one hand clap" because more than likely you're seconds from flying backwards!! Overall... technical fun!

OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 6
  
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt ons
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $28.95/6 = $4.83
  
• Color: Blue
  
• Bolt placement: Middle
  
• Sanding: Good
  
• Hollow backed: No
  
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
  
• Texture: A little crystalline
  
• Set size: Medium
  
• Versatility: More pinches than anything else
  
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
  
• Shaper: Morgan Barnes
  
• Weight: 4lbs

One thing that Summit Labs seem to have in spaces is quality control, their holds always arrive in perfect condition... from the first set we have from when they started making holds (the Granites) to their latest sets (Comfy crimps (which will be reviewed soon)) we've seen their holds from day one and they're all very well made. We've not broken any of them, we've not chipped them... overall it's pretty impressive

The Muscles have some interesting shaping going on, they do actually look like muscles if you pull the skin off of your body! The lines help these guys with gripping the holds, but not so much that they intrude and give pain, they're not sharp they're nicely rounded and actually give some personality to the shapes. Size wise these guys fit nicely into the palm of your hand they have a nice radius to them, the only part of the holds that could cause some skin irritation is the Summit Labs logo which is a little raised and could cause some minor problems

Other than the texture being a little crystalline these holds are very well built, the sanding is great, the holds double as pinches or small sloped crimps/ledges and there's nothing to complain about the only thing is the fact that you can't really put these onto super steep angles.. there's no way that's going to happen as the holds aren't incut enough. Oh one other thing... these guys do seem to gather chalk more than you'd expect, so have a brush handy

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Very good

RATING:
Noodles:
These holds have been part of a route I set on our last wall and then transferred to this wall... the route consists of Rock Candys "Ruffles", Project Holds "Tankers" and of course Summit Labs "Medium Muscles". It's a fairly long route with lots of technical moves on most of the wall, the Muscles come into play right at the end on the flat wall right when you're good and tired. What makes these holds stand out is that even on a flat wall with ample feet you have to have your body in the right position to cross and rotate your hips to get to the next holds... and even then when the holds are set more like edges than anything else you still have to be super careful when moving. It's something that's been a lot of fun for a lot of people... now it's been taken down and will be replaced with something that (hopefully) will be as much fun.

Luckily we have Summit Labs "Comfy Crimps" to play with now... so I think that we're going to have another interesting time on those guys.

The Muscles were a surprise as they were harder than I thought, despite the simple design there what seems to be lots of grabbing options on these guys... pinch, slopey edge or evil crimps you can pretty well get a little of everything on them. You're never going to be able to run on super steep angles with them because they're so shallow... but that's one of those things. If you pair these holds with the Small Muscle Pinches or Summit's Comfy Pinches then you have the making of a very interesting route, with the Comfy Pinches allowing you to hit the 45 and the other sets being good of a 30 and a 15; you'll be pumped but you'll enjoy the result... pinch strength without destroying your hands

Top notch stuff; I'd love to see a much larger set of these shapes that allow them to be used on steeper angles.

Chris:
Awesome, wicked ass pinches! One thing I wish they had done was design more of these shapes. The holds can be described as slopey pinches but if they were to design larger holds with the same theme as these, they would be more of a slope than a pinch. Now although they become increasingly difficult even on the shallowest of overhangs, the groves and crimps let you grip the holds with confidence.

You may have noticed that I used the term "crimps" in that last sentence and it was not an error. As Noodles stated, we've had these holds for a year now and when we went to set for this review, we set them up on our 30 degree wall for a spin. I set that problem thinking that it would be hard but not impossible. Well, it was more on the impossible side and in order to get our butts off the ground for the starting move, I actually crimped the hold...I think I was using my finger nails more than relying on skin contact.

Now if you're looking for a set of pinches to compliment your collection of holds, than this is a good bet but I find that these small grip specific sets are limited. When we review holds, we try to set problems exclusively with the holds to be reviewed. This set was hard to create problems with and I ended up setting problems way above the level I intended which is not neccesarily a bad thing, it just makes for a hard boulder session.

