Beastmaker 1000 & 2000

Soo with Noodles having a douched ankle and with a slight depression that's been and gone from not climbing; we're back on the go and we're back with a doozy of a review. Not with just a single review but a double header that will be updated as we go, this is a mix of Gui and Noodles, Noodles is being the "normal" climber and Gui being the "Strong" climber in this review, confused... you should be... basically Gui's comments are like a full on review of the 2000 boards, the main body of the text is about both and Noodles comments are about the 1000!

So lets begin and go from there ok?

There was a thought running around the CHR camp for many years that the Moon board was the hardest thing on the planet, and it was and in some cases still is but there are new boards hitting the market all of the time that could take the crown. Both are from the same company that's based in the UK; and that company is called Beastmaker; yes Beastmaker. The Maker Of Beasts, it seems like a big claim just from the name doesn't it? Just a little... but before we amble along this path that hopefully is an informative and amusing review lets look at what we're talking about:

Beastmaker 1000:

Beastmaker 2000:

As you can see the difference between the 1000 series and the 2000 series is quite a leap, the 1000 has jugs the 2000 has evil evil slopers and MONOS!! Yeah, mono's on a fingerboard, when you see this you have to wonder if that's a good thing! Now, we're smart, we gave the 2000 to Gui because he's the stronger climbing and we kept the 1000, attached it to our Blank Slate and went to work :P

Now, before we get into the meat of the review people may be turned off of this review because they see European or more specifically the UK which of course means they have to order from there, well here's some great news... Revolution in North America stock these boards! So keep reading now that you know you can get one of these boards and not have to pay through the ass with import fees and huge shipping costs; we got that clear? Good!

Now wood is an awesome medium for training, look at Metolius they've been making wooden boards for years, Crusher make wooden hang boards and campus rungs, in general,  are made from wood. So it seems that wood is a great for training and it's the way to go, now wood is more of an artisan kind of medium to work with, wood is not easy to work with but lets face it if someone is going to make a board then wood is something that's more sustainable and better for the environment than urethane.

But there's a downside (from the makers point of view) is it takes a little longer to make; so it's going to be a little more expensive than a normal board and at 75GBP it's not cheap! But you get what you pay for :)

These things take time to make, sure they're CNC'd the boards but they're all finished by hand so if you look at a  PU board that just gets molded (once), poured, sanded and shipped off, you know there is more work going into these boards... if you want to know what we're talking about then look at Beastmakers process:

Shape roughed out on C&C

Sustainable Tulipwood

Outside sanded smooth

Each pocket is hand sanded

Screw holes are drilled

Logo is branded

That's six steps, SIX to give you the climber what is basically a piece of art that's handmade!! Think of a handmade car, it seems reasonable to pay god knows how much for that? Then the price for a hang board that's handmade to this degree is a one off is pretty reasonable right? Well that depends upon if it's the hang board that you want to use for years and years, and that's kind of the nut of the problem. Look at Noodles, he can talk about boards for hours and why what is good on boards and what is bad, he can go through all of his boards and tell you what is great on all of them. Now remember it's a personal preference and to see him and Chris argue about this is brilliant. WHAT makes this board different? Lets look at them closely:

Beastmaker 1000:
The Beastmaker 1000 hang board has been ergonomically designed for the hands of those who are a bit newer to climbing and training but want to progress quickly. This board is suitable for those climbing from 5a all the way to 7c or even further if you fancy taking on some one armed deadhangs. The dirty 45 degree slopers and monos which are apparent on the Beastmaker 2000 have been removed to make way for some jugs and more variation of the pocket depths. The Beastmaker 1000 is made from wood with a very fine texture which is very kind to your skin and the holds have been radiused to avoid tweaking any fingers. The holds include:

• 2 Jugs
• 35 Degree Slopers
• 20 Degree Sloper
• 1 Very Deep 4 Finger Pocket
• 2 Deep 4 Finger Pockets
• 2 Deep 3 Finger Pockets
• 2 Deep 2 Finger Pockets
• 2 Medium 4 Finger Pockets
• 2 Small 4 Finger Pockets (10mm)
• 2 Medium 2 Finger Pockets
• 2 Medium 3 Finger Pockets

