Ankle Injuries

So I guess this story starts with me and what happened prior to my ankle getting blown out... I have a trainer and he's part of the CHR family and I'd spent about 4 months training my ass off for this years Tour De Bloc. That's me on the left there are the first comp of the year at Joe Rockheads in Toronto cranking down to a 5th place finish in my field. I'd had a good comp and training was fitting into my daily life and around the comps so I was happy.

Then what happened was something of a freak accident :( During a rest period I was at the gym and I was showing someone how I did a move and I fluffed it, my hand slipped and I fell... about 4ft, yup 4 bloody feet. I landed a little lopsided (the mats are angled) and as soon as I hit I knew my ankle was done. Now, I've never had an ankle problem but when you do something like this you just know. I crawled off of the mat with Bobby laughing at me as he thought I was just messing around. This is the image about 10 minutes after I did it... looks a little broken; a few beers later I went to hospital.

Yes man logic, I iced it when I got home and I'm pretty damn good with pain but even after a while it started to get to me. If the beer isn't going to help then I'll go see a professional :)


Thankfully the hospital was empty and I was seen straight away; FYI: there is always something bad happening when the triage nurse asks why you're there and you say "I have a little boo boo" you show them your ankle and they make noises... and then calls the doctor who then makes noises and then they send you for an x-ray. I don't find Doctor humor very funny, I know full well that I've fucked myself up... also asking if you're in pain when you have a softball sized lump on your ankle is pointless lol. Thankfully they gave me pain killers right away and I started to mellow out.

The x-ray showed nothing, no broken bones (yes really) but a couple of sprains; they told me to stay off of it for a few days and referred me to McGill Sports Medicine because they're the best people in town. I was told it would probably take a few weeks before they saw me. So stay off of the foot as much as possible and here's something to make you look like a Storm Trooper. It's an Air-Cast and they're amazing, between the noninflammatory pills the pain medication and this I was able to hobble about a little after a few days, not much mind you but I could hop about and go for a poop when needed. Now here's a thing, if it's not broken then the hospital isn't going to do anything for you; sadly it's a fact but hospitals aren't going to do much for you... but they can tell you if you've broken it and that there's tendon damage but that's about it. It's the refereal that's what you want because some hospitals will have departments for this kind of injury and they can treat it for you but it will take a long time to get referred. What you need (like I had) was a referral to somewhere where they have specialised sports doctors and thrapists (note that I said threapists not physios)

Now I was refferred to McGill University becuase they have their own department for this kind of thing because they have a massive number of sports teams and there's a CFL team right next door. So I'm lucky to have an option like that and that's what i'd advise is even if you do get reffered to someone seek out out the best you can find. The health service is free and takes a long time and here's something that I'd really like to make clear:
Climbing is what I do and  is very much part of my lifestyle, I'm not the best at it but i'm by no means the worst. Part of my (Ha) income and business is reviewing holds so it's important that i get back on the wall as soon as possible. Now i'm not sponsored but I do represent companies in Canada and a gimped rep is ok, but i've climbed for 27 years and I train for the Tour and I enjoy it. People have seen me since I've done this and I'm not happy (it shows)... so I'm doing every-thing-I-can to get back to my vertical lifestyle asap

So I get refereed and I'm in a waiting pattern, it's late on the day I've done this so I'm in a weird frame of mind. My season at this point isn't fully done at this point as far as I know it's a bad sprain, that's what I've been told by the doctors.. it's a bad sprain, here's a boot, here's some anti inflammatorys and pain killers... stay off of it. As i can't walk I take the rest of the week off; even with the boot I cannot walk so I start looking for a walking stick; I live 15 minutes from work and I plan on getting back to work as soon as I can. Thankfully Phil the owner of Shakti had a pair of crutches that I ended up borrowing. With the crutches and the boot I can move around the house a little more freely and I start venturing out of the house a little; normally my walk to work is 15 minutes door to door, with the boot and the crutches and a barrel of grim determination I manage to get to work in 1hr 45mins. Now call me stubborn because I could have gone to the corner and jumped the bus but I didn't want to do that at all; I wanted to do what I normally did and that was get to work as I normally did... thankfully the snow was late so it ended up being a long walk and tiring but I did it.