PROS:

• Very well made
• Comfortable design, but harder than you think
  

CONS:

• Limited angle use
• Gather chalk a lot

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Review > Metolius > 40 hold pack

Continuing with our starter pack reviews we have another one for you, winter is kicking in and lets face it... it's time to get the drill out and to start building. We're going to making additions to our wall over the winter and as Metolius states that this pack it basically "a home wall without the plywood" we figured we'd test that claim and see what's up with one of the longest running hold companies out there. Firstly what you generally see is not exactly what you're going to get, you are going to get a mix of holds in differing colors and from Metolius' current hold line up, so if you want a specific color and a specific hold then you're out of luck... remember what this pack is made for is someone that's starting a home wall not really for someone that already has a wall if you're looking for just a bunch of holds to fill out a wall from Metolius then you want to be looking more at: this which is a pretty good option.

Everything that is within the pack is listed upon the side; what's inside well, lets make a list and check it twice:

• 6 Screw-On Footholds
  
• 6 Screw-On Handholds
  
• 1 Screw-On Rail
• 1 Screw-On Plate
  
• 1 Screw-On Outside Corner
  
• 5 Screw-On Modulars
• 8 Micros
  
• 7 Modulars
  
• 4 Mini Jugs
  
• 1 Macro/Roof Jug
  
• Multi-Wrench
  
• How to Build a Home Bouldering Wall booklet

Which ever way you look at this it's a fair amount of holds and there is a lot of variety in the box and here's where we get to something that Chris and Noodles have been talking about whilst playing with the holds: "Is this a good start a wall set or is it a better introduction to Metolius' hold line up?" The answer to this question is really both. It is a pretty good starter set for some one wanting to build a wall and it's also a pretty good look at what Metolius has in their line up as there are some classic holds in the box and some of the newer stuff as well (But no Wood Grips!! WHAT!)

What we did was let Eve set the first route and she set something that was a real surprise, she wanted to have something to work on but it ended up being a challenge for most people that went near to it; some people found the start moves hard; some people found the roof moves to be hard; some people found the finishing move tricky. Like we said there was a little of something for everyone. Chris and Mark (who was a surprise visitor from BC) came in and he walked the route first time... but he's a tall genetic freak that's been climbing for the last year everyday!

One of the other routes that we set was on the 30 degree wall and it included some of the below holds:
The pink guy one of the screw on plate from the Rib range and it is an interesting beast to hold onto, what you've got is two slots for your fingers (neither of them big by any means) and that's about it... maybe we set it a little low for Mark, but we thought that we'd be able to match upon the holds and just cruise on through to the rail that is on the edge of the 45/70 degree wall. Boy were we wrong... if anyone asks you "whats the sound of one hand clapping" then you can answer "a climber on a 30 degree wall on a Metolius Rib Plate blowing off backwards at speed when attempting to match and move from that hold" :) In all seriousness it's a hold that will be great upon any wall less than 30 degrees and will be bomber on any slabs. There is so much variety within this pack that it does get kind of hard to set problems with the holds... something that we overcame quickly as having a lot of different styles means you have to adapt to what you have in hand and adapt we did :)

There was a second question that bounced around the wall whilst we climbed and set... "Do you want to many screw ons in a set of holds?", this is a tricky one, sure, we'd loved to have had more bolt ons in the box and to have had an option of just bolts ons / bolts etc within the box (We guess that's why there are the bulk packs) but right now this isn't the case (unlike the So Ill kit we looked at a few weeks ago: here), you get a bunch of screw ons and some of them are pretty small and are only going to be good for feet (great as this is a variety pack of holds) but bad if you'd want more handholds than footholds. Screw ons are a pain in the ass to move about and most people just aren't going to bother moving them, so there's a plus side and a negative side to having them included!