Beastmaker 2000:
The Beastmaker 2000 is not a hangb oard for beginners, it has been designed with the input of some of the best climbers the UK has to offer. The result is a hang board which tests the limits of finger strength and will help you towards your high grade goals. The beastmaker 2000 comprises of many holds which will let you specifically target your weaknesses and get stronger, comfortably, in all of the grip types. Every hold on the board has been well thought out and radiused in order to keep the chances of tweaking to a minimum and the wooden texture wont ruin your skin whilst being grippy enough not to be frustrating. The Beastmaker 2000 comprises of:
Wood is far superior to resin in terms of its natural properties of grip, porosity and texture, Wood is far and away the best training material currently available for finger strength, and the good news is it grows on trees!

• 45 Degree Slopers
• 35 Degree Slopers
• 20 Degree Slopers
• Medium 3 Finger Socket
• Smaller 3 Finger Socket
• Mouth Jug
• Big, Little & Incut Rungs
• Back 2 Pockets
• Big, Little & Sloping 2 Finger Pockets
• Sloping and 1 Pad Monos

It's pretty clear that the 2000 is waaaay harder than the 1000, how much harder? Now if you take a normal hang board and say call it a 1 on the 1-10 scale of hard; 1 being easiest and 10 being the hardest on the scale.... a normal board is 1, in this example a Metolius 3D Simulator. A medium board is the DRCC 5.14, a really hard board is a Moon Board or a Beastmaker 1000 would be a 10. The 2000 is 15 on the scale! Why? Because of whats on the boards, the 1000 wouldn't seem to be that hard, but it is, it's the slopers and the edges... they're harder than you think, the pockets are wonderful; deep forgiving buggers but the edges man they will kick you ass. Because they're deep, but when you get to doing one of their workouts and you have to repeatedly hang on something that's a 1/4 inch then you know it's either going to make you strong or will kill you!! The 2000 takes the 1000, removes the jugs and adds even more slopers that are even harder to hang; now we all know that slopers are the best way to train but when it's hard to hang the 1000's easy slopers imagine what the hard 2000 slopers are like... yeah, it's that hard!

Now... training is a personal thing; some people like the endless repetition of running on a treadmill, some people want to climb on the smallest crimps.. when it comes to climbing (especially your personal climbing) you need to adapt it to you in that moment and what you want/need to achieve. Sit back and take a look at what you want to get out of what you're doing, be focused, video yourself climbing, be honest and know what you want. It's probably why Noodles likes so many boards, because he wants a little of all of them to make the "board to end all boards" but there's a problem with that concept!! What he would make now (although being a huge seller because it's totally a mid range climbers board) wouldn't be what he specifically needs once he's reached his goal! This is where the Beastmakers excel and fail at both the same time, sure people will disagree on this point until the dogs come home, but as usual you'll get the CHR version of the debate (you can leave comments)

What Beastmaker has done is make two wonderful, ecologically friendly boards, what they've also done is make one hard and one easy. Where they have failed is they may have made one a little too hard and the other not easy enough. The 1000 isn't an introduction to hangboard training kind of board  (But it's meant to be) and the 2000 when we unpacked it wasn't something that we'd ever hang or train on, it's just hard looking (it is pretty as all hell, they both are) Now why are we saying this? Noodles runs V4-V7 (depending upon gravity on the day) and Bob has upped his game to the V4-5 range, neither of them can finish the easiest program on the 1000 board. Gui who is a solid as hell V8 climber indoors (harder, waaaay harder outside) has been known to curse the 2000 and he's been working super hard on it. Maybe its the program that we're following from their app, maybe we're just weak, maybe European climbers are just stronger, maybe, maybe, maybe... it's personal taste. Malcolm Smith likes them if we recall, but he's a training (sadistic) monster so could we really rely upon what he likes?

http://youtu.be/7d5RFIcXy3w
Hangboards are like climbing shoes, you use them up over a period of time.... you replace them, they fit and then they don't, time to buy a new pair. (BTW: a hangboard is for life, you won't wear them out!! (It's a metaphor)) You buy a hangboard to get you stronger, to complete goals, but it's also like a hand bag or a pair of sneakers... it needs to fit or match right! And at some point you'll have different goals and you'll need to switch up a little :(