I'm also lucky with my team at Ubisoft, they knew I was off and they know I train hard for climbing and that i'd done myself a little boo boo. I began icing at work, thankfully the month before they'd put in an ice machine so I made sure that four times a day I iced the swelling to try to keep it in check as much as possible. I also kept it raised as much as possible... even when I slept, which is uncomfortable to say the least. I get a call to go see a doctor at McGill on Thursday. That's faster than I was expecting by weeks and just a day after I sprained my ankle I'm seeing a Doc; not bad going!!

As soon as I'm in the office I'm told to ditch all of the walking aids and to walk on it why? Because in the Doctors words "You can't do any more damage to it" So that's that then, the X-ray again shows that it's sprained but not how badly and they tell me to get into rehab (physio) asap, there's a slot two hours away so I sit and wait.

I'm scheduled to see MC Dion, shes an athletic trainer not a physio but as she looks after the varsity volley ball team and a whole host of other athletes so it seems like a great fit; hell I'm in pain and on painkillers so I'll so anything to get back on the wall as fast as possible... On the left is MC, it was a little weird at the start because there was lots of foot hugging, but what shes doing is feeling the movement of the tendons in my foot to see what's really going on in there; this went on for a while :) Because my ankle is so swollen we start making efforts over the first few weeks to get the swelling down, this is done in a variety of ways, mainly icing the hell out of it with buckets of ice and then dumping your foot into warm water (contrast baths) and then keeping it raised as much as possible throughout the day.

Now like I keep saying I'm keen to do as much as I can to get my ankle fixed so I ice my foot as much as possible at work and I was sitting with it raised a lot, I was even sleeping with it raised to try to help the swelling as much as possible and I guess here's the rub. Walking around on something like this will cause it to swell, so what you're doing it keeping the swelling down whilst you're at work and at home and as soon as you put too much strain on it walking around it just gets blown up again (it's still swollen now); but it does help in the main and means it's easier to get around on

So not only am I getting ultrasound on the ankle I'm icing it and hooking it up and electrocuting it to help the blood flow I'm given easy band exercises to start trying to strngthen it... I have to say the service at McGill is superb and they'll answer all of my stupid questions a million times so I know what's going on.

Over time we see improvements in many things and MC determines that there's something really wrong :) The X-Ray says sprained but not how bad so when I'm scheduled to see the doc again she suggests we go and ask for an MRI and get the full answer, my follow up with the Doc is a few weeks away at this point. I couldn't have been happier because I hate pain killers and the ankle is ok but it's always a dull pain. Thankfully MC is a champ and pretty good at what she does and shes starting to suspect that the sprain is a tear in the outer of my foots tendons, she can't tell how bad but we know from when shes massaging that area i'm pretty well in tears from it just being touched :( Mind you the bruising kind of shows the details.. yup that's a few weeks in and it's still a couple of wonderful colors :P

So we're a month in and I have a bunch of exercises to do (which I do diligently btw) and we're starting to test out whats working and whats not. For a while there my tibular was displaced slightly in my foot and we start working to get that bugger back into place; here's a funny thing trying to get a bone back into plac...e when the person (me) you're working on knows what you're doing it doesn't make this easy, it's like trying to pick a lock apparently because you need to find the way it'll go back into the right place... we try this for weeks (yes I was walking on it) but nothing works, it seems to be locked up tight in there somewhere so she goes for a different treatment and it's one I love... enjoy the photos:

10 mins of ice

I call it the Red Neck Water Bath, other people call it hydrotherapy and it's the shit!! Think a huge metal tub of hot water and a water pump that blasts water at your foot... this will take down swelling in an ankle in no time and it'll give a great massage at the same time. Through doing this a bunch of times we managed to get the bones back into place and the swelling down somewhat; my ankle is feeling great (apart from the dull ache) and it's getting stronger. The RKWB and icing means I'm feeling better and better and it's a week before I see the doc again...