What is paramount with this box of joy is the fact that you can go from flat walls to something that has a little for everyone for about $120... given that you get everything that you need and that you're going to use most of it means that you're going to be getting possibly one of the best deals on the market for a "set up a wall kit" and that's no bad thing


SUGGESTED USES:







There isn't much you can't do with this pack, there is such a variety of shapes and sizes that it's kind of crazy. Screw on's and bolt on's and some screw on corners and and and and there is just so much stuff you can do with this pack of holds. Chuck them on the ceiling an overhang, make some traverses basically if you're making a wall or you're really low on holds there is only your imagination and creativity that's going to limit what happens. The holds are super varied with little or no theme, the packs could be made with a theme if Metolius wanted... like having a Blue Ribbon wall set or a All American set... that'd really be neat to have as an option.

We set hard with these guys, putting the hold through their paces and other than the Natural holds that are real rock like there isn't anything to really complain about with the holds, they're friendly on the skin and fun to play with


OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 40
  
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Both
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $129/40 = $3.20 per hold but remember all of the hardware is included within this price
  
• Color: Mixed
  
• Bolt placement: Well placed on all of the holds
  
• Sanding: Good
  
• Hollow backed:
  
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
  
• Texture: Classic Metolius
  
• Set size: Large
  
• Versatility: Very good
  
• Pre-drilled screw holes: Not on the bolt ons
  
• Shaper: Various
  
• Weight: 8.61kg

There's a lot in this box so lets look at the overall:
All of the holds are really well made, with the exception being on some of the holds there are some bubbles in the backs on some of the holds... overall just a minor point in the grand scheme of things. All of the holds have a very consistent resin feel to them with the exception being the "real rock" like holds that feel like limestone and the texture here can be a little hard on the skin.
The colors are mixed, there aren't very many simple single colored holds in what we received they are mainly swirled colors of varying types, the flat colors that are in there in the normal Metolius colors (Incut Edges are brown, the Blue Ribbons are blue etc)

Hardware wise all of the metal you get within the box is top notch you get all of the deck screws / normal bolts and champagne headed bolts that you're going to need along with enough t nuts to get your new wall up and running. The Salvation Army style wrench is the let down in this section as it's just two Allen keys welded together and then are grounded to make the weld smooth. It looks cheap and brings an otherwise great product down a few notches

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Resin

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Good, everything is bagged and labelled

RATING:
Noodles:
I'm going to say it because I'm not sure we said it enough (and it's one of those things that irks me somewhat)... the wrench is embarrassing to have something that is so crap within a product that a) introduces someone to a brand of climbing holds b) a climber that's possibly starting to climb and c) otherwise a well rounded starter wall set. I really don't think that it's been well thought out... I love tetanus as much as the next person and the only time I removed the rust spotted cobbled together "wrench" was for the walk through. IMMEDIATELY after that I threw it in the bin in case someone either use it for setting and hurt themselves or mistook it for a medieval throwing star and started throwing it about.

The set is one of those things that I think the market needs more of; this set is being donated to a new wall that's opening soon... it's going to give them a great start and something to play with on their new wall. They're going to need some tape to set with as the colors are a little mix and match. We set some pretty fun routes with these guys, some of it was pretty damn hard some of it easy there's such a variety of shapes and sizes of hold within the box that you can be pretty creative with what you do. The stand out route was the one that Eve set, she wanted something to work on and she pretty well stopped us for a little while there

Although you're not going to see these packs being brought by any commercial gyms... if you're building a wall then this is something that could be worth a looking at, like they say there is everything you need within the box to pretty well build a wall... plans included as well!!, so all you need is some wood, some space and away you go!

Would I buy this set if I was building a wall? Yeah I probably would have done just to have something on the wall that I'd built otherwise I've just basically have built myself a huge wooden sculpture. Given the options I'd probably go more with the Bulk Holds packs from Metolius because I'd not want as many screw ons as are within this set; BUT and this is a big but the screw ons are the holds that add the variety to this set of holds and will probably end up being used as footholds most of the time anyway

Chris:
Great diversity in this set. You get everything you need from jugs to foot jibs to get you started on your home wall. The only thing you'll have to look out for is what exactly you're getting in the box. I say this because the images of the holds that are on the box are not necessarily what you'll get when you open the box. When we opened the box to check that all the holds were there we used the description to sort out the holds in the box. It would be nice if Metolius would homogenise this set so that every box has the same kinds of holds. For instance, one of the options you can get for the bulk set is "5 macros/roof jug". What does this mean? Well, you get either 5 macro holds or 1 roof jug. If its the roof jug that you want, you may not get it in the box that you purchase so if you're thinking of getting this set, get it from a store and ask the clerk if you can check the contents of the box.