And this is where our point becomes more clear, and this whole point is related to the iPhone app more than the boards! When you equate grades, and you "grade" a work out on a board it seems a little pointless, unless theres a money back guarentee involved thats states "you will be thing strong you can climb x-grade after 6 weeks" then it comes down to personal goals and your physicology that makes you the climber and the person that can train one way or another. A board doesn't make the climber (like some people think) it's the strategy you use to implement the tool into your training, so when you get the board(s) and you open the app then take them with a grain of salt because the overall goal is to get stronger and to not get injured. Why do we say this? Read Noodles and Gui's comments as they're the ones with the most to gain from the boards. Noodles because he's very limited in his climbing right now but wants to stay strong and Gui because he has some V14 projects that are about to go down and he needs to be strong for them. Neither of them want to get injured training (ironic considering Noodles injury lol) and they want to be strong; with the boards (the app is sold separately) they both got the app and went to work, focused in what they wanted and with a review to a) train to get stronger and b) to review the boards at the same time; what would normally be a win win because a eh? eh? situation. Both of these guys hangboard train a lot, they've done it, they know how to train and yet they both got shut down on easier workouts than they can actually climb, in a couple of cases 3 or 4 grades less than what they actually flash problems at. Now, there is always a period of time where a board is new and a climber takes time to get used to it, you need to get used to it's nook and crannies, figure out it's texture and just get used to training on it! This has been a fairly long time for the Beastmakers but this could be because of us training with the app and not adapting it to our needs right away... don't get us wrong the app is bloody amazing but if you can't hang 1/4 inch chisel edges then don't!! Start easier and work into it.

This is something we know as we've been doing it for years, its not something people inherently understand from the get go, they climb, they plateau they get a hangboard and instantly think they will get stronger... and this is the problem with the Beastmaker app as a whole, it's a little too much (especially for the 1000 board) and for someone "starting out", that person will get injured for sure because the easiest workout will just kill you. IF you try it, know that a suggested hold is too much move to a bigger one, it's something that's not stated but if you actually use the app as a guideline then you'll be ok... work into the routine over a period of time rather than jumping in with both feet (or hands in this case) and work towards completing the program sensibly rather than fucking yourself up and being injured when you should be getting stronger.

BOARDS:

SUGGESTED USES:
Hanging from :)


OVERALL BUILD: Boards
Both boards are well built, really well built. You can tell its been hewn from a block of wood and you can see where the finishing has been done... Hand finishing is only so good as the person that's holding (in this case a Dremel) so there will be some flaws; this is mainly seen in the pockets, the deep finger pockets on both boards, they're not as smooth as expected. Also because Chris works with wood all day long, he wanted the slopers to have been finished a little better with some finer grain sandpaper. But here is the good thing, you can do what you want with the board, you can add or take away texture as you want!! But remember you cant add where you took away

The esthetics of the boards are amazing, compact, to the point.. their choice of wood makes sense and only gets better as you use it; skin sweat without chalk makes a difference, you can see what people hang on to because it's darker from hands.

There aren't color (varnish) options so what you see is what you get

The overall build of both bards is superb, no if's no buts.Some of the pockets could be a little smoother as they're a little rough inside (on our boards) but over time you get used to this and it doesn't really rag out your skin that much, these things really are well made and will fit in a high end apartment with no problems.

From the branded logo to the well thought out areas to grab there really isn't any complaint on either board except for the small chiseled edges on the 1000, they really should be a little bigger

When you look at the differences between the boards all of the great workmanship is still there, if anything it's probably harder to make the 2000 rather than the 1000 board because the slopers have to be exactly the same on either side... sanding them must be a pain in the ass

OVERALL : iPhone App
For where the app is an amazing addition to your training there are some flaws, it doesn't really rotate at all well on an iPhone when it's horizontal, so you're suck with your phone being vertically placed all the time to really see the information. Kind of a bummer as we can mount it to the Blank Slate and not have to look down at it.