There is one thing that is plaguing us and that's the inflection in my ankle (its when you pick your foot up from the toes) some days it's good, I can put my toes to a wall and touch my knee to it, other days it's completely crap and I cannot. We know the bones back in place but there is obviously something else wrong somewhere... countdown to seeing the doctor is ticking. Thankfully the band exercises I'm doing at home means I'm having less trouble walking around but there are instances where it's not so great... but thankfully as I'm rehab minded I can ride my bike a bunch to train so my Niner gets a cycle remake into a trainer for a while. Honestly it's a shame to see such a sweet machine with a road tyre on it




I start trying compression socks at this point, I contacted a company called 110% Play Harder and told them what I'd done, about CHR and how as I'm in recovery I'd like to see how their product works and would like to do a review; they agree and they send me some socks (and talk about fast service, they arrived in 3 days) and I start using their system to ice on the go and to compress my ankle so what's left of the swelling is being dealt with; there's a review on these coming soon, but I'm super impressed at the quality of the product and how it helped my injury for sure. Compression socks on sprains are so good I'm surprised that the C in RICE isn't used more!! RICE btw is an acronym for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.


And then we go to see the doc; she looks at it and we talk for a bit. I like her because she's straight forward and she doesn't muck around at all, my favorite line was "I can act all cool and read your file or you can tell me what the hells up" well that was simple and to the point, I tell her about the daily progress and what MC and I have been doing and mention that the inflection is on and off all of the time, she says it's MRI time and she'll put in a request for one, it'll take between 6-8 weeks :( but she also gives me paperwork so I can have it done privately. I decide that if I've not heard by Jan 6th (two months after I did it) I'd go private and just foot (HA) the bill myself.... back to rehab and waiting :(

Then there was another stroke of luck that only a picture can describe:

On the morning of December 27th I received a call at 9am from the hospital asking if I could make it there at 7pm for my MRI, that was less than two weeks after the request was put in... why? Because there's a snow storm and people are cancelling! I say yes and head to the shop to shape some holds and to see what Chris is up to; this is by mywork, there's horizontal snow blowing and it's mental outside, a 15min walk takes 30mins... and it's bloody freezing!! Now I know how long it takes me to get to McGill and the hospital is in the same spot (about 10 to the bus and then 10 of walking) but it's a snow storm, I leave for the hospital at 2.30from the shop and get there by 4.30. Yup that on a normal day would have taken about 45 to walk took that long, sure I have a crapped out ankle but the buses were stuck, the roads were a mess and there's 2-3ft of snow on the ground and it's getting worse as we speak... like I said it was MENTAL!!

I go upto the MRI clinic and expect to be told to come back when I was due to be seen... nope, no one was turning up for their appointments so I walked right in :) MRI's are a new thing on me, my foot is locked into a boot so I can't move it, I'm given a panic ball and some ear plugs because the noise is a little loud. I wasn't sure what to expect but as this for me was a step (ha) in the right diretion I was going to grin a bear it; needless to say I was so stressed I fell asleep :P The people running the machine woke me up when it was done and said that the results should take about 6 weeks because of the holidays, they thanked me for turning up (they did seem bored) and off I went. The walk home was just as bad as the walk there as public transport was pooched in Montreal because of the storm

A week later my results were in and it's an interesting read!! Yes a week later, how many times can I luck out with the ankle??

One grade one sprain, one grade two sprain and two grade one sprains... let me actually explain that in English for you; a grade one sprain is a torn (as in two pieces that arent attached anymore) a grade two sprain is "it's there, but it's hanging by a thread" and a grade one is a normal sprain. Drasitc times for sure :( But not anything after rehab I can't live with, but here's the kicker and it's a doozy for sure. Where your leg goes into your ankle there is a piece of cartilige that's basically a buffer from the bones rubbing on each other, well that's dented. Yes, that little fall has basically been a car crash on my ankle....