I think this is a good set for home walls. The big issue I have with Metolius holds is that they do not come in custom colors and it becomes undesirable for a gym. We also like to have holds with bright colours so that way we can set problems without having to tape the holds. Would I have bought this for our home wall? Probably not, but for someone who has built their new home wall and is looking for their first set of holds, this set is a winner.

PROS:

• The pack comes in 30 / 40 / 50 or 60 hold packs
• Everything is included
• Price per hold is cheap and hardware is included in the price
  

CONS:

• You might want to check what's in the box as you might get a jug or a macro
• Limited color options
  

Review > Black Swan Holds > Mini Volume

SUGGESTED USES MINI VOLUME:






Form or function; both is what you need and this guy is really hits the marks on both. You can stick this guy wherever you pretty well want, if you actually bolt holds into the two holes that are provided is upto you, the little rail feature is big enough for you to be able to haul across a roof without too much trouble. We're not going to pass full judgement on this guy as we're still putting it through it's paces.

OVERALL BUILD MINI VOLUME:

• Number of holds: 1
  
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $30
  
• Color: Black
  
• Bolt placement: Centered, seems a little drunk
  
• Sanding: Good
  
• Hollow backed: Yes
  
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
  
• Texture: Very crystalline
  
• Set size: Large
  
• Versatility: Good
  
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
  
• Shaper: Dalton
  
• Weight:
  

Now we like some innovation, this volume in urethane is pretty refreshing despite the fact that it's almost the same size (and price) as a Motivation "Willy" it's the medium of what it's built from that's very interesting. The Mini Volume has a very crystalline texture that pretty well negates having to use the nut placements as you can just (on shallow angles) just use the volume without worrying about anything else thats bolted onto it

Review > Black Swan Holds > Crimpzies

Black Swan holds are another new company, we grabbed a couple of sets of holds from them so we could have a look at their product. the set we're looking at today are called the Crimpzies and they look like this:
Obviously these holds are crimps, they're small and in most cases they're thin... the Black Swan website says this about the holds:
"Seven of the best crimps we could craft! You can hit that crux move over and over and your fingers wont even notice."
Well that statement is not actually correct, for two reasons, in the walk through when talking about the holds Noodles states that "I'm pretty sure I can break this hold by putting it on the wall" and guess what he did; just by chucking a bolt into the hold and acting like an over-eager setter he managed to snap the hold! We're actually pretty sure that if we did the same with the other holds in this line we could do that same thing without even really trying... why? Because the holds are so thin and the amount of material that sits below the washer is so minimal that cranking down on these with a wrench will just snap them; the bottom like (despite the shaping) these holds aren't well designed.

The second reason the statement from their website is wrong is because your fingers will notice that you're climbing on these holds... they're crimps, some are deep some are shallow but they are crimps and they're pretty painful to boot

Now what we've started doing at CHR is setting a bunch of routes with the holds we get, and then we film the one route that we really liked with multiple people upon it. It helps us with video editing and generally the route that's been set will be one that all of the people really enjoyed climbing on. In this case it was a simple Noodles route from a stand up start on the 30 degree wall into and across the 45 and then finishing on the flat (using Black Swans Mini Volume as a base for the final hold. As the holds are crimps it took us a little while to dial in the hold placements (and the feet) to make sure the holds ended up being an interesting and challenging route... it actually turned out pretty well for a short route but there were a few things to note from when we were setting:

• We didn't crank down on the holds when setting for fear of breaking them
• Some of the crimps, although well sanded, flex when you put weight on them!
• The holds are thin so you HAVE to use cap head bolts, if you use normal bolts they head will protrude out deeper than the hold

From the get-go these holds aren't getting a very good rep from us, but we did end up setting one route that we filmed a bunch on, as the set is pretty small we decided that a quick route from the 30 degree wall to the 45 and then to the flat with a crazy cross through would be the most fun and interesting for you to see! The holds on other routes perform pretty well on the 45 degree wall but they are painful to hold and pull on at that angle, if you're playing on these holds then the 30 or lesser angles are what we'd suggest.