You can make your own custom workouts which is awesome, and something we suggest you do after you try even the basic programs... Beastmaker claim you will see strength gains after 6 weeks and you will if you're someone like Gui and does the basic programs on the 1000 and works up. When it comes to the 2000, well you're just in for brutality and you kind of asked for it. We made our own programs after failing for weeks on the 1000 and the Font 5a program, or you can just switch it up to bigger holds when you know you can't do it... again for us the app is a guideline for training and not the be all and end all in anyway, use common sense especially if you're new to training on boards


WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Tulipwood

PACKING / SHIPPING:
For a board, it comes in it's own box and is amazing


RATING:
Noodles:
Both boards, well, they look amazing, You could use them in a really nice home, place them correctly and your golf buddy's would never realize you were a climber before you sold your soul to the "firm" you work for :)

I have a problem though, and it's a tough one. I don't like the Moon board, I love the wood boards from Metoilus, I like the resin boards from Metolius, I like the pinches on the Iron Palm, I love the pinches on the DRCC 5.14, the love the Bendcrete board that I cannot find anymore (I mean it's in the UK but I cannot find it at all there).... I love the really small scooped rails of the Moon board... every board i've owned has been a lover of some kind. And I mean a lover not a lover, why? Because training on a board if thats the only thing you can do between the gym and rope, well it's a special thing... not quite the same as naming a car but you know what I mean (I hope)

Hanging on a board is a special thing, it's not climbing but we equate it as such... "dude did you climb today?" and the fact you just did a hang board work out is just fine.

Where do I stand on the boards?

Well would you like me to lie? Would you like me to spin you a line of bs, or just tell you..

I don't particularly like either of them! I have a lot of boards, and I mean a lot and I've made programs for people for a while. I've trained on boards for nearly 15 years, my first boards (and still one of the best is an old Bendcrete board), I have had boards everywhere I've lived, I move in and the board goes up... the unpacking can wait :) When I say I don't particularly like either board I can say this without a problem about the 2000; why in hells name would you put a mono on a hangboard?? Monos are the easiest way to get injured and you need to know what you're doing or be a little mental to train on them. That's of course my opinion, some people just like monos, I hate them... and then there's the slopes; they're hard and I love slopes. If I trained on this board I'd have to pad the floor behind me because it's a matter of time before I ping off the board and go flying in some direction :)

The 1000, well, this is an interesting one. I've used it for a good long while (since November in fact) and I've followed the program on the iPhone, had my ass kicked. Actually maybe it's not the board that's the problem it's their training app and the fact that whoever did the workout has fingers of steel... it's like a professional routesetter that climbs V14 trying to set a V0, they'll chuck holds up on the wall and go climb it.... "that feels like a V0 to me".... yeah, but they're a bloody V14 climber, it doesn't equate too well!!

So I fucking hated the board for the longest time, I was injured (ankle) and was depressed about that and there was a couple of months where I'm surprised it's still in my living room where it should have been made into fire wood.... sounds harsh right? When I'm getting my ass kicked so hard week on week, am depressed about the ankle... and when my only means of training is a board and I'm being killed a few times a week on it (and not in a good way) it will make you kind of crazy. Once I looked at why I was getting my ass kicked all the time and switched some holds from what they suggested to something easier and began getting through the workouts and then started adding in some of what they suggested; well then it started to make sense. It took time. If you look at me reviewing a board normally I make up own program because most boards don't come with a guide, this time I was "great, an out of the box training board with an app, kickass" and then on the easiest program I get my ass kicked then you kinda know something was/is up! Once the red mist went away then it was fine.

A board is like a new relationship, you're not going to buy it flowers or shave intricate patterns into your body hair for it, but you will leave a lot of sweat (and tears) on it's surface.... you will spend quality time hanging in a door frame staring ahead, bearing down all of your weight onto what is there for seconds at a time... all in the hopes of getting stronger...

So where do I stand? Or hang for that matter?

The Beastmaker isn't my favorite board but it's growing on me more and more. I like the esthetics of it, I like it's look... I kind of wish it was bent like the Simulator boards and canted forward a little, I find that's easier on my elbows. You can see my sweat is staining the wood and training on it is personalizing it more and more as I work through the programs... am I stronger from it? Well that's hard to tell because even though I'm on the wall more and more my ankle doesn't allow me to move like I used to because of the brace I'm wearing to stop anything happening to it (more scans and surgery to come)....

Would I recommend this board to a beginner that's getting into training? Well yes and no... yes because the board is great but I'd take the app with a grain of salt, if you can do it you can do it but work into it first.