So here we are around about today, I'm still in rehab and waiting for a surgical consult (currently scheduled mid Feb) and maybe it'll get operated upon, maybe it won't. The current state of affairs is this; if you grade an injurys pain on a 1-10 scale, 1 being the lowest and 10 being agony then my ankle runs at a constant level of 1 to 2 on a daily basis; it's getting stronger, hell with a brace I'm system training on the Boulder Board a few times a week and remember I was walking around on it a few days after I did it but the fact is it's o.k, not OK. It needs to get fixed and I'm out of the climbing game for a while longer.

This is depressing news when (as you're on this site) you know that I'm a complete hold whore and a bunch of my time is spent running this site and reviewing holds (don't worry we have more reviews coming) so i've had to slow down a little. I do my physio exercises, I ride my bike and I walk to work... I just can't climb. It may actually come to a point where I actually have to stop bouldering and this means I'll go back to leading much more and I'll set more lead routes like I used to do. But it does beg a big question in my mind and please remember this is me still in the middle of an injury and I'm just pointing out a few things for you, dear reader, to think about:  

Climbing is a pregressive sport, as you get better at it you generally push harder and further. You go outdoors and even though you feel safe you're probably pushing a boundry on some level, especially with bouldering; hell even indoors you take some pretty hard hits from time to time... do YOU land properly? Do YOU just drop from the top of the wall rather than down climbing to half way and then dropping? Do YOU have enough pads and spotters when you're outside? 

The answer to this is probably no most of the time and please take it from me who hasn't had a break from climbing in 27 years, who is a base jumper, a trained sky diver and someone that revels in generally going fast, hard and pushing my limits; that if you don't know how to fall, or you're about to try a boulder and you don't have a spot but there are other climbers there, ask for one, ask for help. Karma people karma!! Climbing is a friendly community, you won't be judged for asking for an extra spot, or taking a class at the gym on how to fall properly; hell when I go outside I have huge pads and lots of them beecause I've always weighed the risks of what I'm doing! Help yourself out in the long run, if your gyms pads are shitty go talk to the desk staff or the manager and get them fixed; you pay to be there and it's their job to make sure you're safe. I guess what I'm trying to say is be safe out there, or in there :) This injury happened when my feet where around 4ft from the pads and they're big ass pads and look at the sorry state that i'm in; it was going to happen sooner or later... to be honest I'd have settled for never but shit happens sometimes!

I'm down but sure as hell not out... I'll be back later this year, until then if you've read this far you'll know why i'm not in the videos we make :)

Climb safe people, I'll run updates on this post from time to time as I get more news as to whats happening and when.

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions our email address is up the top on the left or you can just leave a reply in the comments box, we read everything

Noodles

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Review > Brewers Ledge > Boulderboard

Some months ago, well when we say months we mean a year ago a young fellow called Garnet from Brewers Ledge was in Montreal from Boston filming for a Quebec TV segment with one of their Boulder Boards; since his was in town and we were up for a review he dropped past and he let us borrow the board for review.

Now some of you know Brewers Ledge, they’re the people that make the Treadwalls, you know the free standing walls that rotate when you climb on them they rotate when you climb on them; well they make a freestanding non-rotating wall called the Boulderboard, here’s what their site says about it:

• Compact footprint
• 175 Symmetrically placed t-nuts for tons of route setting fun
• Sleek and attractive design with commercial grade silver paint
• Collapsible frame constructed from welded steel
• Packs down small allowing for no-hassle transport (when the rent is due)
• 40 degree angle for all around strength, power, and endurance training 

If those details don’t ring any bells let’s look at this board and get to reviewing:

PUR Interview

Name and job:
Sean Hollick / Optimist

You own PUR Climbing Holds, whats the name mean?

PUR is the scientific abbreviation for Polyurethane. This also ties into my philosophy of life and climbing and hold making. Pure is very compelling for me and climbing can be the purest state of focus its simplistic and pure and just really moved me. So not only does it stand for the PUR chemical it stand for the Purity of the sport of climbing.

Now you have a foundation and a climbing hold company, so what's your real job or are you independently wealthy?