SUGGESTED USES CRIMPZIES:







If you do get yourself a set of these holds be warned that they are very painful on your fingers; if you're super strong and like a bit of pain put them onto the 45 and go nuts. But we'd suggest something a little shallower with these guys, more like 30 degrees and try to make the moves easier than you'd like to save your hands for something nicer. Although one thing can be said they are crimps, not in the purest sense of the term but they are definitely crimps in one shape or another.

Shallow angles are the best for these, we'd say upto 30 to make sure you don't hurt yourself, but if (like we said) you're strong crank it up a notch and hit the 45... there is one of the crimps (the one from the walk through where Noodles points out it's "like a deeper Hex or Rex" that can easily be used on much much steeper walls ; something more like our 60 comfortably

OVERALL BUILD CRIMPZIES:

• Number of holds: 7
  
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $15/7 = $2.14 per hold
  
• Color: Black
  
• Bolt placement: Good
  
• Sanding: Ok
  
• Hollow backed: No
  
• Soft back (Rubber backed): Optional
  
• Texture: Grippy, but not rough
  
• Set size: Small
  
• Versatility: Ok
  
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
  
• Shaper: Dalton Swan
  

Avoid these holds. They build quality is sub-par, the thinner hold will snap when you look at it, they hurt your fingers and we'd not suggest that you buy them...
The devil is in the details with these guys, Black Swan are a new company and sometimes a little direction is needed:

• Some of the holds sanding was a little off, not by much to be honest if some of the thinner holds had been sanded anymore then they could have been transparent.
• It seemed like the amount of material around or behind the bolt hole wasn't enough
• A couple of the bolt holes (because the holds are so thin you can't / don't want to use a standard bolt but a cap headed bolt) weren't big enough to actually take the bolt head
• The edges of some of the holds although not sharp weren't flat and flush there were some imperfections from the shaping
• The slashes and dots that are on the holds look a little amateur almost like it came out of an art class

After we finished climbing on the holds we torqued all of them up like we did with the first one to see what we could actually break and what was bombproof. Other than the one hold we did break on video we did only manage to sink some of the washers on two of the other holds, but and this is a big BUT: we did put these way above what anyone else in their right mind would kind of stresses, the holds were actually making an impression on the wall we had them that tight (about 30ft lbs of torque according to our wrench)... so the thicker holds are pretty strong

Those things aside the texture upon these holds is really quite nice it's smooth and it's got a good grip to it. We like to think that Black Swan are kind of like the Ford Motor Company of old.. you know "you can have any color you like as long as it's black" but they do offer yellow, we need to check on whether you can get other colors. The price when you look at it is just mentally cheap and if they can sort out the QA issues and can keep that price then that'd be amazing

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Poly urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:

RATING:
Noodles:
We like, hell we love seeing new products... but sometimes it's going to be a rough ol review for some people... this is going to be hard for the guys at Black Swan to swallow but checking out their site in the about section I found this... anything italic is from their page:

Our Washers
All holds created by Black Swan feature embedded washers. These washer help spread the load from the bolt across the entire hold making them incredibly hard to crack from over tightening. You have to be very committed to breaking these holds; it won't be an easy task
Urm, reeeeeally? I broke a hold pretty well without even trying. In fact (we should have filmed this) after we were done climbing one night we had Dora break a few, she's 4ft 9in and can't turn a wrench anywhere near as hard as I can

Our Texture
We will never sell a hold that is hard on a climbers hands. We are climbers ourselves and understand how important texture is. We want you to be able to climb all day on our holds, not cursing at your sore pads.
Ok, I'll give you this one, except for the texture on the Mini Volume this is a little harsh, and the little features that are on some of the holds that snap off. What you say texture -wise about the crimp set is correct, if the holds were larger you probably could climb on them all day. Unfortunately the shapes is the thing that's going to destroy your fingers

Our Service
Every single one of our holds are first tested by us on our own wall. After preliminary tests, we sell only to local gyms before providing our selection to other gyms. We will not sell any products that have had any problems whatsoever. This is how we know our holds we stand up to our expectations and level of quality.
FAIL! You guys really need to test your holds and shapes better that you've obviously haven't done so far.