Gui:

So here we are, I finally got my hand on the famous "Beast". As a lover of the Moon board I was dreaming about getting my hands on that cure to modern climber flaws. The so the best Beast is supposed to make you become a beast, the least… The first time I had my handa on it, I swear a little  tear came out of my eye. Did I like it yes and no. Why? Too many answers for A line. Here it is.

The training:

Beastmaker makes an app they sell online, giving you a guideline on how to train for your next project. They separate each training between the two boards and grades. Here is my first dislike about the board and the apps. How can someone put a grade on a board? In the first place it is so hard to grade a boulder outside, it is even harder to grade an inside boulder problem, so grading a training board? How did they do that? So do I like to train on it or not? The masochist who loves to train 25 hours a week in me likes it, A LOT ! But dude, it’s just a board, it’s nowhere near like climbing. Climbing is all about dynamic movement (not as in dynos). You are barelly hanging on a same holds for more than 7 to 10 seconds. But man, it’s the Beastmaker, what are you talking about?!?!

So I inherited one of the 2000 series, cause I’m supposed to be an expert. I tought "Hey I’M going to use this for my project outside for the spring (think 5.14a/b, three bolts, ascent with no bolts, highball!" I felt pretty confident about my training abilities, like I told you, I’m a masochist when come down to training!

When I started to use it I was in my strength phase of my training. Which usually means for me a super intensive, but short stimulus. So when I looked at the suggested training for an 8a+ climber I thought, yeah I can hold those holds, but not 7 times 7 seconds with 3 seconds rest. So, first time I did the 7b training, I was absolutely unable to finish half of it. Was I weak? I don't have the best endurance for a climber like some people, but power is the name of my game. Dude my ego dropped down! In the beginning I really wanted to follow their training guideline and forget about everything I know (I’m a professional trainer who only train rock climbers). But after a couple of weeks, I realized one thing. Their training is no where near what I consider a good hangboard training regime. This is when things got better! I started to follow the program only using the suggested type of handhold, not the time and used my personal time frame of what I consider to be more accurate towards climbing. Things got better, way better. I could pull the 8a program. So after a couple of weeks of adjusting the times I became capable of doing their suggested training for 8a/8a+ climbers. If I wasn’t a professional trainer would I have done this? Probably, but I'd have most certainly injured myself and this where the beast hit me. Suddenly the beast was no more the absolute best.

POV has a personal trainer:

So the climber in me liked the challenge, what about the personal trainer? It's hard to seperate two parts of your own personality. Well I like to spilt myself into three distinct personalities when it boils down to climbing, the head routesetter, the trainer and the climber... it’s freakin hard. 

The personal trainer liked the board itself. It’s ergonomic, skin friendly (altough I founded some edges to be quite sharp ), challeging enough tough but not impossible and frankly quite sexy (makes you want to climb on it)

But the big question is, would I use this with my clients? And the answer is super simple, NO ! That’s for multiple reasons. One, why would some one pay me to make me look at them on something that another person did? Second reason, climbing is all about movement. Yes finger strength is important, but well over-rated in my own opinion. I have a good friend, who is WICKED SUPER STRONG, think of a dark horse V15 climber. So this guy trains for climbing but not that much, think 17 hours a week, 14 climbing and 3 training. He’s always telling me that the moment you’re able to fully crimp a half pad crimper, you don’t need to go past this. The truth of the matter is the moment I started doing this, I felt less weak and never hurt a finger again. Did I climb weaker? Absolutely not! Lastly, like I told you before, climbing is all about dynamism in movement, is hanging a dynamic movement, nope! Does it help climbing yes; if combined with something else that makes you move. 

Then, there are the infamous 45 slopers, they are absolutely awesome. Lastly, would someone have a chance of hurting themselves with the Beast and the apps, yes. So can I, as a professional trainer like those training tools, unfortunately, no.

PROS:

• Best hangboard slopers on the market
• Convenient to use when you need to train at home
• Sexy to look at and take no space

CONS:

• Chance of getting hurt if you don't know how to train for yourself
• They're not built (especially the 2000) for everybody
• The app doesn't rotate and scale properly when you move your phone

atomik header

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