I was a project manager for a textiles company and in March 2012 resigned my position to devote my full attention to my wife and family and pursue my work on The Hollick Foundation. I wish I was
independently wealthy then Id be able to buy the 1000 pounds of silicone I find myself in need of right now.

Explain the foundation to us, what it does and how the hold company links into that?

The Hollick Foundations primary focus is raising funds to provide toothbrushes to children whose families cannot afford them.

How did you get into starting a foundation and a hold company?

A friend of mine is a doctor and works with underprivileged children and one day was sharing with me the troubles of such simple things as the inability of parents to afford the simplest of personal hygiene products for their children such as toothbrushes. The next day i went out and ordered a case of toothbrushes and donated them to their clinic. Then I founded the Hollick Foundation.

I have taken my kids on and off over the years to the local climbing gym and one day we just all clicked and decided how awesome it was to climb as a family. Very quickly we decided to take a 18x30 foot bonus room in our basement to build a home woodie and after spending a fortune on holds decided that with my art background it might be fun and cheaper to just make some holds ourselves. As it turns out it was fun, but cheap no so much hahah. At that point we thought it would be a fun project to start a hold company and be able to help raise funds for the foundation at the same time a win win situation!

As a new hold company and someone that has just started making holds tell us about the trials and tribulations behind starting a company?

There is a very steep learning curve in the beginning, and many of the techniques are considered "trade secrets" so there isn't a lot of info out there. There is quite a lot of research, trial and error involved.

I sent a lot of emails out to people who were doing what I wanted to do, and much like the climbing community I got a lot of suggestions and pointers. The climbing community is very welcoming and I have always been amazed by this. While there isn't a lot of material how to get going there is enough to get started and if you have the determination and desire to make something happen I think anything is possible.

I talked with whomever would share any info with me and I read Three Ball Climbings booklet on how to make holds, watched every youtube video on hold making i could find. I was fortune to meet some great people early on that guided me in the right direction. While some people guard techniques and materials they use as "trade secrets" I'm of a different mind. I think what sets hold companies apart is the designs they come out with. Hopefully if the day comes a young shaper/hold maker asks me how to, I'm more than happy to share whatever information I have  and am glad to pass it on. In the end really all your saving people is a lot of trial and error and dollars on material, the heart of the holds are not so much what polyurethane or pigments you use, but the art of releasing the shape from the block of foam.

 

Whats the most expensive factor in starting a company?

The most expensive factor of starting a hold company is SILICONE period. Polyurethane comes in second. But the silicone is the biggest cost of all, especially if your trying to do any R&D. Of course then there are just the basic start up costs of most other small businesses equipment, advertising/marketing/promotions.

Who do you have shaping for you right now?

We like to offer designs by known and unknown shapers alike! We have shapes by Ferran Guerrero, Louie Anderson, Tony Reynaldo, Ryan Jones, Pamela Hollick, Sean Hollick, Sean Ewers and Chris Neal. We are extremely excited about the designs from Spain by Ferran Guerreo of Psycho Art Holds which you just don't see here in the USA

I would like to be a company that can provide a forum of sorts for people to express themselves through the art of hold shaping.

Whats the overall goal of the hold company?

We established this company to raise funds for The Hollick Foundation. After material cost and operating expenses, profits will be donated to the Foundation.

What medium are you pouring?

100% Polyurethane

You're a new climber aren't you? You loved it so much you figured you'd make some holds

Yes. My wife and three sons and I began climbing together and quickly fell hard for it. After building our home gym the idea of hold making came up and the next thing you know PUR Climbing Holds was founded.

Anyone you want to thank?