It's going to seem like I'm ragging on these guys, and that's because I am. The Crimpzies should be pulled off of their website and be totally redesigned from the ground up; the shapes technically are OK.... but just OK. These holds are crap pure and simple, if you put them next to say Tekniks Flaps or Contacts Hex OR Rex holds these holds just don't measure up on quality / on design; the only place that they do measure up on is price, because at $15 the price point is great, the problem is the smaller holds can break or hurt your fingers.

Black Swan need to sit down and look at some of their thin holds, redesign them and make sure that when an overenthusiastic setter spins a wrench too much or gets an impact driver that their product is solid. Remove the little details on some of the holds and just work on the shapes and their strength and then work on the supplementary details

Avoid at all costs, even if the cost is just $15. I had some pretty high hopes for this set and I was kind of let down by their QA and the fact that I could sink the washer into the hold or snap them when on a flat wall. Now the other set we have (although flawed in some places) is much better and is something we're having some fun on.... stay tuned folks, it's not all bad when it comes to Black Swan there is some good with the bad!

Chris:
We've seen a lot of holds over the years and we've helped quite a few companies improve the quality of their product. From Climb It putting a center column on their hollow backs to Motivations face lift on their volumes, I see another companies who's product will greatly improve if they spent a little time ironing out the details. These are pretty nice shapes and the texture (apart from the mini volume;) is nice to the touch and provides good friction. The praise ends there. In all aspects of detail, Black Swan needs to make some improvements.

First off: What's with the yellow in the back of the Crimpzies? You probably didn't notice uit because the color is completely hidden from view when the holds are bolted to the wall. I would think that this strip of yellow is for aesthetic purposes but Black swan has wasted their time since the strip is too thin and most of it has come off when the holds were sanded. Second: Bolt holes. The holes on all the holds weren't cleaned up and the bolt doesn't sit sit flush on the seat. There were even some where they didn't pour enough material around the bolt hole and parts of the washer are exposed. On top of that, there were a couple where the bolt hole wasn't centered. We got around that , but most of these details cause the hold to not sit flush on the wall creating stresses and therefore weakening the integrity of the holds.

Although Black Swan's prices are very competitive, it doesn't give them the excuse to make a sub standard product. My advice is to pay attention to the details and I guarantee that the next time I climb on Black Swan holds, I'll rant on how much fun I had climbing and setting.

PROS:

• Great price point
• Good texture
  

CONS:

• Break easily if you're overzealous with the wrench (snapped holds / sunk washers)
• Not much material around the bolt holes
• Some production issues
  

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Review > Greengrip > Composite Stone Set 1

Greengrip is someone you've probably not heard of! Is that because they're from Finland? No not really, it's because they're kind of quiet... they are a company that have been working on a bunch of different material types. In fact a lot of different materials; that aside today we're talking about one of their material types... but first the holds (Which is a promotional set):The material that they're made of is called Composite Stone Materials, the Greengrip website says this about it:
"Composite stone materials not only greatly resembles natural stones, but also have much better mechanical properties for climbing holds manufacturing. Materials for composite stones are different kinds of modificated resins and resin combinations, based on epoxy-silicone resins and natural polymers"
Right... we included some of the spelling mistakes, but what does that mean when it all is said and done?

1. The holds should feel like stone and also look like stone
2. The holds should be strong and light
   
3. They're not normal resin, they are some kind of super epoxy/polymer mix
   

Before we go much further we should mention that the chaps at Greengrip are a bunch of chemists AND climbers that have decided to make environmentally friendly climbing holds! Finland is covered in rock and it snows a lot so they have lots of time to get it right.... but have they done so?

1. These holds do look and feel like stone
2. The box of holds weighed in at less that 1kg, the holds aren't huge but they are extremely light considering they're made of resin, or a resin like material. They're also pretty strong, we'd normally not throw resin holds about but as they said they were strong we had a little session of "throw the holds at the wall" and we didn't break any
3. We can't figure out what they're saying about the epoxy/polymer material (it's not polyurethane or polyester) that they make their holds from... it's based on the same kind of chemicals but it isn't normal stuff... bloody chemists always make life difficult :) (Keep in mind the bigger holds (if you get the larger hold, of which we have a few, are made of something else entirely!! And then there is one hold in the box that is something we're going to review later when we get the rest of the holds in our hands and it's called Iceberg and they look mental) The holds are made without harmful chemicals, so that's pretty good!

Right... enough confusion, let's get to how they feel!

If we read CHR or have been reading this site for a while you'll know that we've had some real rock-esque climbing holds before. Some were good (Dream Holds: Basalt / Granites; Petrogrips: Mixed) and there were some that were bad (Project Holds: Granites; Entre-prise: Imperfect Cobbles) but how do these guys hold up?

Actually they're pretty damn good, they feel like crimps feel outside... people have climbed on one of the routes Noodles set where he screwed the holds together to make little cracks (see image on the left) and people really liked the feel of them and the way that (if they remembered to use the crack and not the outside of the hold) you feel like you're outside. Then Chris (who actually set with the holds first) made something that REALLY FELT like the outside... it was hard and pretty painful to climb. So yeah they do feel like real rock, they don't quite have the same cool feel as real rock but they do feel slightly cooler than other normal climbing mediums

Then we set a short easy route to just to see what they holds were like on easy terrain and they are very very positive, even the smallest screw on was ok to be matched. We've moved these holds all over the wall, we've used the smaller holds as feet and as hands so they can be used either way

SUGGESTED USES:







For their size and shapes are better suited to slight overhangs, unless of course you like hauling down on small semi sharp (in some cases) holds that really feel like real rock. There is a lot of options on all of the holds, bar the tiny screw ons, that allow you to play around and make some pretty interesting routes. Our favorite was getting two of the screw ons, or a bolt on and a screw on, and then making little cracks out of them; the good thing about using a bolt/screw on combination is that you can rotate the bolt on to change the angle of the crack with the spin of a wrench. If you're looking for some pretty real feeling holds then these might be what you're looking for, you can't train too much on them but they certainly add some spice to a wall

What we've done this week is to have the walk through video and the climbing as one video not two! So for Noodles falling on his ass because of the small screw ons you'll have to skip to the middle of the video... we're also sorry about the walk through camera work, we have a new camera person and they're getting to grips with how to film the walk through....

OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 12
  
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Both
  
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): 41 Euros is roughly: $57.50 = $4.80 per hold
  
• Color: Grey and red
  
• Bolt placement: Depends upon the shape
  
• Sanding: Good
• Hollow backed: No
  
• Soft back (Rubber backed): Epoxy rubber polymer
  
• Texture: Rock like
• Set size: Small
• Versatility: Pretty good
  
• Pre-drilled screw holes: Yes on the bolt ons when needed
  
• Shaper: Admir & Mother Nature
  
• Weight: Less than 1kg

We had a session of throw the holds at a wall to see if we could break of chip them and even with people throwing pretty hard there wasn't any noticeable damage; it's not the best test we know but we were wondering what they'd look like after we chucked the HRT stuff off of the balcony :)
Build quality of these holds is very good, all of the backs are flat with their backing sucking the holds to the wall very well (FYI: they have a new backing that is super green so it's no longer the "bad" part of the hold when it comes to the environment!) all of the screw holes are nice and are counter sunk to take the screw heads, same of the bolt holes.

These holds are light, and even adding the grey/red these holds stand out because of their style (what is it's Etch adverts say? "Only mother nature makes better shapes?") well this is the case for these guys. They could do with a logo of some kind but given the nature of the shapes you shouldn't have trouble finding them... unless of course you don't mix screw ons with bolt on holds!