First and foremost Id like to thank my wife Pamela Hollick for giving me the freedom to pursue my dreams whatever they might be at any given moment! Brad Clark of Climbing Holds Manufacturing for being a great friend and mentor, Ryan Jones of Hoosier Heights, Ferran Guerrero of Psycho Art Holds, Steve Dison of Three Ball Climbing and of course you for the amazing CHR

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Review > Redpoint Holds > Conductors / Coefficient / Curreny Pinches

Originally we were going to run three reviews for these holds, do them one at a time but as we got around to setting we decided to get them all done at the same time, we only filmed one route of myself and Chris climbing and we were going to film some more on different problems but you'll see why we had to stop that for a little while :)

Redpoint is a new company that started this year in Canada and it's always good to see new companies especially Canadian ones come into the market and begin the journey of making climbing holds, and Redpoint although new are doing it the hard way, they actually mix and pour their holds unlike some other people that have joined into the fray this year... so a new Canadian company and three sets of holds... lets roll!!

So as there are three sets we'll talk about them specifically and then about the route that was set... but first... why didn't we film some more?

Noodles... kind of messed himself up a little bit:

He hit the mats a little funny when climbing and kind of took himself out for a little bit; the left hand photo is 30 minutes after it happened and the right photo is the next day; nothing was broken it's all torn up but that's our excuse for not filming more for this review. It also has to be pointed out that he wasn't on the Redpoint route when he did this :)

So excuses aside lets talk holds:

Conductors 

Why ruin perfectly good holds is the main comment that we've received on these holds... indeed why? There's no need to add those thumb catches to the holds because they don't need them they're awesome without; maybe there's a need for Redpoint to distinguish themselves from every other hold maker out there but we think not, good holds will sell... maybe of the thumb catches were perfectly placed we could see them being beneficial to the shape, but when the shape is perfect why add to it?

As a simple set of edges / large crimps these holds are awesome, well worth a look


Currency Pinches

Five of some of the best sized pinches out there, these holds are so versatile if you can stop yourself from skipping from a pinch to just using the slopers on them, realistically these holds should be half the depth (something that should be added like Teknik did with the shallow pours of their holds) for something really interesting to climb on unless you're a beginner... but hey as everyone has to start one way or another then these are pinches that you can haul on when the going gets steep... smaller options would be super nice to see

Coefficient

Taking a note from the Europeans (Redpoint didn't actually know that closed cell volumes have been around for a while) this is a closed cell volume. Close Cell basically means theres a back on the hold but the inside is hollow :) CC means that holds can be bigger but basically weigh nothing, we tip out hat to these guys on this as we don't think that there's anyone else doing this right now on the North American market... so awesome. There are so many ways you can use this hold it's just plain retarded... look for it in the X-Cult Volume review coming up next, it's the start hold

For it's size it's light, not as light as it could be but for a first attempt it's a bloody good attempt and very well pulled off

So what did we do with these holds? Well before Noodles killed his season we set a few super burly routes using these holds to see where we could go with the holds; they're all pretty happy on the steep walls that's for sure and then because we wanted a bunch of traffic on the holds to see how they fared we made a nice simple (if jumpy, if you're short) V2 route for the climbers at the gym... this route has been getting a lot of traffic from the low to intermediate climbers it's kind of surprising. As usual we've been putting the thumb screws onto people that have been climbing it to see what they think of the holds and it's a mixed bag of comments for sure! Some people were attracted by the large start hold and others saw the metal hardware in the upper holds and were kind of curious... no one except the low low end climbers attempting the route have anything negative to say about the holds so that's a good thing to hear from the punters that's for sure


SUGGESTED USES CONDUCTORS:

45 is about as far as we'd suggest going with these guys, although they're incut they're not that incut so you'll end up loosing their edge quite quickly... that's not saying that they couldn't go steeper, they probably could but it'll be a super hard pull for sure

OVERALL BUILD CONDUCTORS:

• Number of holds: 2
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $20 / 2 = $10 per hold
• Color: Ours are purple and yellow
• Bolt placement: Bang in the middle
• Sanding: Good
• Hollow backed: No
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: Grippy but not crazy
• Set size: Medium
• Versatility: Pretty good
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
• Shaper: ?
• Weight: ?

When we hear of a new company we're always wary of what they're producing, but we always like to see them for sure!!