Texture wise these are very real rock like, but like Chris says a little softer than the outside and there are some slightly sharp edges; some of the holds just don't want to be dyno'd to that's for sure

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Expoy / polymer

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Good

RATING:
Noodles:
These holds would be almost the greenest thing on the climbing market except for one thing... they have backing upon them that isn't the most environmentally friendly thing on the planet. In my mind this kind of defeats the purpose of making environmentally friendly holds :( But they do seem to have a bunch of other things going for them:

• Their material is a safety based so it shouldn't shatter easily
• The colors they use are food coloring

Reading their website is pretty interesting (spelling mistakes aside :P), all of the research that they've done is well documented with their trials and tribulations up on the page for you all to read. There's a lot of information up there, so if you're bored go and spend some time.

Now even thou we're reviewing one of their Promotional part bolt/part screw on set this time around there are some other holds that are en-route

These are called the Icebergs and as you can see there are some larger shapes in there and these holds have some very interesting coloring to them; we had a sneak peak of one of the holds and they look completely mental!

That aside the Stone Set is interesting, I generally don't like holds that are too small especially screw ons because they can be sharp... but this isn't the case these holds despite being small are pretty friendly there are some sharp(ish) edges but as these holds are molded from real rock shapes and they're made to simulate rock so it's kind of expected that this is the case. Some of the holds are a little sharp as I said, but I think Greengrip could select the rocks that they're molding from a little more carefully; if you look at the image of the holds at the top of this post the middle most holds is has the sharpest edges but it is also one of the most interesting shapes from the set, it has lots of grabbing options, the only problem with this is that to turn the hold you're going to need your drill

Overall do I like the holds? I really don't mind them I think that easier routes on simple on slight inclines and slabs is where these holds shine, I know I don't want to be making dynamic moves to small semi sharp holds so I generally avoid doing so and I'd suggest you do that same or limit your routes to not include to many of these types. There are a lot of options with these holds, being screw ons you want to set well so you don't have to move the holds too much otherwise your wall is going to start looking like swiss cheese :) Eco-holds is something that I can see being a bigger market over the next few years, Nicros have been doing it with the soy-based holds for years and other company's are getting on the boat, Greengrips have started well if they can sort out their backing material these holds could be the greenest grips on the planet... now I hope the Icebergs turn up before they melt so we can try something larger

Chris:
I don't know if the guys at Green grip have seen our review on the Dream holds Dumby Basalts cause these shapes from Green grip have a very similar feel. We use this word, "similar", quite a bit of late. There are a lot of great shapes out there and those who mold the holds draw influence from other shapers and there is nothing wrong with that, unless you're like some companies and downright copy molds from other companies (we know who you are;). Well Greengrip is not one of those companies. When I say that the shapes are similar, I mean in idea only. These real rock shapes are much smaller than those from Dream holds and since they're cast from real rock, the shapes are much different from those from Dream holds.

In most reviews I talk about the problems we set with the holds and how we held up on them, what I think about the aesthetics and shapes, but I think that with these holds, I must first talk about the composition of the holds. We're entering an age of environmental awareness and Greengrip is on the forefront developing eco friendly polymers and epoxies. I won't get into the chemistry of things (you can get the info on their website) and I won't say that I understand it, I can just say that they've developed a composition that is very light.

So now onto the part of the review you have all been waiting for: What do I think of the holds? Well, I think that we have some brilliant holds in our possession. I would really like to see more shapes with bolt holes instead of being mounted with screws. That just because I'm lazy and I weasel my way out of setting with screw on holds. What I've realized from climbing on real rock shapes is that the holds still have the sharp edges you would find climbing outside but there isn't that bite that would leave your skin burning after a couple of attempts. I would attribute this to the fact that plastic, be it polyurethane, recycled or a secret mixture, is softer that rock and thanks to that we can climb on into the wee hours of the night.

PROS:

• Environmentally friendly
• For their size they are light and strong
  

CONS:

• Limited range thus far
• Screw ons aren't for everyone