The Conductors are a little strange because of their little metal rings that act as thumb catches which definitely catch a climbers eye; its different and it does set them apart, but in our mind it kind of sets them back a little, it's a great idea but it's also a little strange... if you use the holds purely as left and right hand bias then the thumb catches are in the right places, if you switch them them they're kind of useless (the rings not the holds) and that's their downfall and greatness all in one.

The holds if you loose the rings (and that's a new set of holds in the making we're sure) then you have some great great simple holds that are awesome :)

If you look at the shapes they they're well shaped and they're clean, they have enough bite without the slightly sharp edges becoming a factor. When you look at colors you find an interesting fact; our holds are purple and yellow but it seems that the main color of the holds is purple and the yellow is added post pouring; what does this mean? It means that the porous texture is slightly filled in with the color which means some parts of the holds don't grip the same way as others... it's a tricky thing that's for sure because if the holds were bigger then it could be a problem, or if there is too much paint then the texture could be compromised for sure

Overall build is these are some solid holds, we've cranked them up super tight on a slightly uneven wall and they've handed the problems with the wall well and they've also handled the sheer amount of climbers that have hit the routes we've set really well. Super good job, the rings is something of a personal taste

SUGGESTED USES CURRENCY PINCHES:

When it comes to pinches, or slopers we're connoisseurs for sure :) We've seen some great pinches and we've climbed on some so so pinches, these guys are awesome, they're versatile and some great shapes which is a surprise from a new company. Redpoint are on the ball with these holds, the ones that are incut will go super steep, if you place the slightly less incut guys in-between then you can make some really interesting problems that'll keep you happy for a while; if you take the holds onto slightly overhanging walls then you can use the sloped parts of the holds to mix it up a little and that's the great part of their holds is their versatility.

OVERALL BUILD CURRENCY PINCHES:

• Number of holds: 5
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $55 / 5 = $11 per hold
• Color: Pink and blue
• Bolt placement: Middle
• Sanding: Great
• Hollow backed: No
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: Grippy but not crazy
• Set size: Medium
• Versatility: Great
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
• Shaper: ?
• Weight: ?

Woo hoo; These holds are flat out awesome, versatile and good for a great amount of angles!! When you look at the shapes then you can't complain, the pinches are a good width, the angles of the incuts and the radii of the slopes means you have bang for your buck.

When you look at the colors (apart from what we mentioned above) you can see well drilled square bolt holes and nice raised logos denoting the holds manufacturer. The sanding is good and the texture is the same as what we mentioned before, the shapes is where it's at that's for sure. When you hold the holds in your hands they have a good weight to them and they do feel solid and have a good heft to them.

For a simple set of holds they are comfy simple shapes that are great from a new company

SUGGESTED USES COEFFICIENT:














Closed Cell volumes aren't a new thing for sure, they've been done but in North America its not something you see at all! So Redpoint are bringing them to this market is awesome for sure. We've used this hold in a few routes and we've had is as part of an X-Cult volume route that we've been working on and a lot of people have been working on... it's had a LOT of traffic and even though its had so many hands on it it has so many ways to grab it that it's not funny. At the price for the size of hold then it's pretty interesting and at a size that's good for a home wall.
 
OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 1
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $55
• Color: Orange and green
• Bolt placement: Bang in the middle
• Sanding: Hard to tell as it's a closed cell, it sits flat on the wall
• Hollow backed: Yes, but it has a filler inside
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: Grippy but not crazy
• Set size: XL
• Versatility: Great
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
• Shaper: ?
• Weight: ?

Something new hitting the market.. awesome! Again the colors are vibrant (see above for how we think that they did it) and the texture is spot on. When you look at the hold it does look a little same ol same ol all the way around but the devil is in the details, a 90 degree rotation means that the start / move (wherever you have placed the hold) gets easier or harder depending upon where you set it :)

The shape is simple and clean, it would have been nice to see a little more variation from the four sides of the hold rather than similar versions of the same theme for sure but it is nice and smooth and fun to grab without any pain, it's size means it's awesome for home wall owners because of it's size, it's not a wall hogger in any sense of the term

Bolt hole is nice and right into the middle and the hold despite its size and closed cell nature sits really well on the wall, a surprise as we figured a new company would have a little trouble with this at the start, it seems Redpoint have done their home work.

Problems? Well it'd be nice to see set screw holes in this monster because it might spin on you, adding it will be a tricky but welcome addition
  
WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Awesome

RATING:
Noodles:
A new company is always something that's good to see, a Canadian company is even better to see that's for sure; we've been doing this for a while and there's not been as many company's coming, apart from the people from this year. We were sent three sets to have a look at and originally the plan was to run three different reviews, unfortunately I kind of took myself out pretty well until March or April of 2013 :( Yeah that's six months from now, so we wrapped them up into one review; and lets face it so far if you've read above then you know that theres some good and some meh in the above. So lets cut it down to the bone, I'll talk about the sets one by one:

Conductors:
I'm a little in the bag on these, I like the thumb pinches but hate that they are one sided (yeah its an up and a down) I'd almost want there to be two thumb catches to make them useful for both hands rather than rely upon a setter to not get it wrong... there's a problem with this, it'll drive the price up but right now they're pretty expensive as it is :(

For shapes, they're awesome, they should come with and without the pinches. I like the shapes for sure, if you put them the right way around then they're great, I'd like the pinches to be a little bit more angled so the climber is forced to use them... mind you if the edges weren't so incut the the climber would have to use them so it's a little of column a and a little of column b

Currency Pinches:
Awesome, just awesome. I love these holds, there are so many ways to use the holds it means that they're versatile on a variety of angles and that's what make them pretty damn good. They're not huge, they're nothing that take up huge amounts of wall space but they're something that are pretty good most places

Com-fort-able is the way to look at these holds, ver-sa-tile is another, for a new company it's a home run

Coefficient:
New tech in the volume field is always welcome. Considering it's size and that Redpoint are a new company they've done a pretty stand up job on this guy, sure it's not the lightest volume out there but the price is right and it's done some heavy duty at Shakti since we've had it and it's been bomber.

I'd liked to have seen more variance in the sides of the volume to make it a little more versatile than it is because it is a little samey when you rotate it but like I said for a first pass it's something for home wall owners that will add variation to their wall without breaking the bank

Overall:
Great first run! The material they're running seems good and strong, all of the holds are well made with no defects (and they came across Canada without a scratch) and we've seen no problems. The only thing is the addition of colors after the holds are made, it does take out the texture a little and could cause problems if there is too much color added and as usual set screw holes... the pinches are probably the only holds that don't need them, the edges probably could do with them and the big guy, well he probably wants one at some point.

I'm impressed, the only company that's come onto the market that has made a better impression is Urban Plastix this year and they don't pour their own holds... so to be pouring and having a quality like this is fucking impressive and i'm sure it's a lot of work. Great, no, fucking amazing work, keep it up

Chris:

Guillaume:
So, Canadian Brand climbing holds is a good news, a little competition to Teknik seems
like a good thing to me. Teknik has been making some of the best shapes available on the
market for a while now. I welcomed the news of a new Canadian brand. But when you
compete against one of the best brand available on the face of the planet, there are some
expectations... do they meet up?

Climbing on Redpoint Holds is a fun thing. Shapes are fun to hold onto, texture is smooth
enough yet not too rough. Holding onto them feels good.

For the crimpers / edges, there is a nice and bomber thumb catch where you would want it. The pinches are quite interesting since they are a big chunk that you could use in the 4 sides of the hold. The setters had made an easy problem with them and I don’t think they could have made it harder. In my opinion, both sets of holds should be aimed toward beginners to intermediate climbers. The more advanced ones will find them boring. The presence of this MAJOR thumb catch make them unapealing to me. You have to know that climbing outside is my life; so when I climb/set inside I want to have a similar feeling. So this minor tweak in the holds isn’t a pro for me.

General opinion:
Good, but lose that thumb catch that is as good has the hold ! Pinch would be cool for more
advanced climber in a steeper angle.

PROS:

• YADDA

CONS:

• YADDA